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Dripping Bar Oil

Started by hjens, March 10, 2018, 03:26:45 PM

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hjens

I'm long in the tooth and not doing much chain-sawing these days but still have an old Husky 181SE with a 24-inch bar that still runs as good as it did when I bought it 38 years ago. In the old days in Montana I used a sticky red bar oil that was so thick it never leaked out of the saw when it was just sitting there full. These days the bar oil you buy seems much thinner and the *DanG saw leaks bar oil if I leave it full when I put it away. I've taken the saw apart and can't find any cracks in it so I assume it's leaking out of the hole next to the chain. Is this normal? Are the chains thinner? Or is this just something old saws do? I also read various posts on this forum about oil-gas ratios. We used 1:40 in Montana, which seemed to be a good mix, but a mechanic who serviced my saw in the Pacific Northwest advised 1:32. Any thoughts. 

crowhill

I have an old Husky (359?) does the same thing unless I lay it on its side.
TimberKing B-20, Kubota M-4900 w/FEL with tooth bar, hyd thumb and forks, Farmi winch, 4 chain saws.

Robertmac

Unfortunately a common problem for the older saws with all alloy casings split in the middle.  All my old huskies lose oil if I dare leave any in.
I learnt back then to remember to run them empty before putting it down for the day.
many a socked towel and clothes in the boot when I used to be a cutter.
Some saws do not ever leak, but like you, I have the same what was a problem, but an easy cure just to remember to leave them empty.

Yes oil has become different present day due to science and technology and synthetic materials now used so you have to shop around for a good thick sticky oil, but as usual you will pay over the odds for what should be a normal oil.
The mix you give it is between 25/1 to 40/1.  In this range you then tune the H and L screws to run not rich or lean.  this I would call an art to learn, hence if it runs perfectly, does not get too hot, then leave it at the mix you use. too rich is safer than too lean.
Simply remove your spark-plug and the end gap should look like a brown colour, it should not look black and sooty, or have a bad wet look of oil around it.  but better this oily way than if the plug was totally clean, and very light brown/greyish blue, as if the end was getting very hot, as this will tell you it is running too hot, (too lean a mix).

hjens

Thanks for the posts. I guess leaky old chain saws are like leaky old men; use diapers or put 'em away empty.

starmac

It even seems like some will leak sometimes and sometimes not, like they have a mind of their own.

I have even a better one, I have a couple of gear oil pumps that just go on the top of 5 gallon buckets, Well the buckets are plastic, so they do not rust, but the other day I go out in the shop and have a mess, one of the plastic buckets just decided to leak, it has not been moved or touched as far as I know since last fall, splain that one.
Old LT40HD, old log truck, old MM forklift, and several huskies.

thutch85

all my saws leak occasionally. i think its the changes in temperature and pressure. when its windy, they leak. i guess maybe they aren't built to have to contain pressure and leak through the oil pump.

HolmenTree

As you know how a bar on a saw sitting on the foor is tilted slightly up, you'd be surprised how much oil will drain off the chain  down onto the floor out of the bar rail groove. Longer b/c more oil.

Stihl had the idea first about 25 years with a nylon dam on the floor of the bar groove to stop oil from running down out of the tail of the bar. Now with a new design they call it a E Matic lubricating guide bar.
Oregon calls theirs Lubri Dam.
Making a living with a saw since age 16.

Robertmac

hjens,
I now also remembered something else from back in the days of being a cutter in the North and west of Scotland especially.
We had a little pest known as the midge, not the black knat that the English think it is.
It is a biting insect that needs blood to breed, but human blood is no use and this is only after the little sods have bitten you. You come out in red raised blotches that itch like crazy, so a few hundred of these bites were very intense some days.
Some cutters would not even cut in the summer months because of them and chose to work harder in the winter months.
I had cutters who would not cut for me in some summers back then. 

All through summer months we all ran our saws deliberately over-rich to make them pump out loads of smoke as this was one of the ways we could slightly hold back the midge.  Imagine a black ball the size of your body and head swarming around you, and yes they got in your clothes, your mouth, your eyes, feet, legs, ankles, everywhere and sometimes cutters would simply rev there saws just to disperse them for a few seconds to allow them to not be bitten for a few seconds. 
You will here of people who say they got used to them, but this is hit and miss as some humans never get bitten like someone else standing beside them.
For over 50 years I know people have tried to invent sprays but all are rubbish and marketing crap as NO spray has ever worked to keep them away from biting humans. 
Running them rich never ever harmed a single saw I know of back then and like present day saws they were revving for 7-8 hours daily on average.

Robertmac

Quote from: starmac on March 14, 2018, 02:47:09 PM
It even seems like some will leak sometimes and sometimes not, like they have a mind of their own.

I have even a better one, I have a couple of gear oil pumps that just go on the top of 5 gallon buckets, Well the buckets are plastic, so they do not rust, but the other day I go out in the shop and have a mess, one of the plastic buckets just decided to leak, it has not been moved or touched as far as I know since last fall, splain that one.
need more info to say why.  Is there a heat sealed seam where it leaked.
It could come out the top cap and seeped over the sides down to floor level over time, then the top is dry as gravity has done its thing of pulling everything to the ground.  You then have a dry top and soaked bottom, leading you to believe the container itself had leaked.
Where did it leak, top, bottom, side?
Expansion and contraction with daily temps and heat can play havoc on plastic, especially black or dark coloured plastic. I have seen hair-line cracks that will only leak in day time but not night.  simply because the colder air contracts the plastic so it seals the leak, in day time the heat expands the crack.
Again frost can contract plastic to breaking/splitting point.

Robertmac

starmac,
I should have explained it better than previous post.
Liquids expand and contract at different rates to solids.
Oil will hold the day temp longer because of the amount of volume it has, where the plastic container has less area, so will contract quicker, pushed from the outside inwards, thus forcing the oil out the top.

When you also freeze liquid it expands, and if in solid object, which will contract in lower temps, then you know the liquid is going to push past the weakest point to allow the expansion it undergoes.
I suspect your oil came out the top.
Another way is the actual pipe that holds the pumped oil is in the 5 gallon drum, again oil can be forced up the pipe due to atmospheric pressures, hot and cold and push the oil past the pump outlet and drip it out this way also over time.
I used to watch the Forestry Commission road makers exploding rock cliffs by drilling into them and simply filling them with a liquid that expanded with such heat and force it can be more effective than explosives.
I hope this helps, even if it is not exactly what has happened your end.

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