Frozen Sprocket

[oldballs]

Hi Y'All,

Today I was cleaning my Stihl MS261, after using it for several hours a few days ago, when I found the sprocket on the 20 inch bar was "frozen". I could not turn it. Never have seen that before in many years and different saws????? I finally worked it loose and back to normal after some solvent and lots of twisting with a rag over the sprocket.

Anybody ever seen that? I was falling and limbing a couple 80 foot, long time dead, Pines.

Cheers,
Mike

 

[WinterDeere]

Often happens when "noodling" rounds, as the long-strand fibers that come off the chain in that direction can wrap around the sprocket, jamming themselves between the bar cheeks and sprocket bearing.

If it's a greasable tip, you can probably pump enough grease through it to eject whatever debris is causing the binding. But if it's a Still Rollomatic bar, just toss it, they're not greasable.

... and now you know why I rarely buy Stihl bars, anymore.

 

[CalG]

Often happens when "noodling" rounds, as the long-strand fibers that come off the chain in that direction can wrap around the sprocket, jamming themselves between the bar cheeks and sprocket bearing.

If it's a greasable tip, you can probably pump enough grease through it to eject whatever debris is causing the binding. But if it's a Still Rollomatic bar, just toss it, they're not greasable.

... and now you know why I rarely buy Stihl bars, anymore.

Just in comment

I bought a Husky 550xp this morning, roller tip, but no grease port.

I guess that's why the "tool kit" didn't come with a grease gun. Now I wonder about the clutch bearing......

 

[ruffdog]

Anybody ever seen that? I was falling and limbing a couple 80 foot, long time dead, Pines.

If you are cutting real sappy pines the bar and chain will be hot and sap sticks to it. When the saw sits, the gooey sap turns hard and will freeze stuff up. Free it up and lube it, you'll be fine. Turn up your oiler a bit and lube before storing the saw.

 

[ConawayFarms]

Yeah, I’ve run into that a couple times, usually after working with dry or dusty wood like old dead pines. The fine debris can mix with bar oil and harden around the sprocket, especially if it sits for a few days without cleaning. If the sprocket was hot and cooling down, it can also kind of “set” things in place.

 

[WinterDeere]

Being from the northeast, I sometimes forget that people in some parts of this country actually cut and burn pine.

My stoves traditionally eat only oak and hickory, although they've been seeing an awful lot of ash since the Emerald Ash Borer made it out here the last several years.

Pine and all other connifers get left to rot where it falls, or pushed into the burn pit. If I lived in a place where oak, hickory, and ash weren't plentiful, then I'm sure I'd burn it. But around here we always have enough hardwoods dying or on the ground, that it's just not worth wasting wood shed space on connifers.

 

[CalG]

Being from the northeast, I sometimes forget that people in some parts of this country actually cut and burn pine.

My stoves traditionally eat only oak and hickory, although they've been seeing an awful lot of ash since the Emerald Ash Borer made it out here the last several years.

Pine and all other connifers get left to rot where it falls, or pushed into the burn pit. If I lived in a place where oak, hickory, and ash weren't plentiful, then I'm sure I'd burn it. But around here we always have enough hardwoods dying or on the ground, that it's just not worth wasting wood shed space on connifers.

per ton, there is more heat in the conifers. But that ton IS a LOT of volume. ;-)

I do burn a lot of hemlock. In fact, that's what is in the stove just now.

Along with a couple sticks of birch to keep the fire going. ;-)

 

[WinterDeere]

per ton, there is more heat in the conifers. But that ton IS a LOT of volume. ;-)

lol... yeah, that's true! But my stove's firebox is limited by volume, not so much by weight.

I do burn a lot of hemlock. In fact, that's what is in the stove just now.

Just loaded two of our stoves for the night. Mostly oak, with a few pieces of ash, but somehow one split of red cedar ended up in the mix. I usually save the cedars to use as sleepers, to place on the ground under my piles of logs waiting to be split.

 

[xyz123]

Tip did that on one other day. Prob just compacted chips fines tight in around tip inside. On my own saw cutting maples.

Actually see it here from time to time on saws that come in. a 24" was real bad on a 660. Ended up free it. It even took a soaking.

Put bar in vise. Get you a flat blade screwdriver put on one V and start hitting them to turn it over. Also using lubricate to spray to help with remove.
Keep doing to free completely again.

 

[mikester]

I've had luck freeing mine up using brake cleaner.

 

[Jstpssng]

it's just not worth wasting wood shed space on connifers

I am picky about what I burn for hardwoods. Why waste time on white birch or soft maple when the same amount of gas and time can be used on beech and rock maple? I don't even like to put up ash, although some does get into the pile every year. Having said that, I plan to put in some hemlock this year to burn in spring and fall when I don't want to cook myself out of the house.

 

[WinterDeere]

I don't even like to put up ash...

Same. The only abundant local woods I will drag home are red oak, white oak, or hickory. I won't even both with our other other locally-abundant hardwoods (walnut, silver maple, sassafras, cherry), there's just too much of the former always available to spend time and space on the latter.

But I do get walnuts from my own yard, whenever a storm manages to knock one over. It's easier to just split and stack them, than make them go away any other way.

Ash has recently fallen into that same category, thanks to EAB. They're dying all over my direct neighbor's properties, and it's easier for me to to just split and stack the stuff, than making the 7 miles each way trip to where I normally harvest oak.

Oak is great for anyone who's 3 years ahead on their splitting, since the stuff takes 3 summers to really dry properly. I'm usually 3-4 years ahead, so I love the stuff. But ash is actually one of the better woods for anyone who's a little behind on their wood splitting, or starting out fresh without a good backlog, as it can dry pretty well in just one summer.

 

[Snobdds]

Put the tip of the bar in a bucket of Diesel or kerosene overnight. It will clean and free up the nose sprocket.

Proceed on...

 

[ruffdog]

Being from the northeast, I sometimes forget that people in some parts of this country actually cut and burn pine.

My stoves traditionally eat only oak and hickory, although they've been seeing an awful lot of ash since the Emerald Ash Borer made it out here the last several years.

Pine and all other connifers get left to rot where it falls, or pushed into the burn pit. If I lived in a place where oak, hickory, and ash weren't plentiful, then I'm sure I'd burn it. But around here we always have enough hardwoods dying or on the ground, that it's just not worth wasting wood shed space on connifers.

Not everyone that cuts pine burns pine in a wood stove. About half of my wood cutting is trimming, storm clean-up, or landscape work and I cut all species doing that.

 

[WinterDeere]

Not everyone that cuts pine burns pine in a wood stove. About half of my wood cutting is trimming, storm clean-up, or landscape work and I cut all species doing that.

Good point. But even so, I suspect there's an order of magnitude difference in the volume of wood cut for heating versus trimming and landscape work, for most wood burners.

The actual mix of connifers to hardwoods on my property is probably close to 50/50 by count, since I've been planting connifers at a rate roughly 8:1 over hardwoods the last 15 years. But the yearly Christmas tree aside, I only ever cut a connifer if it needs to be taken down due to damage. Just doing a quick mental tally, I'd guess I probably make 200x - 400x more cuts in hardwood, in the course of processing wood for heating.