Chainsaw bearing lube - oil, grease, or nothing?

[davefr]

In my Husky 41 rebuild, I've encountered 4 bearings. (sprocket needle bearing, 2 crankshaft bearings, and a needle bearing at the connecting rod).

Should I manually lube any of these prior to re-assembly? Do the lower bearings get enough residual oil from fuel vapors or do they need a "get started" dose?

If any of these would benefit from assembly lube, should I use plain oil, undiluted 50:1 oil, or grease?

Thanks

 

[treeclimber165]

Personally, I would use a light coat of straight 2-cycle oil. Metal parts only wear when they don't have a protective coat of oil on them. I always kept a little bottle handy when reassembling any 2-cycle motor and put a drop or two on ALL moving parts. This was just to protect the metal until the fuel mix reached it. On the sprocket needle bearing I always use a drop of grease.

 

[homelite360]

when i repack needle bearings i use a light coat of greese to keep them in place and give them start up protection. and for the rest of the parts that do not have needles i use a coating of stp oil treatement. it works great for an assembly lube. hope this helps

 

[confused]

in response to Treeclimber,

Not to be a completely anal retentive jack!@# but metal parts wear whether or not oil (or some other type of lubricant) is present. What’s in question is to the degree of wear when there is a lubricant in between the moving metal parts. It would certainly explain why the saw was rebuilt in the first place, because the rings, bearings, piston, etc were worn out from use.

However, I do agree a splash or a thorough soaking of straight 2-stroke oil to help things get situated before the oil from the mix gets there is a good idea for sure. I not so sure I would use grease or any other type of foreign lubricant that wouldn’t be in the engine for its service life, since the chances of the grease burning out is quite slim. So I would use the 2-stroke oil to wet them all down then slap her back together and break all the new parts in accordingly.

your anal retentive jack!@#
confused

 

[treeclimber165]

confused-

OK, so you and I agree. I don't think that makes either one of us anal retentive, just capable of using common sense and mechanical knowledge. You just went into greater depth with your explanation.
As for the grease on the drive sprocket needle bearing, That is outside the crankcase and centrifigal force prevents bar oil from reaching it. Therefore I use a heavier grease. I also replace it whenever replacing the sprocket. The new sprocket comes with a new bearing usually.

 

[HomeDelight Man]

Hi everybody, Well us Homelite guys must read from the same book. On most Homelites I us grease to get the needle bearings to stay in place during assembly. On ball bearing I just use the two stroke oil. This may not be the Husky way but it is the Homelite way. Good luck, Jonathan

 

[homelite360]

i do agree and plus have you ever tried to put needle bearings back into a saw with out anything like greese to hold them in place. try it some time and let me know how many of them you threw across the shop.