keep in mind tank assemblys are no easy piece to find used and expensive new.With no chain catcher you will eat up a gas tank pretty fast if you toss a lot of chainsI'll confess, that is what I did. Where do I go to get my chainsaw abuser flogging? One quick spin and it dropped right into the track. A few revs and it was warmed up enough to get the perfect tension that I like to have. Adjusting tension on a cold chain is something I do not like to do because once warmed, it often is too loose.
Rant mode on: That chain catch under the bar is a useless part. I already said I had probably over a thousand pop off over my career but never so much as once did I ever have the chain contact my leg, ever. I would love to see any stats that show that was an actual problem.
Kind of like when I was the safety enforcer for my building at work. One day the fire marshall demands all solvent cabinets have self-closing doors. I then pointed out that in over several hundred monthly safety inspections there NEVER was a single case of the doors being cited from being open. Yet the company nurse had something like 18 incident reports of people getting gonked up side the head from cabinets with self-closing doors where their hands slipped and the door closed just as they were looking into the cabinet. Several folks had to get stiches because the lip on the door seal was sharp. That did not deter them and so we had to replace every non-self-closing cabinet, and I got two nice ones for home use for dirt cheap.
I just have a suspision that this 'safety feature' is causing more problems than it is solving.
I'm new to chainsaws, but been around a lot of other professional power tools for years, so I'm not unaccustomed to the Way of The Tool, just not chainsaws. I threw one chain last weekend - my first. Ever. It was a new chain, and I had tensioned it before use, but should have been watching the tension more closely as it was brand new (something I knew from reading here, but didn't apply well enough). It was on a small 1-2" tree that was in a mess of other stuff that I had thought was going to be a potential pinch hazard, but it still had to be cut. Well it got cut and pinched the chain and threw it. That was when I found the issue with driver dings and I didn't have a backup chain with me (another lesson). New to me, of course. Reasons it happened: 1. probably too little tension after a bit of use on a new chain. 2. small tree/pinch grab etc. I'll work on better tensioning now 
Here's some tossed chain carnage for you, 261 Olympik clutch cover with most of the bottom broken off.
Most of the cover's I've found on Ebay, etc for this saw look the same way, so it may be a weak spot in the design, but damage from a thrown chain nonetheless.
They also seemed to get a lot of damage, especially cracks, from being tossed onto the top of a load of wood at the end of the day. I would nestle them down between some blocks so the saws would not come off but the wood would pinch the cover and do damage. When I assembled my large truck for hauling I put a slot in the rack right behind the cab so I could stick the saw bar down into the slot and the powerhead was at the top of the woodpile and in front of the entire load. The saws got far less damage up there and I did not have to get them off the wood before dumping it.
I don't understand how anybody could blame the chain catcher it cant even touch the drivers its on the outside of the loop where the cutters are
I'm the other half of the Chain Throwers Anon support group. But it's only happened once so far.
But the question my friend the OP has is still a legitimate one. Does the chain catcher contribute to this damage? I am a big advocate of safety gear, but I also know that liability concerns can drive companies to do things at times that are safety related but are not really worth the trouble they cause. Being new to all this, I'm asking the same question. Sounds like several of you are saying without it, especially on the new saws with their much higher rpms, you risk at least severe saw damage and possibly injury. Makes sense. But just asking the question is not a bad thing, now is it?
Now it's almost Sat, so I get to try it again, learning from last week...
-Dave
I would think .063 would be better for that saw anyway.
I have ran a chainsaw for at least 50 years, professionally and on the farm All of my experience has been with a bow saw. Now that they are outlawed I purchased a bar saw. Having the chain come off has always been a common problem for me. Maybe I run the chain a little too loose. That’s how I was taught to keep wear to a minimum. On the new saw I bought, a Husqvarna, if the chain comes off it always damages the drive links, even when the saw was brand new. And for the first time ever I was using my old bow saw this Saturday and when the chain came off it damaged the drive links. I am at a loss.I'll confess, that is what I did. Where do I go to get my chainsaw abuser flogging? One quick spin and it dropped right into the track. A few revs and it was warmed up enough to get the perfect tension that I like to have. Adjusting tension on a cold chain is something I do not like to do because once warmed, it often is too loose.
Rant mode on: That chain catch under the bar is a useless part. I already said I had probably over a thousand pop off over my career but never so much as once did I ever have the chain contact my leg, ever. I would love to see any stats that show that was an actual problem.
Kind of like when I was the safety enforcer for my building at work. One day the fire marshall demands all solvent cabinets have self-closing doors. I then pointed out that in over several hundred monthly safety inspections there NEVER was a single case of the doors being cited from being open. Yet the company nurse had something like 18 incident reports of people getting gonked up side the head from cabinets with self-closing doors where their hands slipped and the door closed just as they were looking into the cabinet. Several folks had to get stiches because the lip on the door seal was sharp. That did not deter them and so we had to replace every non-self-closing cabinet, and I got two nice ones for home use for dirt cheap.
I just have a suspision that this 'safety feature' is causing more problems than it is solving.
