Guide Bars
In General:
Guide bars wear down faster
where most of the cutting is done
– on the underside of the bar. You
should check there often for bent
or worn guide rails and cracked,
burred edges. Badly damaged
bars must be replaced. With
proper lubrication and light filing,
you can prevent most damage
and make the bar last longer.
Instructions:
Clean the bar grooves often.
Whenever you remove the bar,
turn it over so that it will wear
down evenly.
Check the groove depth after a
bar has been used for a while. Old
guide bar rails wear down and the
groove can become too shallow
for drive links to pass through
without scraping. On solid nose
bars, measure the groove depth
where the heaviest cutting is
done. On sprocket nose bars,
measure the depth at the nose. If
the depth is less than it should be,
the nose should be replaced.
Check often to make sure that
the tie straps are riding evenly on
the guard rails.
Lightly file burrs to remove
them.
Appearance
a) Evenly worn bar
rails - minimum depth
has been reached.
b) Unevenly worn bar
rails.
Appearance
Splayed bar rails
(groove spread).
Appearance
Pinched bar groove.
a
b
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Guide Bar Care
Filing depth gauges.
Check the depth gauge for the
correct height every time you sharpen the cutters.
If the depth gauge sticks up above the filing gauge,
first file it level with a flat file. Then make sure that all the
other depth gauges are filed to the same height. Finally,
slightly file each leading edge to round the corner back to
its original shape.
Use a depth gauge tool for accurate measurement and fil-
ing. These tools, to fit different gauges of saw chain, are
available from your STIHL dealer.
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STIHL Sharp Advice rdsp 110606 11/6/06 4:16 PM Page 13
