Chain saw bar length.

[WoodDuck]

Depending on what you're cutting, you could try going up one tooth on the saw's sprocket on the saw if ya want. Its a trade-off though; you get higher chain SPM with a larger tooth sprocket, but also less torque. If your cutting soft wood or mainly small limbs and such, the bigger sprocket is faster cutting for sure. But if you're burying the bar in hardwood and/or your saw doesn't have enough power to pull the chain effectively with the bigger sprocket, you won't be gaining much with it. Good news is: sprockets are uber cheap and easy to change in most cases. You could try a bigger sprocket for a few bucks, then swap back to the stocker if you don't like it. You won't be out much money or time to try it out. Good luck!

 

[turnkey4099]

Well that's a new one!

Note that the "proper" method to set the HI mixture is to fully open the throttle for a few seconds, with only the bar/chain as load. I don't like maxing out the revs on a hi-reving saw, so I usually don't do it for more than a couple of seconds.

"Quote Originally Posted by ericm979 View Post
When I bought an 18" bar for my MS362 the shop owner warned me that with such a small bar the saw could rev up "too fast" and blow up.

With advice like that, I would find another dealer. I recently added a 16" bar for my 362 to cut small diameter locust. Got acres of them around an old farm that I can have.