dbrietzke

18”

Yes both the clutch and drive sprocket.

LOL I get it. I was trying to get some attention so you vets would answer It just ran so well up till now, and with a new clutch, air filter, spark plug, "sharp" chain, and new bar...did NOT expect this.

Not anymore...they cleaned it and sharpened it. Took it for a test cut and said it's "better" and ready for me to pick up. For the record I keep a sharp chain, filing it frequently when in heavy use - I just assumed they sharpened it (as I asked) when the clutch was replaced.

I appreciate and welcome the questions. It was so odd to me for it not to work well, especially on pine. This saw has been such a good tool, reliable, powerful and up until this point - done everything I've asked it to do and more...

Yeah, I checked that, it was clear, and the chain seemed to be getting oil. Ran the saw over the log to make sure it was throwing oil off of it.

No. I'm careful when I tighten it before use. I follow the instructions from the manual, lift the bar, tighten until slack is out, then tighten the nuts. I always make sure the chain pulls easy with my hand.

It does.

It did. When I took it in to get the new clutch, I asked them to sharpen it, apparently they did not. Would that have that much of an adverse effect? I mean, it's like it couldn't take a cut and would easily bog....and then get very, very hot.

I'm going to tell you guys the long whole story so you have the complete picture. Back in December I took my Stihl MS250 to clear some wood off of a property. I started the saw and let it idle to warm up, but did it with it on the second choke setting with the brake on...yeah I know - I forgot to set it to "run". I saw it getting hot, so took the brake off, and put it on "run". After it cooled off, I worked with it the rest of the day, cutting BIG oak. It worked great. At the end of the day, there was evidence of the clutch slipping and we were done. I took it in to get the clutch replaced along with a new bar figuring I indeed damaged the clutch earlier. Fast forward to last weekend. Took my saw over to a buddy's house to clear some pine. Fired up the saw, started fine, idled fine, ran great not under load. The second I started cutting, it started bogging, and I noticed smoke coming from the clutch area. I checked the chain oil system, it was pushing out oil, the chain was slinging oil, but kept bogging while cutting and the clutch, bar, and chain were very hot. I took it in, and the repair place said it was a dull dirty chain. I'm not convinced...so what else could it be? Note, before I took my saw over to my friend's house i ran it and noticed something I have not seen before...chain oil was coming out of the bottom of the saw. I've never noticed that before...just an observation that may or may not be contributing to the problem. Thoughts? Questions?