# NEW Stihl MS 362 Problems



## thebstatball1 (Mar 1, 2010)

Hey guys heres a question for you...
My club recently purchased a new MS 362 for clean up after our ice storm, great saw, 20 inch bar with good power. 
Heres my question, the other day i got the bar snagged in a tree, after getting it out and running it for the rest of the day i had no problems. I take it out today and change the chains on it to a new one out of the box from stihl and immediately the chain comes off while im running it. After looking at the chain i find 3 teeth that have burrs on the bottom (drive side) of them. Thinking it may be just that chain i take another new out of the box chain and put it on. Within 30 seconds of starting the saw the same thing happens another chain with 3 burrs in it. We took the entire saw apart and the bar does have a slight curve to it, not nearly big enough to fit a dime under but enough for a couple sheets of paper. 
Has anyone else ran into issues with a slightly bent bar causing your chain to come off the runner all together? This saw has less than 10 hours on it and already we are thinking we need to get a new bar and 2 new chains. 

Any advice?
thanks a lot
Matt


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## lmalterna (Mar 1, 2010)

Not enough of a bend. Check to make sure the nose sprocket turns freely and/or flush it good with a cleaner. also look at rim sprocket. Sounds like maybe gunk interfering with sprocket rotation.

2Door


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## mbayer (Mar 1, 2010)

have you checked the sprocket, maybe it is pinched and hanging up that could throw the chain.


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## thebstatball1 (Mar 1, 2010)

yeah we checked both sprockets and they seem fine, we did notice that one of the nose sprocket teeth was a little more warn then the others. We didnt think that this would have caused it. The bar was clear of any obstructions and the rim sprocket didnt seem to have any malfunctions or obstructions.


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## STIHLTHEDEERE (Mar 1, 2010)

i have running 362's a good 8 mos. now,and have not had this,or any other problem. i'd be checking the bar,sprocket nose,and the driver.


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## mbayer (Mar 1, 2010)

did you check the bar groove all the way around


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## SawTroll (Mar 1, 2010)

Sorry, but I want more info on the experience level of the saw operator, before I make any guesses here!

Bending a snagged bar is not a good sign, regarding that.........


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## thebstatball1 (Mar 1, 2010)

yeah we checked everything, we blew out any wood shavings everything out of the groove, i mean it still has all the white paint on top of the bar, I wouldnt think something like that would happen. Anyone ever had any issues with new chains out of the box?


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## thebstatball1 (Mar 1, 2010)

SawTroll

hey man i have been running a saw for 8 years now, never once had an issue. I grew up in the woods and worked with my dad to cut 10 chords of wood for our house. I have been through enough chains to know how to put them on. So i think we can rule that one out.


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## Hddnis (Mar 1, 2010)

I really doubt it is your chain.

Is the bar groove pinched closed, even the slightest amount, anywhere on the bar?

Take the bar off the saw, point it tip up, set a chain on it, run the by hand around the bar. It should track smoothly and stay in the bar groove and on the nose sprocket.

Are you sure the new chains are correct for the saw?

Are you sure the bar was re-installed properly after swapping the chain?



Mr. HE


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## Mad Professor (Mar 1, 2010)

I know it's a new saw, but does the bar and sprocket match (pitch width) the chain(s).

It's normal for a few drive teeth to be buggered up if you throw a chain, flat file will take the burrs off....


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## thebstatball1 (Mar 1, 2010)

We looked at the bar and did run the part of the chain with good teeth and had no issues. We ran the chain through the nose sprocket as well and didnt seem to find any issues. The chains are for the correct saw, before i went to ask anyone else for help i wanted to make sure that i didnt have the wrong ones. And i have set my chains the same way for the last 8 years, i have always done it the same way and today i did the same. I didnt think that the slight bend in the bar would have done it since the good chain ran all the way through the bar.


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## Slamm (Mar 1, 2010)

thebstatball1 said:


> SawTroll
> 
> hey man i have been running a saw for 8 years now, never once had an issue. I grew up in the woods and worked with my dad to cut 10 chords of wood for our house. I have been through enough chains to know how to put them on. So i think we can rule that one out.



