The chainsaw is pulling to the side why. Tire wear – how to troubleshoot the blade

Why the saw won’t cut

Every year the technique is getting better and smarter, more complex in design and easier to operate. The chain saw manufacturers can not keep up with the times: special systems to suppress vibration, easy starting, automatic chain lubrication, tool-free chain tensioning But no matter what additional features are not equipped with a model, it is not immune to malfunctions. For chainsaws of any price range, the vast majority of breakdowns can be avoided with proper care and use.

IF YOUR SAW HAS A PROBLEM THAT IS NOT COVERED IN THIS ARTICLE, PLEASE CALL YOUR SERVICE CENTER FOR ASSISTANCE!

In this article, we’ll look at the main causes of chainsaw malfunctions and how to diagnose and fix them.

The following points will be covered in this material:

• Engine trouble
• Checking the carburetor adjustment
• Checking the muffler
• Chain lubrication system malfunctions
• Chain brake does not work
• How to avoid dangers and malfunctions? Tips for chain saw maintenance

How to avoid the problem if your chain saw constantly swings to the side

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Quite often masters and owners are faced with the fact that at the time of sawing wood with a chainsaw its working part begins to constantly withdraw to the side. This is a very common problem, which can actually be corrected by your own efforts. At least if you understand exactly why it happens and know what you have to do if it does.

Why the chainsaw swings to the side while working

There can be two main reasons of sideways tendency of the chainsaw during the sawing process. The first major complex reason is the wearing of such elements as the saw chain and (or) the bar of the tool. Pulling sideways can start to occur even if only one saw tooth is damaged. This most often occurs when the chain hits a nail or something similar while cutting, and the tooth becomes deformed. over, traction also begins to drop in such a situation, which means that the foreman inevitably has to exert more pressure on the saw when working. This in turn leads to the second problem. the accelerated tire wear.

The second common cause of the described problem is much simpler and more insidious. It’s because the tensioning of the saw chain is not correct to begin with. A tightened chain will quickly overheat the guide bar and accelerate the chain’s wear. In this case also the load on the bearings of the tool is very high.

What to do

The first and most important thing you must do to prevent the saw from tipping to the side during operation is to service it properly and at regular intervals. First of all sharpen the chain. Also before starting work, check that the chain is tensioned correctly, check the condition of the bar and straighten it if the flanges are deformed.

To avoid this problem you should first lay the guide bar on a flat table and put a straight edge against it. This helps to determine the degree of deformation. After that, use a vice and an angle grinder to lift the guide bar to the level of the disc. The final position must be determined with the aid of an angle, and the rail must be clamped in its final position. Then it’s just a matter of working the tire a few times on each side.

I go forward and you go left

Let’s start with the brakes. Of course, first of all, you need to check the brakes, it is obvious, so I will not dwell on this. The easiest thing to do is to go to the brake bench and make sure the difference in braking forces is not too great. You’ll see more side-to-side pulling if there’s a problem with the brakes on the front axle. It is possible that the malfunction is due to improper operation of the ABS. In short, the bench will show you everything.

The second cause is just suspension problems, of which the most likely are faulty springs, shock absorbers and silent blocks. That is, anything that starts to work when the car presses its nose to the ground when braking and tries to lift the rear.

The easiest place to start your search in this case is with the usual running gear diagnostics. That is to drive the car on the elevator and methodically press all that has connections, especially the rubber ones. By the way, it is not necessary to forget about subframes. If they for some reason fall off the car (for example, rotted to hell), the car on the road and especially during braking and acceleration will behave inadequately.

Shock absorbers are better to check on the vibration test. Here, as well as with brakes, you need to make sure that their efficiency on the right and on the left is more or less the same. If you are absolutely lazy to go somewhere, you can estimate shock absorbers (and springs at the same time) the old way, with your eyes and hands. If you can see even with naked eye that the distance between a wheel and fender arch is more on one side and less on the other, you do not need to go to the stand. You can make an appointment for repair at once (most likely a coil of spring is cracked). And for complete peace of mind it is possible to rock the car up and down in the same old way. If the sway from different sides will be appreciably different, you already should not go to the stand, but replace shock absorbers. True, such a diagnosis requires at least minimal experience, so it is still more reliable to trust the stands.

If the car is trying to run away to the side of the road or oncoming when accelerating, first of all you need to check all the elements of the chassis, as in the previous paragraphs. But to this you should also add checking of some elements of the transmission. You can start with the CV joints, although their failure usually manifests itself in a different way. But nevertheless, if dust caps are torn a long time ago and joints are already damaged from mud, they can cinch in any situation, and not only crunch in turns.

Second in line is the differential. It’s not so difficult to check it quickly. It is necessary to unhitch front axle (if the question is about the front-wheel drive car) and to twist one wheel. The second one should slowly rotate in the opposite direction. You can check it by locking one wheel (ask a friend to hold it) and try to turn the other. It spins. good. Of course, this method does not allow you to fully assess the condition of the differential. you still need to at least look at the oil for chips in it, and even better. the gears themselves. All of these, especially the latter, are noticeably more difficult to detect, but a totally neglected case will.

In rare cases, the drive shaft outboard bearing (if there is one) may be to blame. Symptoms of its failure are different (at first it starts humming, then appears vibration), but if you can not find anything at all, you can look at its condition.

Another not quite obvious reason is the condition of rear arm silent blocks. Primarily hydro-filled, also known as “floating”.

Some of described appear very seldom, and first of all during acceleration the reason of steering will be more obvious and connected with killed silent blocks and backlashes in steering mechanism.

