Regular care & maintenance

[lowerforest]

I suppose it is to the benefit of some of us on here that not every chainsaw owner/user either attempts to keep their machines serviceable, or actually knows what needs to be done - it keeps some in gainful employment doing the servicing and repairs, and even offers an occasional 'non-runner, easy repair bargain' to be picked up by others (like myself haha! )

 

I totally agree that having enough spare time to attend to a bit of home maintenance is essential, and I'm very grateful in that I do at least have time to do this sort of stuff myself (and a missus who doesn't bend my ear whenever I pop indoors for a cuppa and leave a nice pattern of red grease fingerprints all over the kitchen!)

 

Apart from the usual spare plug, chain, bar, how many of you carry a selection of extra spare parts along - things like needle bearing, starter recoil cord/unit, clutch/sprocket kit, chain brake band, filters - that type of stuff?

[rxe]

I keep it sharp, keep the bar oil topped off...and that is about it for routine maintenance. If something doesn't feel right, or it doesn't work, I put the dead saw on the bench and pick up another.

 

Once a saw has made it to the bench, it is cleaned out and checked over more thoroughly: bar flipped and checked, clutch bearing greased, general blow over with compressed air.

 

Only exception is milling: then they get the full bench check at the end of every day.

[morten]

Spud - if you have a saw which only gets an outing on rare occasions, and spends most of its time locked in the toolstore, what's better - draining down fuel/oil and dry storing, or getting it out once a week, start it up and let it run/rev for a while?

 

Switch to Aspen and leave it in the tank (for months - no prob). Saves time and wasted fuel.

[David Goss]

Not having a workshop or yard at all I am pretty much limited to what I can do. The wife would kill me if I had a saw stripped down in the bath cleaning all the bits! Every now and then I give them a clean out on site and tighten/file any bits that need it as and when. I never have problems with my saws because I treat them with care and use them properly, being a bit dirty doesn't do them any harm at all.

[Chris Sheppard]

I'm not the best at regular maintenance. Generally though, IME, if something has broken it's been down to being worked hard rather than something that could have been avoided by cleaning/servicing etc. More often than not, something just won't feel right before it becomes a problem.

 

Usually have some spare starter cord and a few clutch springs rattling round in the toolbox and worst case, if a saw needs anything that I can't fix there and then, then I'll pull another saw out the truck to finish the day off and drop by the dealer on the way home or on the way in the next day.