Well I pretty sure we can also rule the "evil nature" of the 362, purposefully bending or burring up the new chains just to be mean to you and your club. As per the thread title the saw will get a bad rap due to operator ignorant and lack of experience.

If a guy who professes all of this experience (8 years and 10 cords per year), yet can figure out if the chain pitch is wrong, sprocket is screwed up or rim sprocket is cracked or broken. How are we suppose to figure it out over the computer??????

Take it to your dealer or someone who can figure this out in about 2 minutes of hands on observation.

My opinion,

Sam


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## sbhooper (Mar 1, 2010)

Simple question, but are you sure that you had the chain tight enough before you even started running it?


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## thebstatball1 (Mar 1, 2010)

Sam,
Im sorry that the saw may get a bar rap but thats not what im trying to do. I like the saw it has worked great till this time. I had looked at all of the things that you have just listed but i wanted to check with some people that have had more experience than I. I didnt realize that i would be getting antagonized for asking a question to some professionals!


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## thebstatball1 (Mar 1, 2010)

I have always put tension on the chain and then started it and revved it a few times and then tighten it again.


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## matt9923 (Mar 1, 2010)

Why did you take the entire saw apart and what does that mean? 

what do you mean burr?


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## sbhooper (Mar 1, 2010)

It would probably be best to take it to the dealer and have them make sure everything is in line, then. It has to be the bar, sprocket, chain or rim, though. Something there is not right.


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## Slamm (Mar 1, 2010)

No problem.

Listen to this sequence of chain tensioning.

You have just tightened the chain (I figure you already know how to do this).

Now stop, before you do anything else, like start the saw. Take your scrench or gloved hand and push the chain backwards about 1/2 the length of the bar. If the chain stays tight or properly tensioned then you are okay.

BUT........... sometimes you will notice that a tremendous amount of slack just happened. So at this time you need to retension the chain and then you can start/operate the saw.

I suspect that this is what you might have done.

You tightened it ........ thought it was tight because it looked tight, but then when the engine spun one revolution it got loose and then after a cut or two it slipped off.

Deburr your chains and try again using the aforementioned, helpful advice and see if that doesn't fix your problem.

Here to help, but I'm an a$$ about it, LOL,

Sam


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## Slamm (Mar 1, 2010)

thebstatball1 said:


> I have always put tension on the chain and then started it and revved it a few times and then tighten it again.



That has the same effect of what I said to due above, but with my method you don't have to start and stop the saw and tighten and untighten the bar nuts.

If you did that and that wasn't the problem you had better get to the dealer in the morning and let them take a look.

Because I guarantee it is something simple around the bar or sprockets, but it isn't the inherrent qualities of lack of qualities of the 362 itself.

My opinion,

Sam


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## woodgrenade (Mar 1, 2010)

I would venture to say that the burring occured when you threw the chain. I.E. when the drive links made contact with the side of the tip of the bar when it was thrown. 

This has happened to me before. It was a brand new *sthl chain and bar*. I wasn't villigant enough with checking it, the new chain stretched and was thrown at the nose (didn't even hit the chain catch, but did take some paint off the side of the nose). 

Just by contacting the side of the nose it burred up 5 or so of the drive links to the point that they needed to be filed in order to fit within the rails of the bar.

I think you have the same problem. Not to bust on you, but make sure you check the chain frequently until you run a couple of tanks through the saw with the specific chain in question.


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## woodyman (Mar 1, 2010)

Were you cutting wood when the chains came off or just reving the saw up?When my brother first got his 361 a couple years ago it through the chain off a few times.Don't know if it stretched right away or what.It hasn't done it again but he also got rid of the safety chain that came with it.Just today I put a new loop of Oregon 20LPXO72G on my 346 reved it up a few times and had slack in it.You have something that is loose or not aligned right.You can throw a chain by comming out of the cut and turning the saw too much.I have run a bar that sounds like it was more bent than yours with no problems for a tank or 2.


