New guide bars are not what they used to be.

Bruce Hopf

I purchased a new GB bar, for my 024, and a new Laser bar for my 044. I noticed on both, at the tip, just behind the bearing, of the sprocket nose, or where the replacement sprocket meets the bar, there was a spot on both sides of the bar, that looked as if the chain was running loose, and had chain slap, for a long period of time.
Both bars haven't seen much cutting at all. The one for the 044, probably had two tanks of fuel run through the chain saw, with the new bar. The 024, maybe 8 to 10.
I've always had my chain tightened properly, and wouldn't run them loose. I think that there is a lot of bad quality in both of these bars.
I spent a bit of time on them, to true them back up, with my bench disc sander, to where they were should have been, right out of the box.
I was wondering, if any of you have experienced this, with your new bars, or have you thought to look at them, to see if they were OK?
I've posted a picture of an old bar, showing for an example, of what the other two bars looked like (not as bad is this one here is). The other one is of my homemade disc sander. Bruce.

Attached Thumbnails

   

__________________
McCulloch chain saws
1- Pro Mac 60, 1- Pro Mac 700, 2- Mac 10-10 Automatic's, 2- Mini Mac 30's, 2- Mac 110's,
2- Mini Mac 35's, 1- Mac 140 with Automatic Chain Sharpener,
1- Pro Mac 10-10, 1- Mac Cat, 2- Eager Beaver
2.0's, 1- Mac 1-10
Stihl chain saws
2- 044's, 2- 034's, 2- 024's, 1- 064, 1- 084,
Strunk chain saws
1- Busy Beaver, 1- SpeeDemon Special
Stand Back, I Have A Very Extreme Case of CAD (Chain Saw Addiction Disorder).

Eric Frei

Tip of bar looks like overheated, maybe the bearing is shot. Maybe due to heat the metal got softer.

Bars do chew out in that spot though, not sure about it happening in 2 tanks of juice though.

I haven't greased a nose bearing for over 5 years, when I did grease them I used to get that prime rib blackened look too, now I just spray WD40 or similar in there.

__________________

Bruce Hopf

The bar that I took the picture of is one that I pulled out to the scrap bin, to show as an example, of what I was describing. I agree with you 100%. The Laser bar is a 20" bar, that I haven't even put a tank of gas through. Just the way it was made.
The sprocket nose wasn't even with the bar, had a dip in where the two meet, and the bar for my 024, is a 16" GB, laminated bar, and also had a dip in it, just behind the sprocket.
I had to do a bit of work on both, with my disc sander, to get everything even. Seems to be that the workmanship is going by the wayside now a days. Bruce.

__________________
McCulloch chain saws
1- Pro Mac 60, 1- Pro Mac 700, 2- Mac 10-10 Automatic's, 2- Mini Mac 30's, 2- Mac 110's,
2- Mini Mac 35's, 1- Mac 140 with Automatic Chain Sharpener,
1- Pro Mac 10-10, 1- Mac Cat, 2- Eager Beaver
2.0's, 1- Mac 1-10
Stihl chain saws
2- 044's, 2- 034's, 2- 024's, 1- 064, 1- 084,
Strunk chain saws
1- Busy Beaver, 1- SpeeDemon Special
Stand Back, I Have A Very Extreme Case of CAD (Chain Saw Addiction Disorder).

Eric Frei

Made in China is prolly the issue.

__________________

rick

Check out Tsumura for fit and finish. IMO the best finished bars I've ever seen, although Matt/MCW reckons Sugihara are as nicely finished.
Tsumura are rebranded as Total Super Bars in NA, imported by Tilton Equipment.

I bought a 30" German made Carlton bar and reblended where the nose meets the rails, and also angle cut the oil feed hole into the bar with a carbide bit on the die grinder. They are good but not up to Tsumura for the quality of finish IMO. How the Japanese can finish their bars off better and sell at a better price than the opposition has me beat. We can't use the old chestnut of wages anymore, haven't been able to do that for thirty years...
I'll post a pic up tonight.

rick

ouch !

Willard Holmen

I just bought a German made Carlton bar too at a super low price through mail order. Upon seeing the bar for the first time I could see why it was so cheap. The bar was designed for a larger nose [probably like the large Stihl ones]. But they adapted it to fit the smaller Oregon nose by grinding down the last 2 inches to match the tip.
Pretty rough in my books. Beautiful polished well made bar though if they only used the right nose.
Willard.

Bruce Hopf

It's pretty sad, that you buy something new, and have to fix it, to get it to work right. I can remember Dad saying that 20 to 30 years ago. Bruce.

__________________
McCulloch chain saws
1- Pro Mac 60, 1- Pro Mac 700, 2- Mac 10-10 Automatic's, 2- Mini Mac 30's, 2- Mac 110's,
2- Mini Mac 35's, 1- Mac 140 with Automatic Chain Sharpener,
1- Pro Mac 10-10, 1- Mac Cat, 2- Eager Beaver
2.0's, 1- Mac 1-10
Stihl chain saws
2- 044's, 2- 034's, 2- 024's, 1- 064, 1- 084,
Strunk chain saws
1- Busy Beaver, 1- SpeeDemon Special
Stand Back, I Have A Very Extreme Case of CAD (Chain Saw Addiction Disorder).

Willard Holmen

If I remember correctly the Tsumura guide bar has the V-joint style bar nose. I tried one of these bars out about 25 years ago on our logging operation and found that that style of joint wasn't very strong ,I broke mine on the very first day. A few other of my fellow fallers also had the same problem.
Oregon Powermatch and Windsor Speed tip proved to take the punishment.
Willard.

Willard Holmen

I see only one bar in your picture Bruce. It appears you ran that bar for a while with that much heat build up in a complete circle. From the tell tale paint chipped surface that old laminate bar was ready for replacement anyways. The rails probably spread to the point where the bearings popped out and that was the end of the story.
Willard.

Bruce Hopf

That bar came from an 028, that I had picked up for someone else. I haven't had a chance to toss it yet. I was using it as an example, to help me describe what I had experienced with my new bars (not near as bad is this bar, but the location of the dip in the bar, at the sprocket nose area). Bruce.

__________________
McCulloch chain saws
1- Pro Mac 60, 1- Pro Mac 700, 2- Mac 10-10 Automatic's, 2- Mini Mac 30's, 2- Mac 110's,
2- Mini Mac 35's, 1- Mac 140 with Automatic Chain Sharpener,
1- Pro Mac 10-10, 1- Mac Cat, 2- Eager Beaver
2.0's, 1- Mac 1-10
Stihl chain saws
2- 044's, 2- 034's, 2- 024's, 1- 064, 1- 084,
Strunk chain saws
1- Busy Beaver, 1- SpeeDemon Special
Stand Back, I Have A Very Extreme Case of CAD (Chain Saw Addiction Disorder).

Cole

hey guys im going to buy some new bars for my 441 and 660, i want two bars for the 441 one of the sugi hara things 20" and something else about 25ish for 660 and 441, im really looking for something as light as possible for this bar, can anyone tell me where i can view a wide variety online,

Cheers
Cole

rick

One of the boys on AS was saying the same thing about the Sugihara bars they used quite a number of years back, but they changed the design of the nose and that cured the problem.

rick

No one in Oz has any pics online, and freight is usually a killer getting them from OS.

MCW on here (Matt) has quite a few GB bars in stock, and IIRC he has a few GB bars in Stihl mount (ones that were made here before they started to move production offshore)
He retails Carlton too.
PM him and see what he has.

Cole

cheers ill try and track him down