One case tool to rule them all!

[Tor R]

You guys are overthinking it.
It's possible to buy a metal thickness blade set that is good to have for crank centering.
Incidentally, I'm not a fan of screwing crank bearings into place in the housing with the cold pressing technique. I have the 550 mk 2 bearing tool for exactly that, years since I bought it, and it's still unused.
Heating and cooling technology has worked for decades, and still works today.

 

[Stump Shot]

You guys are overthinking it.
It's possible to buy a metal thickness blade set that is good to have for crank centering.

Which is only necessary on very few saws, in fact the only one that comes to mind is the 266SE and XP, as it just has the blind holes the size of the bearing on both sides. I check and find the maximum size feeler gauge that can be inserted alongside between crank and case first before tear down. Then the same gauge can be used upon assembly to index it centered.

 

[dirter]

Heating and cooling technology has worked for decades, and still works today.

Agreed. I used a heat gun for getting the bearings in the case halves. A Stihl shop manual I have called for heating the inner bearing races to install the crank. That just didn't seem like a good idea to me, hence the tools. They worked very well.

 

[Mattyo]

Yeah the crank centering isn't really a thing for most saws. Most of the time you just want to get your bearings positioned properly in the case halves first...then use the crank tools to pull the crank through the bearings. Keep it simple!