Chainsaw mill stretched chain, is it junk?

[Brad_bb]

A year or so ago I bought a ripping chain for an early 80's era granberg mill I bought with a 56" bar. It takes .404 chain.  I've milled 5 logs with it.  Now the chain is stretched such that there is no more adjustment in the saw head(090) to tighten the chain.  The cutters are not near the end of their life, but because of this stretch, does that mean the spacing between the drive teeth is now too long and will have problems with the drive sprocket?  Do I need to replace this chain with a new one, or can I remove a link? I watched a youtube video where the guy said that if a chain is stretched beyond adjustment, that removing a link to tighten will not work because the distance between drive teeth will be too far off.  He had a smaller chain for a 16 or 18" bar he was demonstrating with.  But given that my chain is so long, it takes much less wear in each link for the chain to stretch like that than if it were a much shorter 20" bar chain for example.  So maybe I can remove a link and continue using it?  Though i would not want to remove another one after that.  Anyone have any knowledge on this?

[jimparamedic]

With that long of chain you should be ok removing a link. It can also be tip wear if you don't have a secondary oiler on the tip.

[Brad_bb]

Yes I have a secondary oiler and roller tip.  A new ripping chain for this mill is about $130, so I would like to get good life out of it.  Cutting Hardwoods.

[sawguy21]

You will be fine. I have never seen a chain stretched so badly it would cause a drive sprocket problem.

[Old Greenhorn]

Quick and maybe stupid question Brad: Are you sure it's the chain and not that the drive sprocket is shot? This seems like an awful lot of stretch. but it is a long bar.

[Brad_bb]

Sprocket was new when chain was put on.

[John Bartley]

Just want to throw this out there ... some may disagree ... and yes, it's a bit of nit picking semantics, but ...

Chainsaw chains don't stretch. They wear at the rivets where they pivot to go around the sprocket and tip. The longer the chain, the less individual rivet wear it takes to accumulate enough extra length to make it difficult to adjust the chain and that's what we call stretch.  In this case, given the long length of the chain, removing a link is probably quite safe.

The only reason I bring this up is because over the last thirty years of selling and servicing chainsaw, I have had customers come to me with so much wear on their chains that I could almost break the chains by hand ... not really safe, and these customers had been told that it was OK to remove a link.  Before removing a link, please make sure it's safe.  Broken chains rarely cause injury, but it does happen.

cheers ... back to your regular programming ..

[Brad_bb]

Yes, that's what I was thinking- long chain, only a little wear will cause significant stretch.  Granberg also emailed me back saying it'd be ok to take out a link.  Ya'll confirmed what I thought.  Chain is in good condition otherwise- a few broken teeth, but overall good shape.  Broken ones will just have the top of the cutter broken off.

I removed a link last night.  The Granberg break n mend tool wasn't the easiest to use.  It's supposed to press/break the rivet out with a vicegrip actuated pin and anvil.  One worked as it was supposed to, but  two others just didn't want to snap.  I used a dremel and cutoff wheel to grind the one head off and then remove the section I wanted to (4 rivets).  I installed the new connector link and I did manage to smush the rivet heads, but wasn't as easy as I thought it was going to be.  

[welderskelter]

Not familiar with Granberg but do they work like stihl so you could just put on a bigger drive sprocket?

[welderskelter]

I feel so stupid. I did not know what a granberg was. Then I reread and seen the power was an 090. Wish I had one . :

[sawguy21]

No need to feel stupid, it's how we learn. Wish I had an 090, don't need one but want it just 'cuz. ;D

[Brad_bb]

With the weight of the 090 saw head plus bar and chain, I don't know how they walk(ed) around the woods of the Pacific Northwest with these things.  Takes strength and endurance.  My saw head is a really nice example, not beat up or anything.  You can tell he didn't use it much and had it on the shelf for more than 20 years.  I had to have the case re-gasketed due to vacuum leak and got a new carb and fuel line.  

[sealark37]

The Break-N-Mend tool was designed by Elof Granberg as a field expedient for a broken chain.  If you are going to do much chain work, Oregon makes a bench set that makes it a snap.    Regards, Clark

[Brad_bb]

Yes, that is what I need.

[Iwawoodwork]

I have had the vise grip chain break tool for many years and found that I need to grind the rivet head down most always, when setting a new master link, I use a small ballpeen hammer to round the rivets. In the 70's when working for Weyco out of Coos Bay OR, the 070 Stihls were phasing in with 36" bar or 54" on occasion, also the crew had three or four 090s  with 72" bars for the big Doug firs, it was very common to remove multiple links to get more bar adjustment on those longer bars.

[lxskllr]

Stihl chain seems to be too hard to simply punch out a rivet. I got in the habit of doing that with Oregon chain, and it worked pretty well. I broke my punch on my last Stihl chain, and had to file the rivet down first.

[doc henderson]

i have a Stihl brand chain breaker and rivet spinner, but it was not cheap.  i have not used it but it is the same as my dealer uses.