Had a new experience today with the saw in hands, about waist high, fresh chain and just a rip'en through some 12" maple rounds on a tree that was blown over on an up hill grade. I've cut up my share of dead center trees before but when I hit the lake inside of it I couldn't get my finger off the throttle fast enough ! Talk about a brown stinky water bath… I thought my son was going to die laughing. Anyways is there anything extra I need to do other than my normal remove the bar and clean everything? I ran it for another hour after the chain spin bath and the heat from the saw seemed to have dried most everything out when I took it apart tonight. Also the bar seems to be showing some excessive ware on the bottom (when mounted to the saw) right below the adjuster pin hole but no ware on the main part of the bar yet, the bar oil tank is close to empty per tank of gas. This saw is new to me so I keep the chain tension the same as saws I've had in the past and never seen it ware there, any thoughts or advice ? Thanks Todd
Wear in that location is generally from a loose chain. Tension it a bit tighter and make sure the nose of the bar is raised while you do so.
Yes it is, I checked and this chain will not fit my .o50 husky bar, the new chain box = .325 .063 matches the Stihl bar numbers.
I do always keep the bar tip up and worried about over tensioning sometimes but very possible what seems over tight to me might be just right. I will flip the bar and run a little tighter than my normal. Thanks MM Anything extra I should do about the chain slinging water ? That was a first for me.
The water is probably a non-issue. If you're concerned, just spray something on it to displace the water (WD-40) and then just cut some clean wood for a few minutes. Double check that everything matches up and that you're slinging some oil. Once you do that, flip the bar and watch for the wear pattern. I'm thinking that MasterMech is correct and your chain is just a touch loose. Good luck!
Remember a new chain will stretch. Keep an eye on the tension while you are running the saw, may need to retention as you are using it. As for the water, should be a none issue. Ole Shelby runs his submerged in the Louisiana swamp all the time.
Water won't hurt it short term like that as long as the saw is oiling. Tension on sprocket nose bars should be snug on the adjuster screw with the chain cold and the nose raised. Basically as tight as it will go and still spin freely. Do not tighten a warm/hot chain this tight. When the chain cools it will put LOTS of pressure on the crankshaft and possibly bend it. If the chain gets ratchety feeling, either the chain or the sprocket is worn "out-of-pitch".
