Farmertec MS361 Top End Rebuild

So I bought a knockoff chainsaw from a friend knowing it had a few issues. It is a Farmertec MS361, which is just a part-for-part knock-off of a Stihl MS361.
I like to learn by doing, and I knew next-to-nothing about small engine performance, so I figured this would be a cheap education. In this video I chat about how it was misbehaving, a few of the things I learned trying to improve its performance, and the series of events that lead to it seizing up.
Then I tear it apart, examine the damage, and order new parts. I replace the piston, cylinder, rings, wrist pin, needle bearing, gasket, and ignition coil.
I get about 15 seconds of runtime out of my rebuild before it locks up again. Look forward to a future video on rebuilding the bottom end.

[@userthor7386]

Bought my stihl 361 exactly 18 years ago today.
It has never let me down, not once.
Now after 18 years Im starting to look into having the saw O/H'd with New carb membranes, oil/gas filters etc. It hasnt seen extreme heavy use - but "stihl" after 18 years, thats impressive.

[@UncleMikesCustomThings]

Thanks for sharing your experience! I've heard from several people that a genuine Stihl MS361 is an absolute rock-solid workhorse. Unfortunately for these Farmertec knock-offs, sometimes you really do get what you pay for.

[@jlcastille9017]

I have a Stihl MS361 and I agree with you about the cover design. It's a real pain to get to the spark plug. I've ripped up 2 spark plug boots already.

[@UncleMikesCustomThings]

I bought a spark plug boot puller and it works great. A little silly to buy a specialty tool to work around this design, though, especially since it's the only thing you can't do with a scrench.

[@stihlhead3338]

A little oil in the cylinder and piston goes long way. When you turn the flywheel it sounds awfully dry.😮

[@UncleMikesCustomThings]

I put a thin film of 2-stroke oil on everything as I assembled, and I thought I gave the rings a decent helping. But I don't really know what I'm doing and I hear what you're hearing, so I guess I should have added more.

[@ultimateormus7903]

A little closer camera view would help tremendously

[@UncleMikesCustomThings]

It's a balancing act. I do my best to get the shot, but sometimes I have to pull the camera back so I can actually get in there and do what I need to do.

[@ndnride295]

Hiya, so what happened?

[@UncleMikesCustomThings]

The new piston broke, dropping a chunk of aluminum into the crank case. Here's the video of the ensuing bottom-end rebuild: th-cam.com/video/vzhyaR0nWMk/w-d-xo.html