How big of a bar can it pull?

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Andrew15

Andrew15

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Hi people, Andrew here with another question!

So.. as you may know i own a Stihl MS 362 but i was just sitting there and wondered.."How big of a bar can it actually pull?" I mean from time to time you i see some big trees on my propriety and i was just wondering "how i am gonna take care of them if they fall?" so the question is: Could the 362 pull a 24 inch bar? Also, a big tree fell on my fence from my neighbor's part of the forest and it was big. So big that i could't take care of it and the guy had to call some guys with bigger saws(like 70cc or smth idk) to take care of it so yeah..

Thank you in advance!! :chop:
 
ballisticdoughnut said:
Max factory recommended bar length for that saw is 25” so your good.
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Yeah, thanks for that information and to be honest i fell like chainsaw's dealers always tell you that the saw can pull a smaller bar that it can actually bar and i've seen this thing only on stihl saws as on husqvarna's website they say that you can put a 24 inch bar on a 455 rancher and you'll be fine. I just don't get why still dealers do that.
 
I think the bar-length deal is just a dance...in the marketing, not engineering, department.

They want their saws to seem beefy (long bar) but they also want to up-sell to larger power-heads (short bar).

Your Husky example is interesting. The 455 comes in at 24"x.375" while the Husky 450 is only rated at 20"x.325". Maybe, the 455 gets a higher-flow oil pump? But, that much bar-difference based on 5cc displacement...seems like Marketing Department.

While Stihl says the MS362 is good to go at 25"x.375"...I suspect, most users will say, the saw is best with a 20" bar. I recognize, there are the occassional-25" guys, the fellows who run 25" while bucking 12" wood (less bending over), and the ported saws crew.

Roy
 
irhunter said:
I think the bar-length deal is just a dance...in the marketing, not engineering, department.

They want their saws to seem beefy (long bar) but they also want to up-sell to larger power-heads (short bar).

Your Husky example is interesting. The 455 comes in at 24"x.375" while the Husky 450 is only rated at 20"x.325". Maybe, the 455 gets a higher-flow oil pump? But, that much bar-difference based on 5cc displacement...seems like Marketing Department.

While Stihl says the MS362 is good to go at 25"x.375"...I suspect, most users will say, the saw is best with a 20" bar. I recognize, there are the occassional-25" guys, the fellows who run 25" while bucking 12" wood (less bending over), and the ported saws crew.

Roy
Click to expand...
I know right? Very interesting example! Take this, here in Romania you don't even get to choose what bar do you want on your saw when you buy it, either go with the bar they give it with or bye bye, i feel like company's like stihl limit their saws, at some point i checked my 33c husqvarna on the company's website and it said that it can handle bars from 14"-18" but stihl says their 362 doesn't handle anything over 20"? Please, i run my 45 cc china saw with a 18" and i does great. I really feel like a 24" light bar will work in perfect harmony with my 362. And if i keep my promise and advance the ignition and muffler mod it after the warranty runs out i bet its gonna be the perfect saw for my felling routines!
I've seen people that don't even run their saws at full throttle. If they see a saw like a husqvarna has a bigger trigger its fine, they don't run their saw at full throttle until they "feel" like it needs all its power like... As my uncle says:" Run' em hard, when its warmed up, full throttle with no hesitation! These things are meant to be used in the forest not in daycares! Run it with a good mix and a job on its size, its not like it feels pain!"
 
sean donato said:
Just because the saw will spin a 24" bar doesn't mean it's good at it. 362 is best suited with a 20" in stock form.
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You are indeed right, I run a 20" right now but i plan on getting that ignition timing advanced and muffler mod it when it gets out of warranty but until then il just keep a 20" as il prob just a buy a 70cc to run a 24.
 
Andrew15 said:
You are indeed right, I run a 20" right now but i plan on getting that ignition timing advanced and muffler mod it when it gets out of warranty but until then il just keep a 20" as il prob just a buy a 70cc to run a 24.
Click to expand...
Andrew I ran a 25" bar on a 362 for a big tree we had once. It pulled it but I couldn't push it. A lot slower than the 18" dad usually ran on that saw.
 
ya that's a hard one a ported 026 can pull a 36in full comp bar but should it? yes you can cut the tree down with it but a bigger saw like a 660 would be better suited for that. just depends what you cut 90% of the time on what you should be running or carry both....that's what I do.
 
A good general rule of thumb is to take the CC of the saw and divide it in half. And that'll be around your max bar length typically. The 362 is a 59cc saw. So I'd go with a 28 inch bar max. In my own experience, I've run a 59cc Echo 590 with a 36 inch bar on it, bucking up 50+ inch pecan. Of course, it was slower (and lighter) with that bar than a bigger saw would be, but it got the job done without TOO much frustration. The problem you'll run into using an oversized bar is that it's hard on an underpowered saw. I broke several chains while I was running that setup and stripped a sprocket, as it couldn't power through like a bigger saw and would grab and bog if you tried to feed it too fast, resulting in more stress on everything.
 
Lightning Performance said:
Great
. Like to see a three cut run, please sir.
Get a bigger log while you're at it.
Click to expand...
Most of the big stuff is split in to fire wood as soon as it gets to the yard. Or put aside for Milling.

Bottom line!......The OP asked about "how long of a bar he could run on his MS362" I offered a video of my MS361 running a 28" in 26" of Southern Yellow Long Leaf Pine. A similar saw with close to the same power or even bit less.
I couldn't give a Sh.iT if you, or anyone else is impressed with how fast it cut. This saw is NOT a "race saw", it is a work saw with simple mods, the chain is not a "race chain" it is regular off the reel chain.
So the OP can now make a more informed decision about weather or not he wants to try a long bar on his saw, with out all the BS theory crafting.
 

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