I assembled the trimmer, tightening the clutch plates as hard as I could using the shop-made tool shown in my previous post. I was afraid to go too tight, because all I was working against was the piston pressing up on the wad of nylon cord I had pushed down into the cylinder. I didn't want to spoil the piston rod or bearings in some way by yanking down too hard with the tool. Still, the clutch plates must be pretty tight.
So I ran the trimmer for about 20 minutes cutting grass. So far so good, the flywheel is obviously still engaged on its taper. I guess my failure with the first flywheel was from not tightening it down properly by fully tightening the clutch plate over it to jam the flywheel onto the taper. Fingers crossed.
