My Husq. 346 XP has developed a notable and irritating tendency, especially in thick logs, to drift rightward in an arc as it cuts, instead of cutting straight. It's a real pain and then I end up with angled logs that are much more likely to slip sideways in the splitter.
This started about the time that two things occurred, and they occurred at about the same time:
1) I hit a piece of quartz protruding out of the ground and that I didn't know was under a log that I was cutting; I pulled back on the saw as soon as I detected it, the teeth actually didn't look too worse for wear (considering) and I have sharpened the chain thoroughly several times since
2) the worm gear that drives the bar oiler stripped and I didn't detect it until I'd run a full saw-tank full of gas that way doing some pretty intense (hurried) cutting in some dense yellow birch. When I refueled and I saw a full oiler tank and empty fuel tank I put the saw down, used another, got the parts (including a new oiler pump), and now the oiler works better than even when the saw was new.
I just bought a new chain, because I think at least part of what's going on is that hitting the quartz must've affected the chain more than I can detect or than I can actually clean up via filing.
What I am wondering is- could that fuel-tank's worth of running with an un-oiled bar and chain have wallowed out the guide groove in the bar in a way that is part of the side drift when cutting?
I guess that cutting with the new chain will tell me a lot, but I've never really worn a bar out to date, so don't even know what to look for to gauge when it is time for a new bar.
Thanks!
This started about the time that two things occurred, and they occurred at about the same time:
1) I hit a piece of quartz protruding out of the ground and that I didn't know was under a log that I was cutting; I pulled back on the saw as soon as I detected it, the teeth actually didn't look too worse for wear (considering) and I have sharpened the chain thoroughly several times since
2) the worm gear that drives the bar oiler stripped and I didn't detect it until I'd run a full saw-tank full of gas that way doing some pretty intense (hurried) cutting in some dense yellow birch. When I refueled and I saw a full oiler tank and empty fuel tank I put the saw down, used another, got the parts (including a new oiler pump), and now the oiler works better than even when the saw was new.
I just bought a new chain, because I think at least part of what's going on is that hitting the quartz must've affected the chain more than I can detect or than I can actually clean up via filing.
What I am wondering is- could that fuel-tank's worth of running with an un-oiled bar and chain have wallowed out the guide groove in the bar in a way that is part of the side drift when cutting?
I guess that cutting with the new chain will tell me a lot, but I've never really worn a bar out to date, so don't even know what to look for to gauge when it is time for a new bar.
Thanks!