I have a Craftsman 20 inch chain was I bought last year. I'm trying to remove the cylinder head. Everything is loose but the cylinder won't slid off the piston. Is there something I'm missing? It pulls off about an inch but won't slide any further.
#2
dougand3
It's just called the cylinder (or jug). All 4 cyl bolts out? Is the intake adapter blocking removal? It should be off. Is the muffler off? Takes a decent tug to pull cyl off piston/ring - squirt some lube in plug hole and try to rotate cyl a few degrees each way. We can give better answers if you give the model # - eg: 358.350450
Sounds there is an internal problem with the piston and cylinder. Did you straight gassed the engine? I had a few that was very hard to take apart because of straight gassing.
Since this a MTD built unit it look like only short block is available. I don't like this path that MTD has taken as I rather just replace the PNC as it just make it too expensive to repair them in a shop setting especially when the short retails for about $72.
#5
Hammermechanicman
What is wrong with the saw you need to remove the cylinder?
The problem began with the chain slipping very bad. It would not cut at all. So I am suspecting a clutch problem. I was trying to remove the clutch and following advise to insert some cord into the cylinder and rotate the clutch with a hammer and screw driver. Of course exactly what I feared would happen, the cord got tangle in the cylinder and the clutch never broke free. So know I have to try to get the cylinder apart to get the cord out. It may just be the cord that is keeping it from sliding apart. I just wanted to make sure there wasn't any thing else to consider.
You probably have the cord in one of the ports. The clutch will have left hand threads. Never worked on one of those yet but can you remove muffler and intake and look in the ports and see what is happening? If the clutch is slipping you can rinse it out with brake cleaner and then oil the bearing. Unless the spring(s) are broken in the clutch or the clutch is burned up (blue) no need to remove it unless you are going to replace it.
