Stihl FS55RC Question about a useless bolt.....

[dougb110]

I have a Stihl FS55RC (or CR?) trimmer. I just did some repairs on it and I removed a bolt that I realized later didn't need to be removed, and I found a drawing in a repair manual that pointed to this bolt said "don't remove unless damaged".

The bolt head is a torx T27, but doesn't actually seem to attach anything to anything, it just goes through the casing on the bottom of the handle/housing and just sits in front of the clutch housing and under the drive piece, but doesn't touch anything.

You can see this bolt in the two photos I've attached, one from above and one from below. Did I lose something that this screw used to attach to? Or maybe this is just something to keep the clutch cover from flying off?

Thanks

Doug

 

[Lawnranger]

Doug,

That screw probably holds the metal drive tube from sliding once it is installed in the handle. Loosen the screw enough for the tube to clear and when you go back together tighten that screw. Also, check the tube for a hole that the screw could fit in to. I would be willing to be there is a hole in the bottom side of the tube for just this purpose.

Let me know.

 

[Lawnranger]

It could also be a "stop" to prevent the tube from getting too close to the clutch drum. I took a second look at the picture and maybe it is a ''stop''.

 

[dougb110]

As far as the bolt holding the drive tube, that seems to be what the one in the middle of the three in a row is doing.

That's the only things I can figure is either like you say, to limit how far the tube can slide in, or to keep the clutch cover from coming completely off of the clutch mechanism. But now that I look again, I don't think it would be physically possible for the tube to get anywhere near this bolt becasue it would hut the fat part of the drive shaft. And it also looks like it would be physically impossible for the clutch cover to come far enough to hit the bolt becase it looks like the drive shaft would bottom out on the tube before it could hit the bolt.

Oh well... Anyway, it seems to be running just fine. It felt out of balance until I removed the piece of crap easy loader string head and put the original one back on.