I bought my Stihl 192C new. First bar lasted about 4 years of pretty heavy use. Second Stihl replacement was the same. Both were non greasable. Earlier this year on a parts run to the dealer I decided to get a spare as I had dressed the 2nd several times and was getting close to the non hardened surface. The dealer said he was out of Stihl replacements and sold me an Oregon bar. When I got home I looked online and saw someone had a good deal for 2 do I ordered those for future spares. Within 7 1/2 gallons of premix, the sprocket had sunk in the tip. I do grease one shot every 3 tanks and do little to no plunge cutting with it. It looked liked the sprocket had either wore the center pin or wore the center hole in the sprocket bigger. The new bars were white but have the same part # as the gray so I threw one of those on. It lasted a little less time than the first one. Now on the 3rd bar and it's doing the same but has lasted longer. What is going on with these? NEVER had bars die this fast. The other thing is these throw off chains a lot. Never had that happen this much either. I do keep them adjusted correctly and could understand if I was whacking small brush but these do it pretty regular on normal cutting. Yes, the oiler is working fine and runs dry with the fuel in proportion. I contacted Oregon about it and they never did respond. Just wondering if I'm the only "lucky" one that this has happened to. I've run other oregon stuff prior with expected wear but this is just too much. Pretty sad to me as I thought a greaseable tip would last longer than one without.
How tight do you run the chain? Is the oil hole on the bar plugged? Those bars are blue so they got extremely hot for some reason. Even if they have a grease hole I never grease them, they will last just as long on no grease as greased. If you grease it you need to all the time because the grease seals out the bar oil getting to it.
Well they’ve made a lot of bars for many oem saw Brands and even made some bars for Stihl that were labeled Stihl in Canada. Something to do with some import laws in Canada I was told but who knows why for sure.
I suppose i should've specified but i meant the Oregon found in most big box stores around here. I'm sure their top tier stuff is comparable to oem.
I adjust them like I always do. Snug till I can pull the chain and just see the bottom of it over the bar. I've cut for abour 50 years and never had an issue with bars before these. Holes are all open and the oil is in the rails, not running down the side of the bar. The reason the tip is blue is because the center rivet wore so quick, the sprocket pushed back into the bar to where the bottom of the chain rides on the end of the tip causing friction. I'm assuming the tips are not hardened and just like when you get beyond the thin hardened section on the rails of the bar, they blue up quick and drag. If you are talking about the blue on the flats, that is factory under the paint. Less than 1/8 inch gets heated to hardened it. Pretty much like case hardening. That id why you can only dress rails so many times before you get into the mild steel and at that point, the bar is done.
They might have gotten bought out, subbed out some stuff to make more and let quality suffer. I've used their bars in the past and not had an issue. Just like everything else, you can't rely on a name anymore. Heck, my grandfather was a saw dealer in the 50's/60's and Dad went to meetings with Oregon reps.
Oregon’s making some of the cheaper stuff in China I’ve heard but couldn’t say for sure. Stihl bar rails are inductance hardened don’t know how Oregon does there’s. Stihl uses stellite on the tips of the hard bars, I’ve heard some guys I work work that have had some Oregon bar issues few years ago but said the newer ones were good again .
Try it without the grease. The Stihl lasted without, maybe something about the small radius tip runs better with just oil.
I don't see what you are referring to in the pictures? All the oregon made bars I have, that are the 3/8 lp size, look like that. Can you get a hold of one of the teeth with pliars and check for slop in and out in line with the bar?
You can move the sprocket in and out almost 3/16 of an inch. Notice in the one pic you can't even see the sprocket trrth much at all? In the last pic I was trying to show that one was even spreading
Ahh. I see what you mean now. Thats a bummer. I never grease any of my bars so maybe that is the difference like stated above. Now I'll be checking all of mine. You are essentially running a hard nose bar at this point.
I bet. Mine aren't smoking and getting hot so hopefully I'm good. All but one of mine are made by oregon but wear names like echo, Makita ect. The one that reads Oregon is a .325 bar. I have stihl and sugihara bars as well. They both have been excellent so far.
I kind of think it was a bad batch of bars/sprockets, poor QC. I bought 4 Oregon 12” bars for my Stihl & Echo pole saws & my Echo 2511T. One has all but crapped the bed on the sprocket end, the other 3 haven’t been put on yet. All 4 of them didn’t have the proper clearance for the drive links to fit in the rails. At first I thought I had a burr on a drive link but then tried a new chain & had the same issue. It was either too much paint, the rails were pinched or both. So I believe it to be just poor processing & poor QC.
Kind of what I figured. Sad part is I will not risk buying another Oregon part from a "bad batch". Pretty sure they knew there was an issue and I did contact them. If they don't have the time or desire to address an issue, I no longer have the desire to purchase their products. Going through 3 bars in less than 6 months is unacceptable.
