Chainsaw Bar Questions

[jeffesonm]

The MS660 I bought used came with a 32" bar and a bunch of chains. The thing seems to pull right, so I looked up online all the possible things it might be. The bar itself is fairly rough with a few chips out of it. It also had lips on both the top and bottom rails, which I ground off using a file. This seemed to help a bit but it still pulls right. I laid it flat on my concrete slab garage floor and as best I can tell the bar itself isn't bent. I also tried a different chain, and resharpening one of the chains again, but I don't think it's my sharpening... never had any issues with my 036/20" bar. I also tried swapping the the 20" bar onto the 660 and it cut awesome, and no pulling to the right.

So the questions are...

1) Anything else I can do to try and fix this bar?

2) New 32" Stihl bar is $160... ouch. What about an Oregon? or Forrester? Or...?


From what I've read some other brands are maybe not so durable, but I'll only be using this every now and then as the 036/20" is almost always enough. I also thought about stepping down to a 28" or 24" as this would be cheaper and the 32" is a bear to handle, but again, I rarely use the big saw and I've already got 6 32" chains.

 

[JustWood]

Bar rails are wore or spread.

 

[Bigg_Redd]

Bar rails are wore or spread.

This


There's only a few things that can cause uneven cutting. They are as follows

1) As mentioned above, your bar is out of true

2) Your teeth are sharper on one side than on the other (very easy to do when hand filing)

3) Your rakers are taller on one side (also easy to do when hand filing)

4) Your chain is loose

 

[BobUrban]

Do you have a plumb stick(level) Iron workers use them for plumbing not leveling, hence other name.

A concrete floor can be deceptive with regards to perfect flatness.

If it is a worn as you say the bar is likely the culprit unfortunately. Get a new bar and use that one as a back up.

 

[Bigg_Redd]

Do you have a plumb stick(level) Iron workers use them for plumbing not leveling, hence other name.

A concrete floor can be deceptive with regards to perfect flatness.

If it is a worn as you say the bar is likely the culprit unfortunately. Get a new bar and use that one as a back up.

Two things

1) Carpenters use plumb sticks as well

2) If it's a Stihl bar I doubt it's worn out

 

[Dairyman]

Are you sure that your chain size matches your bar? If the bar was in that bad of shape I'd pay for it to be redressed by a pro.