Not paying heed to bar gauge and a possible problem!

[jamesmcsparron]

The bar on my Husq 394 was changed about 8 years ago. So it's well worn. The gauge size printed on the bar tells me it's .058". I've been buying my chains for this saw from Patrick, a parts supplier for 10+ years. Then Patrick introduced his son Paddy to the shop and went off to see the world. Last week I needed a new chain for Husq 394 so I took my old chain to the shop, threw it on the counter and said to the wee fella "give us wan of those lad". He came back 15 mins later with a box containing a chain. I took it home, without checking it, put it on the 394 and went to clear a site the next day. Less than half way through logging a medium sized spruce the nose sprocket disintegrated and the groove on the nose spread like a spread thing. I immediately phoned the parts shop and got talking to Patrick's sister Patricia. "Can I order a new bar for a Husqvarna 394 cutty"? I asked. "Call for it the mara" she replied. I did. I took the bar home and tried to put it on the saw. The gauge was too heavy for the bar, not the nose funny enough, but too thick for the bar! How the **** did it fit on the old bar? It must have been worn enough for it to fit perhaps? The old bar had .058" stamped on it. The new bar had .058 stamped on it! What was going on? I haven't measured it yet with a caliper, because I don't own one, but I'm thinking Paddy sold me a Stihl .063" chain for the Husqvarna.058" bar.
Here's my question; Could the .063" chain have fitted onto a well worn .058" bar and then caused the sprocket nose to fail? If so should wee Paddy be responsible and pay me the €120 I paid Patricia for the new bar? Or should I say nowt, just be more careful and pay more heed to what chain I'm putting on my bar?
The other side of the coin is; perhaps the old bar was ready to crash anyway?

 

[Leeroy]

While I've never tried it, I've heard of guys running .058" chain in a worn .050" bar.
So assume .063" chain might work on an old, worn .058" bar...maybe?

 

[link]

You can fit a step up in gauge in a worn bar easily, but perhaps not all the way around the track.
It should cause some metal wear but not a total desintegration of the nose/sprocket arrangement, it must be more too it.

Like they say in the air investigation series on discovery; "there was a series if happenings leading to the crash...

 

[sean donato]

Your sprocket was trash already mate. Paddy is an idiot if he sold you the wrong chain, but just as bad as not checking it out right. Chalk it up to live and learn, give the boy and earful for giving the wrong chain and carry on.

 

[RedneckChainsawRepair]

I've had guys bring in 043 bars running 050 before too. If bars are worn folks get away with it.

 

[heimannm]

Just so you know, it is quite common for the sprocket nose to be wider than the bar, some are specific to a gauge and many are one size fits all so you can run .050, .058, or .063 depending on what the rails in the bar are supposed to be.

Mark

 

[TRTermite]

Just so you know, it is quite common for the sprocket nose to be wider than the bar, some are specific to a gauge and many are one size fits all so you can run .050, .058, or .063 depending on what the rails in the bar are supposed to be.

Mark

Total/Tsumura bar tips (3 rivet) I have replaced are .050/.058 tips or .063 they are replaceable/expendable and if you do a lot of bore cutting/felling and/or if your oiler is being stingy they will fail uh l'il much mo'e offner. (Attempt tu git sum "Midwest Lingo into the @jamesmcsparron Irish Blarney )

 

[user 122190]

Its your saw, so you are responsible for it. With such an old bar anything is possible. My bet is that you got the right chain, else you would have notice something was not right from the beginning. If something was off and you didn't notice it, or went ahead and used it anyways, well that's on you.

Get a set of calipers and feeler gauges. Mine are over 40yo and still like new and have been invaluable over all those years. Today there are ones that switch from metric to SAE and display a digital read. So so cool, and they are very inexpensive.

 

[link]

Usually the bars I get in my workshop are mostly worn (widened) in the middle of the length of the bar, close to the bar mount or close to the tip it is usually not that worn (widened the track width).

If I put a chain on it and it turns without distraction, its good to go. If it seems to have some abnormal resistance when turning the chain there should be doubt obviously. Either the chain drive tooth are damaged from de-railing or the guide bar track is too narrow for the actual chain gauge.

If I measure with my digital caliper the drive tooth at the chain to be at about .045 to .050, then the guide bar track should be at .058 at least.

 

[HumBurner]

Usually the bars I get in my workshop are mostly worn (widened) in the middle of the length of the bar, close to the bar mount or close to the tip it is usually not that worn (widened the track width).

If I put a chain on it and it turns without distraction, its good to go. If it seems to have some abnormal resistance when turning the chain there should be doubt obviously. Either the chain drive tooth are damaged from de-railing or the guide bar track is too narrow for the actual chain gauge.

If I measure with my digital caliper the drive tooth at the chain to be at about .045 to .050, then the guide bar track should be at .058 at least.

Always interesting.

Most of my bars widen at the tail-end more than anywhere else.