Pitch Question

[mjdtexan]

Its been suggested by some on this site that I would do better with a .325 pitch on my 455 Rancher. I have contacted Bailey's and they have everything that is needed to make the conversion. Its pretty cheap to do it. I have a couple of questions though.

1. Why would one pitch be better than the other

2. what is the pitch? Does it have to do with the part of the chain that rides
on the sprocket?

I do thank yall for helping me to understand why I was stretching the heck out of my chains. Turns out I'm a bonehead. I wasnt cleaning the bar out, the oil holes were completely plugged and I never sharpened the chain. I will now start cleaning the bar every time I use the saw and learn how to sharpen the chain.

 

[bump_r]

The pitch is essentially the link length. Since the tie strap and cutter links are different lengths, one can't just measure a rivet-to rivet to get the pitch. You gotta measure a long-and-short together and average the distance. (Distance between three rivets divided by 2). Chain pitch is the roughtly the same as thread pitch (coarse versus fine thread), if that helps.

Why would that help? Easy, the chain is proportionately smaller, in this discussion, the cutter is of interest. Each tooth has to remove less material to effect the cut, so it's more efficient. Why, then, do not all saws use the smaller pitch? Because they are not as strong overall. A big saw would bust a .325 chain, but your 455 and my MS290 should not pose that problem.

Just don't ask me about gauge - I have no clue as to why there are so many gauges and I have yet to see a convincing argument on this forum for having one versus the other.