It is common for your chain to fall off the guide bar at times. This usually happens when you’re cutting wood for a given length of time, and the chain becomes too hot and stretches. The incident can also occur when the saw gets jammed in the piece of wood you’re cutting.
The chain falling off the bar is a clear indicator that you’ve allowed your chain to become too loose or you’ve not properly lubricated your chain (increasing friction and thus overheating).As long as you’ve got some necessary tools with you, putting your chain back on should be a relatively easy task.
Follow this guide to put the chain back into its place
Things you’ll need:
- Half-inch chainsaw wrench or half-inch wrench.
- Cleaning brush (paintbrush can work).
- Leather gloves.
- Also, make sure that you have got a clean working environment. You need to look for a place where you can put all your materials while working on the chain to avoid losing them. You can make an area in your truck and spread some newspaper or cardboard.
Directions To Follow:
Start by cleaning the bar and the chain
The first and the most important step involve cleaning your chain as well as your guide bar thoroughly. You should always ensure you wear protective leather gloves when handling the chainsaw to avoid injuries.
Clean all the debris from the saw and the bar. Use your paintbrush to brush off all the sawdust and other pieces of wood that might have been stuck in the saw.
When you’re satisfied with the cleanliness of your bar and saw, advance to the next step…
Remove the nuts as well as the housing
With the aid of the half inch chainsaw wrench, loosen the two chainsaw bar nuts. Now use the slotted end of your wrench to loosen the tension screw below the chainsaw bar nuts. This will help relieve the tension on the bar. Remove the bolts holding the bar plus the plastic casing of the chainsaw.
Replace The Chain
- Firstly, check your chain to ensure it is facing the correct direction. Many people don’t pay attention to this simple step and end up getting headaches when re-installing the chain. The teeth ought to face away from you while you’re holding your chainsaw.
- Secure the chain around the sprocket, making sure to align it along the grooves in the guide bar.
- Check the tension stud to ensure that it’s lined up with guide hole.
- Pull the chain to tighten it fully and then adjust the tension screws until you obtain the desired tension.
- Replace the plastic casing over your chainsaw. Ensure the holes for the screws match correctly.
- Insert the screws into the holes and proceed to tighten by hand.
- Check the chain tension again before you completely tighten the screws using the slotted end of the wrench. If necessary, adjust the tension screw more. Your chain ought to spin freely when pulled.
Test the chainsaw
After everything is done, we advise you to check your chain to ensure that it has been duly re-installed.
To do this:
- Start your chainsaw and rev several times.
- Turn it off and again test the tension to see if it has been affected. If it stayed tightened, the chainsaw is safe for use, and you can continue with your job.
- If it loosened after a few revs, you should readjust the tension as well as re-tighten the nuts..
Final Thoughts
Learning how to put your chainsaw chain back on in advance is important as you don’t want to get stuck in the woods with no slight idea on how to go about it.
After doing the above process a few times, it becomes much easier than you can imagine and you can start doing it off your head. Make sure you always carry the recommended tools above to your workplace since you don’t know when this incident happens to your cutting tool.