Saw chain gets loose very quickly. Need help !

[computeruser]

INTENZ is garbage AND it forces you to buy and use a crap bar. Avoid it.

Figure out why your chain is getting loose. It is either you, the saw, or the chain. Once you figure it out, make the necessary changes and corrections and get on with life.

 

[rafa26]

Saw will be on service tomorrow.

 

[HELSEL]

Yes, i am cutting stumps , but if i run the saw not touching anything, it's still gets loose.

A dull chain will get loose fast.Keep a good edge on it and make sure your drags are filed right.When we cut stumps the chain loosens fast if you hit just a bit a dirt.

Do you notice the top of the cutters turning brown when the chain is loose?


Rick

 

[RED-85-Z51]

INTENZ is garbage AND it forces you to buy and use a crap bar. Avoid it.

Figure out why your chain is getting loose. It is either you, the saw, or the chain. Once you figure it out, make the necessary changes and corrections and get on with life.

For the standard residential and light commercial user, it is fine. No, it is not great for someone who runs the saw all day every day.

The bar is NOT crap. I ran one on I beleive it was my Tanaka ECS415 and it was excellent. When the chain started to sag I just turn the little slot and it snugged it right up, no problem. I also noticed that the chain stayed sharper longer, due to the ease of adjustment.

just because a bar isnt all stainless or powdercoated or fancy doesnt make it crap.

I reccomend them, and so far Ive heard no complaints from customers.

 

[Rspike]

Alright , Here is what ya do . #1 When the chain and bar are on and the cover is also in hand tighten the two nuts on the cover . #2 Take one hand and hold on to the bar at the end and hold it up and then tighten your bar nut on the back closest to the handle with your scrench and then tighten the second bar nut on the right. Left nut one always first and then the right one. I have the Husqvarna 359 and we just cut down 3 good size trees with it and the chain never did need tightened. Good luck . ( note : by holding the end of the bar up it takes out the slack so the bar can be tightened and the bar gets locked in at up vs down and when it gets locked in down and your put pressure on the bar when cutting it loosens the chain when the bar is forced up. )

 

[cuttinscott]

Yes, i am cutting stumps , but if i run the saw not touching anything, it's still gets loose.

Duhh Your cutting stumps.. Did you know the stump of a tree has the highest mineral content of the whole tree.. Where do you think the dirt splashes to when it rains. Stump saws will dull very quickly. With a DULL chain you cause more heat and YES the chain will then STRETCH.

Just my .02
Scott

 

[RED-85-Z51]

Duhh Your cutting stumps.. Did you know the stump of a tree has the highest mineral content of the whole tree.. Where do you think the dirt splashes to when it rains. Stump saws will dull very quickly. With a DULL chain you cause more heat and YES the chain will then STRETCH.

Just my .02
Scott

He said it is loose before he even cuts anything.

 

[sawinredneck]

He said it is loose before he even cuts anything.

UUUUUMMMMMM................. No he didn't, he said he tightens it up per the manual, then it comes loose quickly!!!
Andy

 

[sawinredneck]

OK, my bad, he did say that!!!!!!!!!!!!! SORRY!!!:notrolls2:

 

[HELSEL]

I also noticed that the chain stayed sharper longer, due to the ease of adjustment.

LOL :hmm3grin2orange:

 

[fishhuntcutwood]

Figure out why your chain is getting loose. It is either you, the saw, or the chain. Once you figure it out, make the necessary changes and corrections and get on with life.

Good post Brandon.

He says it's not the oiler, the chain, or his tensioning. We'll trust him on that. As soon as I asked about stump cutting, and it was confirmed, that was enough to convince me that nothing is likely wrong with the saw, though I'd guess the chain is dulling quicker than normal. I've never not had a stump heat up a saw.

 

[fishhuntcutwood]

Saw will be on service tomorrow.

Save your money man, it's the stumps.

I know you said it still gets loose just from running it and not cutting anything, but man, that's ridiculous. If that's the case, and it's loosening under NO load, are your bar nuts stripped?

Like I said before, there's only a few things that can heat up a chain enough to make it stretch like that. If it's not what you're cutting (stumps!), and if it's not just loosening up in the wood, then it's not due to a dull chain. That leaves chain tensioning.

Either that, or you're generationg huge amounts of heat elsewhere-running the saw with the chainbrake on, bogging the saw so much your clutch slips continuously, or you've got a homemade muffler mod that breathes directly onto your bar.

You aren't by chance cutting these stumps under a bridge are you?

