Stihl 440 problem.

iverjohnston

Hi all, I have a MS440, probably about 10 years old. The two screws that hold the bottom of the wrap around handle to the underside of the saw seem to be slightly too long, and have rubbed two holes into the bottom of the chain oil tank. Anyone come across this, and have any suggestions as to a fix? Saw only used for farm work.

Reindeer

The oil tank is magnesium, and can be welded by someone whom knows how. Also, if the holes are small and uniform enough, you could possibly have them tapped and simply place two recessed allen head bolts into them to keep them from leaking. In the meantime, you will have to shorten those bolts that caused the damage. Do you have photos?

iverjohnston

i took off the wrap handle, and the two splined bolts that caused the problem are about 4mm shorter then the two side ones . you would still have to strip the entire plastic elements off the saw to get a good photo. and one of the holes is in each side of the crank case, so on doubt welding would destroy the gasket, so you would be looking at a total strip down to do it right. i spent this evening trying to get all traces of oil out of the tank, swarfega, tooth-brush, hot water, de-greaser , repeat, repeat. Going to try some of that epoxy steel putty on it tomorrow. If it doesent work, its only a few euro for the tube of it.

Rovi

Were there washers or spacers missing from the offending screws, do you think?
It should be reasonably possible to either shorten the screws or add washers, I'd hope.

A good way to properly clean a repair area on metal is use a gas torch to 'sweat' the oil out it. It'll cook off as it comes out, and will leave a nice clean dry surface for the repair material to adhere to.
This may or may not be feasible on this saw, depending on the size of the gas torch and the proximity of plastics/gaskets/fuel/etc.
BE CAREFUL if you give this a go!

A repair on an oil tank doesn't have to be as perfect as a similar one on a fuel tank anyway, as chain oil is much thinker and less inclined to creep through joints than petrol, so a less-than-perfect repair may indeed be good enough.

iverjohnston

Well, I ground down the 2 screws to give clearance, and have patched the tank with that metal putty stuff. gone rock hard in about a half hour. The product cost €5, probably used less than 30 cents worth. So time will tell. There is no provision for a washer under the two screws, but perhaps the saw was worked on before and different screws fitted. (saw is an eBay job) If the patch lifts, will get two little bolts and washers and try that.

Reindeer

How's she holdin?

iverjohnston

So far, so good. It hasn't leaked yet, but I only done about an hour with the saw since.