Any tips removing Poulan clutches/sprockets? (I have a tool that fits but they just spin...)

[eyehearttrees]

I know it's opposite-threaded, I've got an angle-grinder's wheel-change-tool that just happens to fit and it spins but I'm just spinning it clockwise indefinitely (I used a thinner-diameter rope than usual to block my piston, could it be possible that it's just 'getting past' it? Every time I do a clockwise rotation of the clutch/sprocket assembly, there is a very 'hard' spot in the turn, it's not in the same spot every rotation so not coming from the axle..)

Any & all tips would be greatly appreciated, the 2nd sprocket/clutch assembly I'm trying to remove doesn't even have dimples for a tool, am figuring 1-at-a-time ;D

 

[eyehearttrees]

They're poulans FWIW, the one I'm trying to work on at the moment is a 1977 XXV/25d, although I also want to take the clutch/sprocket assembly from a more modern (and comparable displacement) poulan wood shark in hopes of it being compatible, the measurements while-assembled are all on-point and poulan does a lot of homogeneous parts through their inventory (I know a 30yr gap changes things but the sizes match for the axle itself and for the clutch & sprocket diameters, am strongly expecting it to be drop-in...expecting & hoping!!)

 

[Tom Dunlap]

I ran 25’s for many years

Here’s how I removed the drum

Remove the spark plug
Put your thumb over the plug hole and turn the drum until you feel compression. Make a note of its position. Do it a second time. Note the position. Now turn the drum half that rotation. The cylinder will be close to the bottom of rotation
Take about 12” if recoil cord and gold it in half
Stuff the cord in the cylinder holding the ends outside. Fill as much cord as you can
Turn the drum by hand to compress the cord in the cylinder. Counterclockwise if I’m not mistaken
I’d use an open end adjustable (Crescent) wrench on the ‘bar’part of the clutch assembly. Turn the clutch firmly. It will pop off

If you have, or fabricate the tool you can use an impact wrench

The sprocket/drum that I used were Oregon