Pole saw?

[houser52]

Jump and chatter are not unique to your Echo, as my Stihl will do the same thing if I'm not paying attention to how much down force is applied to the chain. Too much down force will cause the saw to stall, too little will let it chatter. I suspect that jumping is caused when the chain hits the limb before the spiked bumper on the front of the motor housing is in contact with the limb. I find the saw much harder to control when it's way out there on the pole, and just need to pay more attention to what's going on to get smooth operation. :2cents:

Thanks for the suggestions.

I wasn't sure what was causing the jumping. I was beginning to think that something was slipping in the gear box or maybe the driveline was slipping where the sections are joined together. I tried a soft touch and a hard touch but didn't seem to make any difference. One thing I didnt do was to make sure the bumper was in contact with the limb before sawing. I'll try that. The motor has enough power that I never had it stall though.
I'm sure my technique will improve the more I use it.

As Eddie said, you can cut up a lot of stuff pretty quick then hours to clean up.

 

[RedNeckGeek]

I'm sure my technique will improve the more I use it.

Yes, there is a bit of a touch to it.

After the limbs are on the ground, I'll collapse the shaft on the saw to its shortest length and keep cutting limbs off until they are of a manageable size. I don't have a grapple, so it all gets piled in the bed of the RTV for the trip to the burn pile.

I've also found that limbing and cleaning up one tree at a time gives my pole saw muscles a bit of a rest, and then my bending over to pick stuff up muscles a rest, and I can go a bit longer before I'm worn out entirely.:laughing:

 

[houser52]

One thing I just checked is that my pruner has the .050 chain which might be causing the jumping. The narrower .043 bar and chain may be what it needs.
What width chain are y'all running?

 

[RedNeckGeek]

One thing I just checked is that my pruner has the .050 chain which might be causing the jumping. The narrower .043 bar and chain may be what it needs.
What width chain are y'all running?

My saw uses a Stihl 61 PMMC3 44, a 3/8" pitch 0.043" low kickback chain. In spite of being low kickback, it cuts oak like a knife through butter, and stays sharp a LONG time. Very happy with this chain.

 

[houser52]

My little Stihl MS170 has the .043 chain and it cuts really good too.

 

[ArlyA]

We occasionally get the "jumping" as well but I've never been able to identify as to why it happens, or not. Our chains are the .043 variety but I thought that was just the cog part width with no connection to anything else on the remainder of the chain. We actuality started out with .043 chains but by accident by the outfit we buy our chains from, switched to the .050 width after the bar had worn in some. That made no difference.

 

[houser52]

ArlyA - Thanks for the info. It maybe perfectly normal for a pole saw due to the flexible drive shaft but it does seem a little odd.

 

[kathy50]

Greenworks is a good brand and easy to use. Tightening the chain or even replacing it is very easy and tool-less. Keep an eye on your chain oil as it gets used up pretty quickly. I have about 4 acres of trees and went around cutting off dead limbs and just carried a quart of chain oil with me. The battery lasted longer than I did.