Thread: show us your chainsaws

Originally Posted by Dama dama

Question for the experts: How would 25" bar go on my MS390? I'm thinking that with a skip chain it would be alright? Currently run a 20" bar and there are times when a bit more be good.

Originally Posted by Dama dama

Question for the experts: How would 25" bar go on my MS390? I'm thinking that with a skip chain it would be alright? Currently run a 20" bar and there are times when a bit more be good.

Factory specs list bar lengths of 16”-25”, so should be fine.


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One possible issue is running out of bar lube on the long bars - some of these oiler's were a little anemic. You'll only know if you try it though.

Originally Posted by No.3

One possible issue is running out of bar lube on the long bars - some of these oiler's were a little anemic. You'll only know if you try it though.

Ok thanks.

if you run thinner oil...eg car motor oil instead of chainbar lube...it will spit it out much faster...... the thinner the faster,just be aware it will probably..OK it WILL MOST LIKELY leak it out if you leave it sitting ,so put on block of wood etc in garage if leaving the thin oil in.

Proper bar oil has stuff added to it that makes it stick to the chain motor oil don't. As the oiler is on the top of the bar light oil mostly gets flung off the chain at the tip. You can get away with it on a short bar but not a big one. Burnt bar and buggered chain make proper oil seem cheap.

so mix the two...my point is,if thick oil isnt coming out fast enough,use thinner oil...mates work saw (smaller stihl) had this issue,it would do half tank oil to full tank gas..if we fed it thinner oil it used closer to 1;1

Originally Posted by Marty Henry

Proper bar oil has stuff added to it that makes it stick to the chain motor oil don't. As the oiler is on the top of the bar light oil mostly gets flung off the chain at the tip. You can get away with it on a short bar but not a big one. Burnt bar and buggered chain make proper oil seem cheap.

At $3.50 a litre, I’m happy to stick with proper bar oil.


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@ Dama dama. On adjustable oil feed Stihls there is a stopper pin that can be knocked in to give a bit more screw adjustment on the oiler. Common mod when fitting longer bars, has this been done on saw in question?

Originally Posted by woods223

@ Dama dama. On adjustable oil feed Stihls there is a stopper pin that can be knocked in to give a bit more screw adjustment on the oiler. Common mod when fitting longer bars, has this been done on saw in question?

Some can get away with this, some it doesn't provide much. Generally the newer split case 'professional' series saws do this, but some of them don't. I have a MS460 I've just rebuilt with the opposite issue, can't turn it down and it pisses bar oil out and drowns the 20" bar it's currently wearing. But that's ok, oils natural haha.

Interestingly enough and a bit off topic, I noticed that this saw has an odd issue - if you put the saw down it drops revs. Pick it up and it revs up... Had me scratching my nut a bit - passes all the checks apart from revs up when you pick it up. Then I grabbed the top cover and forced the two halves (handle and engine) apart and together while it was idling in the air and could make it rev up and down... Think it has a sealing issue in either the impulse line or the manifold boot. Will replace them and see what that does - still a very odd presentation of the air leak / leaning out fault. Holds idle and tunes perfectly on the ground, pick it up and it leans and revs out. I think the issue is on the ground it's sitting on the handle and the dog set (with chain roller) which pushes the handle and engine section together, pick it up and the two halves pull apart onto the rubbers. Running it into timber and the same as on the ground, idles and tunes fine. Had me scratching my head, I can assure you haha...

so...using my above theory..find a thicker chainbar oil for it...... add more sticky LOL.... its worth a crack Nigel.

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

so...using my above theory..find a thicker chainbar oil for it...... add more sticky LOL.... its worth a crack Nigel.

Probably work. Just can't be arsed running two types of bar oil... Its not emptying the tank before the fuel runs out, so acceptable in use just makes a bit of a puddle under the clutch cover. On the whole, for a rebuild of a squashed saw it's pretty bloody cheap chopping. Even if I have to replace the manifold and impulse line! Never struck that sort of issue before, passes the static tests including the fairly brutal 'spray CRC all over it and see if it dies test' but movement between the halves must be affecting the sealing of either the impulse line or the manifold and causing the slight lean out. Odd. I have a spare used boot and impulse line, but for the effort of taking things apart to change out I'd rather see a new set in there and then you know. Also need to replace the stupid flippy cap orings. Hate those things!

on chainbar oil....for many many years I used ...used motor oil...shocking I know,but it cost me nothing.... then got all flash and got cleaner used tractor oil,from diffs etc.... have mixed in a bit of the sticky stuff to make it behave better...for the record Ive never burnt a bar...Mrs came close on the bench saw cutting blue gum. have sorted that wee issue,the bullnose blade wont be helping it either.
fellas down here were selling 20litr drums reasonably cheaply so I am using good stuff now.
IM TOLD the stuff they drain out of pivot irrigators is primo as is very similar to chain bar lube.... it should still be clean as they dont do anything fast LOL.

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

on chainbar oil....for many many years I used ...used motor oil...shocking I know,but it cost me nothing.... then got all flash and got cleaner used tractor oil,from diffs etc.... have mixed in a bit of the sticky stuff to make it behave better...for the record Ive never burnt a bar...Mrs came close on the bench saw cutting blue gum. have sorted that wee issue,the bullnose blade wont be helping it either.
fellas down here were selling 20litr drums reasonably cheaply so I am using good stuff now.
IM TOLD the stuff they drain out of pivot irrigators is primo as is very similar to chain bar lube.... it should still be clean as they dont do anything fast LOL.

Yep a basic gear oil. Nice and sticky enough tack to stick to gears circulating will make for a very effective bar lube. Only thing with that is it has a fairly robust additive pack that is quite persistent in the environment - and also it might be so sticky that it gets cloggy with wood dust fairly quickly. There was a guy in Tok selling 200's of waste gear oil out of trucks - he'd get a couple a week. If I recall he was doing them for around twice what the oil recovery types were offering back then, so a little under half price of the cheap bar oil. A significant saving if you were out of the eye line of the greenies (or repackaged it into Stihl or Husqy bottles haha).

I ran into a bit of a curly issue with those people at one site, got a 5L of bar oil from Repco on the way through along with some other parts - it was the Aussie outfit's offering and comes with a spiffy blue dye. The blue dye is great for seeing if your bar is getting enough oil, but apparently the envirocompliance types can see it too and that makes it verboten!!! Had to go and drive back to the nearest town and the only thing I could get at that time was a bottle of 20w50. But it was 'invisible'.

Did some work in the Waikato river many moons ago with our Engineer divers using chainsaws. Had to change all the hydraulic oil in the power packs to special vege based oil to keep everyone happy, as there's a small bleed circuit in the saw to lube the chain.

Originally Posted by XR500

Did some work in the Waikato river many moons ago with our Engineer divers using chainsaws. Had to change all the hydraulic oil in the power packs to special vege based oil to keep everyone happy, as there's a small bleed circuit in the saw to lube the chain.

Yep, the good old rapeseed oil. Twice the price for half as good! One thing about using hydraulic saws under water is the water effectively lubricates the bar to a certain extent so you can get away with much less oil on the bar and chain. Rapeseed oil tends to pick up a lot more moisture from the outside too, hard on filters and if there's a leaky connection as soon as you make the tool cold water pressure if its higher than line pressure can get into the hoses...