The big stuff is no longer off limits! 41" bar is here!
- Thread starter OH_Varmntr
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upsnake
ArboristSite Operative
HOLY SHNIKEYS!! You could fell a tree from a safe distance away with that thing!!
Safe distance? Heck you cut cut trees while sitting on the couch in your living room with that thing.
nice. the 88 is fun to run, but we never use ours for firewood duty. the logs are just too big to process without killing yourself. they go to anyone we can pawn them off on or to the dump. my buddy got his with a 59" bar on it and I call it the clown saw because its just rediculous looking. i think he went down to a 41 or 46" bar on it now too. the 59" is just too long, the chain will fall off before you can start your back cut running the saw horizontally. you have to start the cut with another saw then finish with the 59".
here is the saw in the back of my 8' pickup when he picked it up. and then cutting a big willow, this was tree #2 of that size from one property.
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View attachment 262857
here is the saw in the back of my 8' pickup when he picked it up. and then cutting a big willow, this was tree #2 of that size from one property.
View attachment 262856
View attachment 262857
brenndatomu
Hey you woodchucks, quit chucking my wood!
Safe distance? Heck you cut cut trees while sitting on the couch in your living room with that thing.
Yeah, here I'm am walkin 'round the woods with our 36", thinkin I'm all bad...:msp_sad: :msp_blink: :shame:
hone:Btw, did randymac change his photo just for this thread...? Is he tryin to insinuate something...?
zogger
Tree Freak
flashhole
Addicted to ArboristSite
You need to practice your Tim Allen Tool Time grunt ... grunt grunt more power. Very nice. My 32" bar on my 460 leaves me with a bad case of bar envy. 
OH_Varmntr
Burner of stored sunlight
With the chain tensioner set where it's at now, 39 1/2" from the tip of the dawgs to the tip of the roller sprocket.
Big trees that require use of this saw have a TON of firewood in the bases. I mean good, dense, hard wood. It's worth the hassle for me.
This saw will also be used for my chainsaw milling operation...if I ever get around to building one. :msp_biggrin:
Couldn't pass the saw up for the $375 pricetag I paid for it. I'd have bought it even if I had no use for it.
OH_Varmntr
Burner of stored sunlight
From what I've read on running big bars, they require a bit more attention when it comes to properly tensioning them.
Arbonaut
Go Climb It
A long bar will flex more, too. Guy that isn't used to it gets a little twist in it and the chain can come out over the groove. I seen my Dad lean on and put the flex on those 5' bars when I was a kid and he'd snap the chain on without no loosening of the bar retaining nuts. Just fire it up and run it.
Stick with the .404. Those big powerheads tear up the 3/8" chain. Broken links, they can easily hammer the drag links, and the chains stretch too much on the long bars.
Some folks think "faster cutting" is the most important thing about a saw, but I think it is a giant pain in the buttocks to change out the chain on a big bar, particularly when you are paying an entire crew to sit around and watch.
My 3120 has a 50" bar and a 36" bar, one with .404 and the other with .375. I was out on a very special job on a Sunday morning some years back, blocking traffic on a 4 lane street with a legal street closure. It was a big elm tree, towering over the public street. There was no possible way to do that tree without closing the street. We were all set up, everything ready to go, and then my 3120 broke the brand new 36" chain. DAMN!
After that little scene, I converted everything on that saw to .404, and I don't think it has broken a chain since then.
rullywowr
ArboristSite Operative
I just had to deal with that same issue with a huge ass oak. Tree was about 4 ft in diameter:
View attachment 262863View attachment 262864
We cut them into huge cookies about 16" tall and with 2-3 guys manhandled them to my splitter. For once, i was glad to have the vertical option on my splitter which I usually never use otherwise. We would wack 'em vertically and then rotate.
Nice saw/bar btw! I'd hate to wack a rock with that, you'd be sharpening for probably 45 minutes!
OH_Varmntr
Burner of stored sunlight
I'll stick with .404" :msp_smile:
As far as handling the rounds, well let's just say I'm planning on adding a Bobcat to my tool inventory. But shhhhh! The wife doesn't know! :msp_scared:
I've got a spare trailer that I use to move stuff around the yard. It's 6x8 and I'm wanting to throw one of those Harbor Freight truck cranes on to move big rounds around the yard. Either that or I'll mount it to my log splitter. But I'll need to widen it first.
I've got many plans. But I've "got too many irons in the fire" or so they say. I can't help it, I like to stay busy!