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## 2000ssm6 (Mar 1, 2010)

Sounds like you will need a new bar if not a new b&c. Take it by the dealer...


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## thebstatball1 (Mar 1, 2010)

Slamm, 
thanks for the advice it may be easier to try it that way next time. I took the bar and chains to the dealer earlier to see if they could see anything and i will wait to hear back from them in the morning. Thanks for your help


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## AT sawyer (Mar 1, 2010)

A club saw. More than one guy taking it apart? Did you put the needle bearing back on the drive shaft after you removed the sprocket? What do the sprocket teeth look like?


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## thebstatball1 (Mar 1, 2010)

A country club saw, I have been the only one to use it since we purchased it a week ago. We just took the sprocket off the drive and looked to see if there were any issues with it and both the sprocket and the nose sprocket were good.


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## THALL10326 (Mar 1, 2010)

thebstatball1 said:


> Hey guys heres a question for you...
> My club recently purchased a new MS 362 for clean up after our ice storm, great saw, 20 inch bar with good power.
> Heres my question, the other day i got the bar snagged in a tree, after getting it out and running it for the rest of the day i had no problems. I take it out today and change the chains on it to a new one out of the box from stihl and immediately the chain comes off while im running it. After looking at the chain i find 3 teeth that have burrs on the bottom (drive side) of them. Thinking it may be just that chain i take another new out of the box chain and put it on. Within 30 seconds of starting the saw the same thing happens another chain with 3 burrs in it. We took the entire saw apart and the bar does have a slight curve to it, not nearly big enough to fit a dime under but enough for a couple sheets of paper.
> Has anyone else ran into issues with a slightly bent bar causing your chain to come off the runner all together? This saw has less than 10 hours on it and already we are thinking we need to get a new bar and 2 new chains.
> ...



What are you cutting with that saw? Are you clearing with it or sawing wood?


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## thebstatball1 (Mar 1, 2010)

We are clearing some trees with it, it happened both times when i was limbing the tree that i had just taken down.


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## Brushwacker (Mar 1, 2010)

From what I heard I believe the bar nose sprocket is the main reason it is kicking off the chains. I would estimate 90 to 95% of the time I have that problem the teeth in the sprocket in the bar nose are getting wore down . You said 1 of the teeth was distorted or something like that. When the problem develops for me the chain usually throws when sawing in small springy limbs and it keeps getting worse until I replace the bar tip sprocket. If your bar is bent it may be playing into it also. 
I doubt there is a problem in the bearings on the crankshaft, or clutch hub,or the clutchhub sprocket but its possible.


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## Honkie (Mar 1, 2010)

Tiny branches are notorious for kicking a chain off the bar. The only time I ever see chains fly are when they are clearing branches.........I have know idea why.

Never threw a chain except when clearing around a big oak, damn chain ruined my new carhart insulated over'alls


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## THALL10326 (Mar 1, 2010)

honkie said:


> tiny branches are notorious for kicking a chain off the bar. The only time i ever see chains fly are when they are clearing branches.........i have know idea why.
> 
> Never threw a chain except when clearing around a big oak, damn chain ruined my new carhart insulated over'alls



bingo...


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## Honkie (Mar 1, 2010)

THALL10326 said:


> bingo...



I will take a Wendy's spicey chicken sammich, and a velvet Elvis poster as payment.....


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## THALL10326 (Mar 1, 2010)

Honkie said:


> I will take a Wendy's spicey chicken sammich, and a velvet Elvis poster as payment.....



Done deal,


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## nanuk (Mar 1, 2010)

How far can a bar bend before it's a problem?

I've read where long bars bend quite a bit, and it doesn't cause problems with the chains, only aiming the cuts.


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## Honkie (Mar 1, 2010)

Different kinda bend....I saw a long bar on youtube sag atleast 3-4 inches and the feller was just blipping the throttle like nothing was wrong. The bend was over the entire length of the bar (looks to be a 72 incher) and was more of a gradual curve than a bend. Put that sameamount of slop in a shorter bar ,20", and your off buying new carhart insulated over'alls


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