1998 Husqvarna 254xp guide bar length reduction

[Phatmatt]

Hi from the UK! I have just been gifted 5 acres of mixed woodland (mostly hazel and ash) that has been regularly coppiced for over 20 years. I currently have a Husky 254xp running a 15" guide bar (cutting length). To enable me to get my chainsaw guide bar comfortably between the poles for selective cutting i would like to replace the 15" guide bar with a 10" guide bar. The Husky manual recommends no less than 13". So my question is, can I put a 10" guide bar on a Husky 254xp, will I need to change the sprocket (likely) and if so what size sprocket and chain would I require? I consider myself capable of carrying out the work but am unsure about bar/sprocket/chain sizes. Many thanks for any help or guidance offered.

 

[TreeswingerPerth]

Dunno that you can get a bar less than 13" for your 254 .
We have a Stihl MS181 running a 10" Sugihara bar and 1/4 chain we use for small tree groundwork . The 1/4 chain leaves a nice finish on pruning , the 181 is cheap as chips too .

 

[computeruser]

You can get bars in that mount that are 11". Not sure if they are still in production, but Oregon sold them some years ago and may still do so. I bought a bunch of them, never used them, and sold them off a while back. They still come up on eBay from time to time. They are .325" .058" and something like 52dl, as I recall. They are skinny little bars so 7t rim is probably all you can safely run with the risk of spitting chains off more easily with an 8t rim.