How tight should your chain be?

[dodge man]

The reason I brought this up is someone else was using my saw and threw the chain.

 

[RandyT]

I like to be able to pull up on the chain and then have it snap back against the bar without any sag, and a slight sag with a warm chain and bar. Most of this is just subjective as long as you are not just cranking down the chain tension, like most people do with their bar nuts. I love having to put a wrench on the bar nuts and set the saw on the floor and stand on the wrench to break them free. I have broke two screnches over the years just trying to break the nuts loose.

 

[sandman2234]

I watched a video a couple weeks ago by a well known chain company and when the guy told how tight to run the chain, my thought was...he is in the business of selling chains and bars, not buying them! I am on a chainsaw ministry team at church, and the leader and I disagreed about chain tension, so at next meeting everyone was asked, and while I run it a little looser than most, nobody ran it as tight as the leader, so we met in the middle.
In my defense, our first chainsaw did not have a roller tip bar, which allows a tighter chain tension without harmful damage to the bar.
David from jax

 

[dirttoys]

surprised I am the only one, bottom middle, should be able to pull firmly and get a dime between the chain and bar. all my buddies did it the same way, maybe a home town thing............

Best,

ed

 

[PILOON]

Tighten the adjustment with a screwdriver between the chain and the bar.
When U pull out the screwdriver you'll have just the correct tension.

 

[kenmbz]

What size screwdriver, I have from barely visible to big enough to use as a pry bar

 

[ArlyA]

The reason I brought this up is someone else was using my saw and threw the chain.

That reminds me why we don't loan out our chain saws. You should be able to just pull the chain away from the bar at the midway point.

 

[dodge man]

The guy using my chainsaw was about 100 feet away from me when he threw the chain. It probably needed tightened up a little bit when it happened.

 

[thclimer]

What are the negative aspects of a "too loose chain"

1) Its falls or is thrown off your bar.

What are the negative aspects of a "too tight chain"

1) Bar and chain heat up damaging one or both.

2) Excessive force on drive sprocket leading to premature failure of bearings or sprocket.

3) Energy from the saw to cut is lost to friction between the bar and chain resulting less cutting power/speed. This issue alone is more noticeable on saws with smaller engines 50cc or smaller and also when your using a longer bar option on a smaller saw.

If your chain is constantly being thrown off your bar it too loose and as others have indicated there is quite a bit of adjustment between where a chain is loose or too loose for it to fall off the bar.

I tend to error on a looser chain than probaly most. When cold I don't want to see a gap between the cutter and the bottom of the bar, but a slight pull should open that easily.

 

[PILOON]

What size screwdriver, I have from barely visible to big enough to use as a pry bar

I always used an about 5/16" shaft sized one.
That trick was shown to me by my local chain saw shop.

When the screwdriver is withdrawn you'll notice that U can pull the chain by hand as well thus confirming the tension is just right,