Building the MS460

My options are as follows:

1.) To hell with it, part it out, wash my hands of it and forget it ever happened. I have a fair amount of $$ into the saw as is and am reluctant to spend more. However, I will not come close to recovering all of my investment with this option.

2.) Buy another rough looking but complete and undamaged crankcase and repaint it like I did this one. Roughly $125 + shipping. Painting it will never be nearly as durable as the OEM powder coat but just might be enough of a facelift to make it presentable. Still going to make for an expensive saw.

3.) Go all in, new crankcase for $200 + shipping, sell off as many parts as I can to lessen the sting. Saw will look and run fabulous and I'll be quite happy with it other than the $$ invested.

4.) Or there is option #4, tear it down again, JB Weld the puncture, (the damage is not in a sensitive area or structural) and rebuild. This will relegate the saw to my personal collection and no farther.

No matter what I do, there is no longer any profit to be made with this saw, so that renders the keep it or sell it argument moot.

Gonna think on this one for now, but I'll make a decision here in the next 12-24 hrs. Y'all will find out what I decided in short order.

You forgot option 5........ put a farm boss bar on it and sell it on ebay for more than retail

j/k and trying to lighten the mood...... sorry this happened. Sucks when things go wrong during a rebuild.

Personally, I'd JB her up and keep it for yourself.

Can't weld it? I wouldn't even think of spending $200 on a case unless it was the ONLY way to fix it.

Could weld it, although I've never done Magnesium before, should be similar to Aluminum. Realistically, the JB will likely be just as good and far less risky.

I vote to JB weld it up for yourself Brian. You now have your top end covered and can move on to the other saws you want without any more investment. It will still end up a damm good running saw!

Whats your grand total so far?

Can you weld magnesium????

The money you spent is spent. Water under the bridge...

The decision you have to make is would you rather spend X and have a 460, or make Y parting out the saw?

I would personally JB it up since it is a puncture and not a stress crack (easier to repair an much better chance on not expanding in the future). My old Suzuki dirtbike had dual plugs...the previous owner stripped one and I ended up JB welding it. If it can repair a cylinder head without issue for 5 years I think it will be fine for a crankcase.

If you part it... (If)

Wanna sell that OEM DP Muff?

(My vote is for a Weld or the JB may work/ either way, keep going)

Hard to say Jay. Two parts saws and a freebie donor for the engine stuff. Some new OEM stuff too. Have almost enough two build two saws, need another back handle and carburetor and I could. Hmmmmm.

Have a lot of extra stuff that I need to get cataloged, photographed, and on eBay.

Can -> I <- weld magnesium? I've never tried it. Never had the opportunity till now. It is certainly possible if you have a TIG welder (I have access to several.) and the right filler material. I'll look at welding it but I think it could get dicey with the powder coat. Might still be better off JBing this one and keeping it. I've always wanted to build an "aftermarket Annie" to test aftermarket P&C kits and this might be the perfect case to try that with. Or port one of my OEM cylinders and just make it a clapped out Rat Rod of a saw.

MM,
I will trade you a perfectly good 046 case for those evil Stihl case splitter tools. Obviously they made the process too fast and caused a distraction. Baaaad tool.

What side is damaged, clutch or PTO ? I have a spare clutch side as i need a PTO as well( already donated to another breakage) for a matched set.

Sorry about your situation.
A

If you can come in under 500.00 total, I would get a new case.

Yep, tig it and be done with it. I would have no problem buying a saw with that type of a repair, with JB, I would have a problem buying that saw...

A patched saw is my saw. Maybe a giveaway (or dirt cheap) but with full disclosure on what was done.

Problem with the TIG weld approach is the powercoat on the backside of the weld area. I'm worried it will contaminate the weld and it's not accessible to grind off.

Not with this saw I can't. But with some "program modifications", using what I already have, I could easily do a MS460 build for $500.

Those tools aren't evil and are leaving this shop over my dead body. The problem was the bonehead assembling the saw used the wrong screw to re-mount the oil pump. And yes, I was working late in the evening, having to leave for work in a few minutes, and not being as careful as I should have been.

Do you know how freakin' tough that PC is? I tried grit blasting the clutch cover. 80 grit @ 100 psi and it took forever! I thought of it too, and I'm probably going to do it that way. On a positive note, blasting PC makes for a damn nice primer for the paint to stick to.

We machine titanium too. Those chips are fun.

Yes, no, maybe so, lol. I think I'm going to wind up with at least 1 460 from this adventure.

Ok, not exactly carnage pics, but here are a few shots of the damage.





The culprit.



You can see there is only about 1/16" of material making up the crankcase wall.

Plan is in place to continue building the saw. Stay tuned!