I bought a new opened box 25" Stihl Rollamatic "E" bar at a flea market and tried to place a new from the box Stihl Oilmatic chain on it and it won't fit into the bar groove. The chain will go around the sprocket but I would need something beside my bare hands to get it in the groove all the way. Sorry I didn't get any pics.
Have you verified that they're the same gauge? Any chance it's a .050" gauge bar and a .058" or .063" gauge chain? The bar will have the gauge stamped onto the rear side; it'll likely read "1.3" or "1.6" (that's millimeters and translates to .050" or .063"). The chain should have the gauge on the packaging label, or you can check the thickness of the drive links with a caliper.
Yea your bar does not match your chain. I bet the gauge is different like said above. Bar is narrower than chain.
I posted some pics of the bar a while ago, still looking for the pics. The receipt for the chain is Stihl-36RM384. More to follow-
I've had a somewhat similar situation Unicorn1, The chain and bar gauge match, but the tie straps don't touch the bar at and around the nose. It's like the bar sprocket teeth are too long, holding the links off the bar a bit. It tracks ok, but.... Eric VW
That's how it should be. On the modern sprocket nose Stihl bars (and others?) the links don't drag on the nose rails, but are held off just a tad via the sprocket. That keeps the drag/friction down.
Sounds encouraging. BUT, that's on a combo Forester .058 24" bar/ .058x 3/8 full chisel off the spool(forester.com). By contrast, I also purchased a .058 28" bar with both .058x3/8 safety chain & a full chisel(both off the spool) and they fit tight to the bar around the bar... I mite call Brian Rush @ forester. What do you think, NTS. Eric VW
Might be worth a call to them. I've not had or used Forester brand bars & chains, but it certainly seems odd that you would find different fitment between the different bar lengths & chain types?
