Chainsaw hard to pull the chord

[JrodzDroid]

I have an older model Craftsman 46cc 20 inch chainsaw that is acting like it has way too much compression when trying to pull the pull chord. These are the things I have checked and are all in perfect condition--- there's no scouring of any kind on the piston or cylinder, there's no blockage in the exhaust port, I've tried with the carb and muffler off also and still hard to pull, I opened up the crankcase and checked bearings(no play in the bearing and spin freely), it's not vapor locked, the flywheel is in the correct place for the timing so that's good, I've checked the pull chord and it's good and so it the pullchord setup. I cleaned the piston of all carbon and did the same with the cylinder and crankcase. They were spotless anyway. So I'm at my brains end with this and I need the saw before it gets too cold out. Also when u pull the spark plug out it cycles fine like it's supposed to. There's no grinding or rough sounding noises at all. Another thought I'm having is that when I opened up my old poulan chainsaw they had some plastic cylinder inserts in it. This engine looks almost the exact same and even has the same grooves like my poulan where it looks like some inserts would go. But when I look at the schematics of the saw and engine it doesn't say anywhere that there's supposed to be in this saw. I don't really know what the inserts for other than move air from one place to another. Any advice or help would be greatly appreciated. And if u need any other info or pics let me know and ill get to it. Thanks again

 

[cpurvis]

Does it have a compression release? My 20 y/o Husky 55 is about the same displacement and unless I remember to use the compression release, it can be pretty hard to pull.

 

[bertsmobile1]

Welcome .
Craftsman did not make this saw, they just branded it & sold it
As such we need to know the Craftsman model number or see a few pickies so we know which saw you are talking about .
The plastic inserts really don't do much other than take up space & thus bump up secondary compression.
On some saws I have found excessive wear in the pull start that allowed the pulley to twist a bit sideways and that makes it difficult to pull.
Excessive wear around the hole that the rope runs through will do the same.
I have fitted some trimer line eyelets into more than one chainsaw to rectify this.