I lost one of the nuts for my new MS311. It came off after I swapped chains. I must not have tightened it enough. Do they sell those as an accessory??
The larger dawgs are nice in very thick bark but other wise it just shortens the cutting length of the bar and chain. And then some people like the way they look.
Some people don't mind smacking the crankcase into the flair, or I guess they cut little tree's. I like dogs to give me a little clearance especially with a wrap handle. However I do admit that some dogs are ridiculous in length. The new ones on my 661 are only 5/8" longer than stock but it's enough that the muffler isn't scorching the bark anymore. Pro safety is a decent set.
I like having big dawgs on big saws for cutting big trees but a 59cc saw does not fall into that category for me. Your 661 is a different story and made for big dawgs and for cutting big trees.
I love the big dogs on my dolmar. Room to let chips fall and sharp for pivot. I’ve still started bark on “smolder”, dang cat muffler. No drawbacks. If you miss that 2” of bar then you need a longer bar. My 28 is great!
I lost one of the small dolmar bar nuts once at a wood scrounge about a 45 minute drive away in a ton of chips since I was noodling. I walked around kicking the dust and got lucky to find it. Now I'm extra cautious about bar nut torque! At least the stihl nuts are quite large.
Don't feel bad we've all done something like that. Could have been worse, could have been like this guy!
I have 4 different bags of bar nuts some have the flange, buy them 10 in a bag. ya I have lost a couple over the years - but I have them for my customers. course if they have already applied the southern lock nut, ain't no help.