Grease It?

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MCW

Somebody's talking crap here & it ain't the tree!
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I do grease mine but am not sure if its necessary. I'm the only one I know who has siezed a sprocket up too!
I know guys that have done a fair bit of cutting over many years in tough conditions who didn't even know that those little holes were for grease :)
 
heimannm
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edisto - so little patience for the grasshoppers...

I grease the ones that are designed for it, I some how have managed to keep the little compression grease gun that came with my Jonsered 621 back in 1981 and use it every tank, sometime I miss a fill but not often.

I also have a couple of Stihl bar with no provision for grease and they also seem to hold up pretty well.

Could someone offer a rational explanation to the suggestion that if you start greasing you have to continue or else...?

Mark
 
edisto

edisto

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edisto - so little patience for the grasshoppers...

Every one of those links goes straight to a sprocket greasing vs not greasing thread...here I thought I was being helpful.

Could someone offer a rational explanation to the suggestion that if you start greasing you have to continue or else...?

My guess would be that because grease (and oil) collect dust and dirt (and chain filings), but the grease isn't cleared from the sprocket like oil is, the only way to get rid of the contaminants trapped by grease is to push the old grease out with new grease. Contaminants trapped by oil will be flushed by new oil.
 
heimannm
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Easy edisto, I know what you are trying to say about not looking...some folks are just getting started here though...

Grease is nothing more but oil with a thickener (lithium, soap, clay, synthetics, etc), if I am running a saw with an automatic oiler then I'm flushing the grease out with fresh oil anyway, what could a little extra lubrication hurt?

I regularly sharpen chains on the saw and don't have any issues with filings getting into the bearings. As noted I routinely grease the sprocket nose bearings on the bars that have them and have never had one plug up with dirt or chips/sawdust.

In 30 years or so, I have not had any issue with sprocket nose bearings and don't quite understand the problem with routine greasing.

Mark
 
brncreeper

brncreeper

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FWIW, I have found that very little or no grease all is better than filling the sprocket nose to a point where grease is coming out of the rails.
 
edisto

edisto

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Easy edisto, I know what you are trying to say about not looking...some folks are just getting started here though...

I guess I need to start using smiley faces or something...your admonishment didn't rile me, and like I said, I gave the OP all of the thread links rather than just say "use the search". I thought that would be more informative then telling him whether or not I grease my sprocket.

Grease is nothing more but oil with a thickener (lithium, soap, clay, synthetics, etc), if I am running a saw with an automatic oiler then I'm flushing the grease out with fresh oil anyway, what could a little extra lubrication hurt?

I have no idea what the boundary layer on the grease would be. I have heard the "if you grease, keep greasing, if not, then don't" argument a lot, and that's the only rationale I could think of for it. I'm sure some of the grease gets flushed, but some doesn't, so you keep adding a little more to flush out the outer layer.

Personally, I use a "wonderlube". Back in the 80s a friend of mine was selling Pro-Ma, a concentrated oil additive that has "spherical micro-metallic particles which provide superior lubrication, reducing friction, heat and wear. They conform to the irregularities on the surface of the moving parts resulting in a repaired and more easily lubricated surface."

He gave me a free bottle, and I still have about half of the original bottle after 20 years. Don't know if it works or not, but I use it to lube things I usually forget to lube, just in case it really is magical. I put a drop on the hole with a syringe, spin the sprocket, and repeat. If it works, then I am protected by the "microspheres", and if not, I'm just one of the guys that doesn't grease the sprocket.

Guess that make me a fence sitter.
 
almondgt

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I grease that tip from both sides every trip out. Even spin the sprocket while I squirt the grease in so it is even in side. Gives me the feeling I am doing the most I can to keep my saws components tip top. Between greasing and bar oil you would expect the bars tip to wear less. Grease is cheap. Chainsaw bars aren't all that much $$ either, Just my .02
J O N S E R E D IS MY PREFERRED :greenchainsaw: MACHINE
 
Boogieman142

Boogieman142

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I don't grease the stihl ones cause they are bulletproof but the lower quality oregon and husky ones i grease them if i can remember to. J/K about the bar thing, just wanted to see how many people i'd get all worked up. As long it guides the chain they all work, same with saws, all they have to is pull the chain.
 
bonker81

bonker81

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Why would the manufacturer make the tip greaseable if it's not supposed to be greased???

I grease mine at least once a day when in use. Why wouldn't you?
 
valekbrothers

valekbrothers

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Could someone please explain to me how oil is going to get into the sprocket?

I'm not sure exactly what the speed that sprocket is spinning, part knowing a little bit about cetrifigul force, tells me the oil is not going to get anywhere close to the center of that sprocket.........
 
FarmTough

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I've been using grease on a couple of bars while none on the others, just wanted to see what some guys here had to say.

I'm an old time member of other forums and have treated newbies like crap so I can see where some of these repetetive questions get old.
 
Cletuspsc

Cletuspsc

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I never grease my tips. . . .not gonna carry a grease gun around with me, i did try a little test once and the tips never lasted any longer being greased.
 
Shagbark

Shagbark

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Every other outing I grease mine when I clean the beast up. I get the sprocket bearing at the same time. Touch up the chain tooth and depth gages with the file also.
 

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