Nose sprocket jamming

[HeatherwoldGard]

Two week old Husky 450e with 18" bar. I grease the nose sprocket with red sprocket grease about every third or fourth fill of fuel and for the second time in two days, the bar nose sprocket is jammed solid after a couple of hours of work.
I have to strip the bar down and dig around the sprocket removing loads of crud before it starts spinning up again.
Never had any issues with my old Stihl (no grease hole so didn't need to grease up)
Was I wrong in following Husky's advice on greasing and shouldn't have bothered?
Or is there something I'm doing wrong here guys?

 

[Sagetown]

In the 1st place, it shouldn't be loading up with trash. They all get a little stiff from time to time.

 

[jus2fat]

Two week old Husky 450e with 18" bar. I grease the nose sprocket with red sprocket grease about every third or fourth fill of fuel and for the second time in two days, the bar nose sprocket is jammed solid after a couple of hours of work.

Never had any issues with my old Stihl (no grease hole so didn't need to grease up)
Was I wrong in following Husky's advice on greasing and shouldn't have bothered?
Or is there something I'm doing wrong here guys?

Shouldn't have started greasing the bar in the first place..!!

Let the bar oil do it...now that you've started greasing it...you must keep on greasing it...
The bar oil will now not 'cleanse' the sprocket and lubricate it.

Soak the tip of bar in kerosene/diesel fuel/varsol and get rid of the grease.
Be patient...could take several days to dissolve the grease.

J2F

 

[HeatherwoldGard]

I've decided to wash the sprocket out with petrol in the morning, let it dry and start again.
What do you think?

 

[Dan_IN_MN]

Two week old Husky 450e with 18" bar. I grease the nose sprocket with red sprocket grease about every third or fourth fill of fuel and for the second time in two days, the bar nose sprocket is jammed solid after a couple of hours of work.
I have to strip the bar down and dig around the sprocket removing loads of crud before it starts spinning up again.
Never had any issues with my old Stihl (no grease hole so didn't need to grease up)
Was I wrong in following Husky's advice on greasing and shouldn't have bothered?
Or is there something I'm doing wrong here guys?

Welcome to AS!

What did the dealer tell you about it?

What are your cutting conditions? What are you cutting?

 

[SteveH]

I've decided to wash the sprocket out with petrol in the morning, let it dry and start again.
What do you think?

Worth a try and can't hurt anything.

Get it clean and don't grease any more. I used to, never do now and my bars and sprockets are fine.

 

[Dan_IN_MN]

I've decided to wash the sprocket out with petrol in the morning, let it dry and start again.
What do you think?

And then put a bit of bar oil in it and work it in......(spin the sprocket with a tool of some sort).

 

[mowoodchopper]

just fire it up and run the #### out of it for a few days itll be fine, dont grease so much

 

[redoakneck]

Spin that sprocket with an air gun to get it zipzipzipping, then wd-40 or oil. Check yer chain tension, stuff shouldn't git in there.

 

[alderman]

I grease mine and only have had one jam up with crud. I don't honestly think it matters. I do fail to realize how the bar oil could give the sprocket much lubrication when it is turning at 10,000rpm's.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[mowoodchopper]

i grease mine when i think of it, once or twice a yr never had a prob

 

[HeatherwoldGard]

Okay, washed it out and oiled to help the initial start up.
Now done 4 hours of crosscutting. mainly Ash and Silver Birch with no problems:biggrin:

 

[Philbert]

Two week old Husky 450e with 18" bar. I grease the nose sprocket with red sprocket grease about every third or fourth fill of fuel and for the second time in two days, the bar nose sprocket is jammed solid after a couple of hours of work. I have to strip the bar down and dig around the sprocket removing loads of crud before it starts spinning up again.

This should not be a 'grease or no-grease issue'.

That is a separate topic which boils down to - 'grease it all the time, or never grease it, but don't just grease it sometimes'. Lots of threads and discussion on that.

This is a crud question.

The small grease holes on each side of an Oregon or Husky bar do lead right to the roller bearings. I suppose that it is possible that very small particles (like volcanic ash) could sneak in there (if your bar has lots of contact with volcanic ash). Other stuff can wedge between the sides of the sprockets and the inside surfaces of the bar. I have had this happen with stringy wood and bark fibers from birch and other trees. Sometimes this can be picked out with a pick, screwdriver, needle nose pliers, or hemostats (work the best).

In a extreme case, on a neighbor's saw, I had to drive out the rivets to remove the sprocket and found a piece of thread jamming it up. Cleaned it, replaced the sprocket and rivets.

The STIHL bars do not have that hole, but also have a very thin, metal shim that covers the bearings on both sides of the sprocket. So it is possible that this design protects the bearings better from crud, but it is not due to grease versus oil. It is also possible that the amount of clearance between the sprocket and the bar, and the profile of the sprocket on different bars may contribute more or less to crud getting jammed in there.

Philbert

 

[HeatherwoldGard]

Nice post Philbert, many thanks for the pic.
Ran a total of 6 hours today and no problem after washing out with petrol and then oiling it up. Same sort of cutting, mainly Ash and Silver Birch, and similar weather.
Going to my dealer Saturday to get his opinion on this matter.

 

[Sagetown]

Spin that sprocket with an air gun to get it zipzipzipping, then wd-40 or oil. Check yer chain tension, stuff shouldn't git in there.

Talk about taking the words right out of my mouth! That was going to be my next post Bro..:hmm3grin2orange:

 

[heimannm]

I have been greasing the nose sprockets on every saw I own (except the Stihl's of course) for over 30 years and have never, ever had one jam on me. I normally only grease when the job is done and cleaning the saw up to put it away, sometimes if I think of it when I add fuel and bar oil I will give it a shot as well but normally not.

I think the guys that tell you "once you grease it you must always grease it or it will fail" have been drinking somebodies coolaid...

Mark

 

[Philbert]

I normally only grease when the job is done and cleaning the saw up to put it away, sometimes if I think of it when I add fuel and bar oil I will give it a shot as well but normally not. . . .I think the guys that tell you "once you grease it you must always grease it or it will fail" have been drinking somebodies coolaid...

Mark,

That sounds like pretty frequent nose greasing to me (not trying to 'brown nose' anyone here). No one is suggesting greasing after every cut.

I think that the problem is when the greasing is done on an infrequent basis and a grease/wood dust seal forms. I don't think that Kool-Aid will dissolve this; I think that fresh grease, or the OP's petrol wash, is a better solution.

JMHO

Philbert