rospaw
Senior Member
Got another. My MS311 chain saw cylinder design where it holds the muffler is a bad design. The bolts kept vibrating loose. Eventually not holding at all. I dremeled out the back side of one of the fins each side so that I could get a nut on the backside. The design is a marble size piece of metal welded or molded between the fins but never touching the cylinder. Only the fins. It's to small to retap, helicoil or timesert. So, I can't find the typical cheap top end rebuild kit. Usually you can buy an aftermarket cylinder and piston kit for $60. My big sthil concrete saw was only $50 and has worked just as well as the OEM. It seems "aftermarket" has not caught up to the 311. I may be forced into taking it to a welder to fill in the stripped screw holes and then retap.
Lock-tight would have been what i use before the threads got to bad.
Not sure if i'm with you on what you are doing but what about a GOOD epoxy. I watched a machine shop use some on a hydro pump. They machined/tap the epoxy for holding a pressure side. I was told that it would hold much better that welding in this case from the owner of the shop. The owner is a very straight shooter type of guy.