 

[RED-85-Z51]

LOL :hmm3grin2orange:

:greenchainsaw: If all I got to do is twist a little thing..Ill do it as much as needed..but once those screw in factory type get worn...I start putting more and more time between tightenings...

I like my Homelite XL..The adjuster broke about 7 years ago...so what I do is pull the bar out by hand until the chain is tight, and put the nut on and tighten it with a 7/16 wrech. Cutting small wood, like firewood, I can cut for 25-30 minutes on a 14" bar before needing to re-tighten. And thats on old nasty chain.

I just like the XL because it is well balanced, light, easy to drop start, and isnt turture on my hands to use...Not a plastic version mind you, an old Aluminum cased one.

 

[THALL10326]

Alright , Here is what ya do . #1 When the chain and bar are on and the cover is also in hand tighten the two nuts on the cover . #2 Take one hand and hold on to the bar at the end and hold it up and then tighten your bar nut on the back closest to the handle with your scrench and then tighten the second bar nut on the right. Left nut one always first and then the right one. I have the Husqvarna 359 and we just cut down 3 good size trees with it and the chain never did need tightened. Good luck . ( note : by holding the end of the bar up it takes out the slack so the bar can be tightened and the bar gets locked in at up vs down and when it gets locked in down and your put pressure on the bar when cutting it loosens the chain when the bar is forced up. )

Bingo Spike. Seems he doing everything right but he never said he raised the tip of the bar up before he tightened it down. Got to raise that tip up before tightening down. Good post Spike.....

 

[fishhuntcutwood]

..but once those screw in factory type get worn...I start putting more and more time between tightenings...

Perhaps I am misreading you, but you really shouldn't tension your chain so tightly as to wear anything out.

And regardless of how much of a pain it is to properly tighten my chain, I do it when it needs it. Not doing so will throw you a chain, and work your saw harder than it needs to be worked.

JMO.

 

[fishhuntcutwood]

Alright , Here is what ya do . #1 When the chain and bar are on and the cover is also in hand tighten the two nuts on the cover . #2 Take one hand and hold on to the bar at the end and hold it up and then tighten your bar nut on the back closest to the handle with your scrench and then tighten the second bar nut on the right. Left nut one always first and then the right one. I have the Husqvarna 359 and we just cut down 3 good size trees with it and the chain never did need tightened. Good luck . ( note : by holding the end of the bar up it takes out the slack so the bar can be tightened and the bar gets locked in at up vs down and when it gets locked in down and your put pressure on the bar when cutting it loosens the chain when the bar is forced up. )

Yes, but he said he tensions it according to the manual, and that he's never had this problem before.

 

[spacemule]

The chain is tightened exactly as shown on the manual. Yes it gets too hot when it slacks but oil system is ok. I know a new chain is supposed to be adjusted more times but i used this saw hundreds of times before and this never happened.

This and the admission of cutting stumps is all the information needed. I'll wager it ain't a saw problem!

 

[RED-85-Z51]

Perhaps I am misreading you, but you really shouldn't tension your chain so tightly as to wear anything out.

And regardless of how much of a pain it is to properly tighten my chain, I do it when it needs it. Not doing so will throw you a chain, and work your saw harder than it needs to be worked.

JMO.

I tighten so that it isnt hanging off the bottom, and so that Ican still freely rotate the chain.

After a while those adjusters get alot of slack in them and you have to turn them 3-4 times to get any movement. I end up replacing them after a while, but if Im working, like After Ivan, and Im de-limbing a big full grown China-berry tree, it sucks to have to stop when the chain gets a little slop, loosen the bar nuts out, turn the little screw, feel the chain, turn the screw, chains' too tight, turn it back a little...Tighten the bar nuts..

When I use the intenz bar, I just loosen the nuts, turn it 1 little click, then tighten the nuts back up.

Now, some of my saws work perfectly with the original adjuster, the Tanaka, Poulan, PM 601...no problems. But some of them have that little bit of wear..

 

[Stumper]

Red, No offense but I think that we are questioning your competence because your experience doesn't match up with ours-. I have had dozens of saws and have run them for decades and your problems don't occur is normal use of sharp saws.

 

[fishhuntcutwood]

...loosen the bar nuts out, turn the little screw, feel the chain, turn the screw, chains' too tight, turn it back a little...Tighten the bar nuts..

Yeah man. Basic saw maintenance. Like I said above, I don't mind doing it knowing my saw will run and perform better. I see it the same way I see putting gas and bar oil into the saw. The most time consuming part for me is loosening and tightening the nuts, and apparently you have to do that on the intenz bars as well.

To each his own I suppose.