My saw stalled out while cutting a log. I took the bar and chain off and had to free up the cog at the end of the bar. Lubed it good and put a brand new chain on. After I had the chain on the bar I noticed that the bar was upside down. Does it matter? Does noodling dull up a cross cut chain faster? Any good source for a rip chain for my Poulan? Checking for a bent bar? Do I take the bar off and lay a straight edge across it? The saw is not cutting as easy as it use to since it jammed up. Maybe the wood I am into now. Got rained out and plan to hit the chain with the file and clean the saw since I can't cut.
Bar is reversible and should be flipped occasionally..... it helps the bar wear more evenly. Kinda like rotating your vehicle tires. Which reminds me, I need to do that. You should also clean up or "dress" the rails with a file where the chain rides. Clean out the groove too if you'd like. And the oil holes.
It is hard nosed. I had it spinning freely after it bond up. Into cleaning mode now I will see if it is still free, if not may be time for a new bar. If it is bond up, I will have to investigate bars. Saw is only about 9 months old and don't know if it is warranted. If not it won't get an OEM bar.
You probably just have some wood chips jammed in the sprocket. The easiest way to clear that is to leave the chain right on and jam the teeth down on a log then work it back and forwards until it starts moving again, and then blip the throttle to blast out the rest. To help prevent it from happening in the first place, adjust your chain tension to take up the slack. You don't need a milling chain for noodling. See my thread here: Noodling - a How-to