RandyMac
Stiff Member
Modern bars are kinda wimpy in regards to flexing and droop, which leads to chain throwing. Using another saw or an axe to make a divot
works well.
This bar is 50" from the front of oil tank, the Redwood spikes take about 4" off the cutting length.
There is only an inch and a half droop to deal with, pretty much a non-issue.
works well.
This bar is 50" from the front of oil tank, the Redwood spikes take about 4" off the cutting length.
There is only an inch and a half droop to deal with, pretty much a non-issue.
Arbonaut
Go Climb It
What's the pitch of the chain got to do with its strength? He's running .063 gauge chain in either case.
flashhole
Addicted to ArboristSite
Hey Randy, how about a picture of that yellow vehicle. I like that you have a color coordinated saw/auto! :msp_biggrin:
OH_Varmntr
Burner of stored sunlight
Bigger rivets? Longer distance between rivets distributes the load over the tie strap better?
Pretty much every part of the chain is bigger and heavier on .404. That is why they make it: for bigger saws that break the smaller chains.
When your little .375 tie strap flexes more than the .404, then you start dropping rivets out of holes; then you are fixing another chain problem. I have never put a micrometer on them, but I'm pretty sure the rivets are all bigger. Certainly, the drag links have a greater surface exposure on the sprocket face, so that area has greater resistance to deformation and wear, too.
For any length of chain, there are many more rivets to wear out on a 3/8ths chain than on a .404. This means the chain will have more "stretch", it means that it will jump off the bar more often. Shucks; you can even run full comp .404 chain on a shorter bar and cut faster than .375 with some variation of skip-chain.
Yes. .404 is heavier and more expensive. Sometimes you get what you pay for.
Little known fact: .050 chain is made with .058 tie straps that are made thinner on the drag link portion. You can't gauge the chain by measuring the tops of the drag links!
Seems like you are missing a chain. Do you need one or am I going blind?
I run 0.404 on my Stihl 084.
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the bar will flex and it just drops off. you can tighten it down more but it'll burn up. down right dangerous if it spits it off. thats almost 10' of chain that can thrash around.
I don't thing bar flex is really a big problem. I don't notice it on my 50", even holding it sideways for a felling cut.
There are several considerations that cause more chain problems on longer bars:
1. There is more heat expansion on a long chain. Adjust cold, then it warms up and seems loose real quick. Then you need to adjust again or live with it. The heat expansion on the bar never seems to keep up with the chain, either.
2. Each little rivet wears a tiny amount with each rotation. Longer bar=more rivets. A longer bar will have more chain stretch per minute than a short one.
3. There is more force (and subsequent wear) on a big bar. You have a bigger engine, so more hp=more force. Also, the distance hanging between the front of the bar and the rear is greater, so gravity pulls along the length with greater force.
4. A small amount of chain stretch allows more hang in the middle of a long bar than it does on a short one.
Once you get enough looseness to allow a drag link to hang off the rail, that derailment can easily be pulled either to the nose or the rim sprocket, where it jumps the rest of the chain off the track.
I have found that I usually have thrown the chain by allowing the chain to get out of the track when the engine is idling or running slow, then accelerating the engine. The chain tightens up with a drag link out of position, and then literally throws the chain off the nose of the bar. Small brush or setting the bar against the wood can have the same effect as gravity.
There are several considerations that cause more chain problems on longer bars:
1. There is more heat expansion on a long chain. Adjust cold, then it warms up and seems loose real quick. Then you need to adjust again or live with it. The heat expansion on the bar never seems to keep up with the chain, either.
2. Each little rivet wears a tiny amount with each rotation. Longer bar=more rivets. A longer bar will have more chain stretch per minute than a short one.
3. There is more force (and subsequent wear) on a big bar. You have a bigger engine, so more hp=more force. Also, the distance hanging between the front of the bar and the rear is greater, so gravity pulls along the length with greater force.
4. A small amount of chain stretch allows more hang in the middle of a long bar than it does on a short one.
Once you get enough looseness to allow a drag link to hang off the rail, that derailment can easily be pulled either to the nose or the rim sprocket, where it jumps the rest of the chain off the track.
I have found that I usually have thrown the chain by allowing the chain to get out of the track when the engine is idling or running slow, then accelerating the engine. The chain tightens up with a drag link out of position, and then literally throws the chain off the nose of the bar. Small brush or setting the bar against the wood can have the same effect as gravity.