If the wrong saw headset is selected

Often most sawyers simply do not pay attention to the fact that not only the chain has specifications, but also the bar and the drive sprocket with the crown. All these parts must match each other in such a technical parameter as pitch. Most chainsaws are equipped with a standard pitch of 0.325. The tire, the chain and the drive sprocket, or rather the crown must have the same pitch. If one of these parts does not meet the same standard, it will lead to accelerated wear of individual parts and the entire tool.

The bar also has such a parameter as the width of the groove. This can range from 1.1 to 1.6 mm, depending on how powerful the tool is. Never fit a chain saw with a slot width greater than 1.3 mm. A standard chain in such a bar will have too much clearance, which will lead to accelerated wear of both parts.

This is interesting! If a bar with a slot width of 1.3 mm is operated with a chain with a shank thickness of less than 1.1 mm, unequal movement of the shank during tool operation will lead to accelerated wear of the guide bar. As a result the chainsaw will start cutting crookedly on one side.

Never buy chainsaw headsets if you don’t know or can’t remember exact measurements. “Just about right” chain, guide bar or sprocket may not be the right fit for your tool and will end up needing to replace all consumable items. To find out the width of the bar fit, you will need to use a caliper or look in the technical description of the tool.

Reasons why the chainsaw is swaying to the side

Reasons for sideways tendency may include:

Chainsaw teeth and guide bar wear

Uneven wear in the saw chain teeth is the main reason why the chain saw can yank while cutting. Most often it happens when some tooth hits a nail or something like that. Naturally this leads to a decrease in cutting efficiency. As a result, the foreman puts more pressure on the saw, increasing the stress on the bar and the chain.

In this kind of sawing the sharp teeth normally cut through the wood, and the blunted teeth just roll over the cut area like a car wheel going over a bump. However, the car has a suspension system, shock absorbers. That’s why such “forcing” an obstacle has almost no effect on the vehicle.

The saw does not have such systems. That’s why the chain, when bent like this, just presses on the ribs of the tire, gradually pulling them apart. It is also accompanied by increased wear of the chain shanks. If it is not taken care of in time, the wear and tear will develop exponentially.

Incorrect tensioning of saw chain

No less important reason why the chainsaw is turned sideways is bad or untimely tensioning of the chain. quite a difficult and capricious element. According to the manual, the chain must be tensioned in such a way that when you try to lift it up, the three shanks are visible

However, this rule is quite difficult to use. The amount by which the chain is pulled back depends largely on both the strength of the pins and the length of the bar.

WARNING. In practice, when tensioning the chain on a cold chain saw, sagging of the chain should be avoided. in this case the tensioning should be performed without considerable effort it should be understood that the chain gets extremely hot during sawing, which causes the chain sagging

But, remembering your school physics course, this should be taken calmly. Metal expands when heated, so slight slackening is normal

It should be understood that the chain gets very hot during the sawing process, which causes it to sag. But remembering your school physics course, this should not be taken lightly. The metal expands when heated, so a little slack is normal.

But some inexperienced craftsmen forget about this factor and tension a chain that has come loose while sawing. This results in problems when the saw cools down: The chain is compressed and becomes overtightened.

If you start sawing with an overtightened saw chain, the bar of the chainsaw will inevitably become hot and cause an increase in its geometrical dimensions. This will cause the chain to be stretched too much again. This will substantially increase the load on the bearings, sprocket, and bar, causing them to wear faster. In addition, it will inevitably lead to a tendency for the chainsaw to wiggle when sawing.

WARNING. If you want to learn more about woodworking tools and the crafts you make with them, be sure to check out the material at this link.

Uneven sharpening

According to the instructions for sharpening chains, all teeth should be sharpened at the same distance, no matter which side they are on. If you follow this simple requirement, you can protect yourself from the problems associated with your chainsaw pulling away while sawing.

When sharpening the chain with a file it is not always possible to control the length of the tooth using the technique of counting the number of strokes of the file.

It is explained by the fact that the wear of teeth is uneven, some are more damaged and it takes more file movements to bring them back to normal, which means that the size of such teeth will be reduced significantly compared to the others.

How to avoid wrong sharpening

To avoid a bad cut due to uneven sharpening, a chain sharpening machine may be used occasionally or in case of heavy damage. Buy a machine and sharpen it yourself or have it sharpened in a workshop.

The fact that the machine during sharpening is adjusted by the most worn tooth, which has the smallest size of all. After sharpening, all teeth will be the same size as the tooth on which the sharpening was performed.

Use of unsuitable chain

It is no secret that the chain saw bar, as well as the chain, has several basic characteristics, one of them is the width of the groove for the installation of the chain. The width of the groove can have several basic dimensions:

Suppose we take a chain with a 1.1″ pitch and put it on a bar with a 1.3 mm pitch. Initially, if the tension is good, we can see no difference, but when the tension is slightly reduced, a gap of 0.2 mm makes it impossible for the chain to move evenly along the bar, it tilts to one side and you get sawing material that is crooked again.

when buying a chain to the chain saw, please give exact chain dimensions, not the brand or model of the saw. On identical models of chainsaws, different guide bars may be fitted, and the chains will also be different.

To check the width of the chain fit, you can use a caliper.

For troubleshooting, if the chainsaw bar is not yet severely damaged and there is no uneven wear on it, it will only be necessary to replace the chain. If it already shows wear, it is necessary to install a completely new set.

How to tune a chain saw?

The carburetor is one of the most important elements of a chainsaw, the main function of which is to enrich fuel with air and instantly feed the ready mixture into the cylinder of the power unit.

The following signs are indicative of carburetor malfunctions:

• Problems starting the chainsaw. more effort than usual is needed to start the motor;
• unstable operation of the engine in different modes. noticeable interruptions in the rotation of the motor at idle speed, as well as during the transition to low and high revolutions;
• a sharp increase in the amount of fuel consumed. on average, the amount of fuel increases by 20-30%;
• increase in the amount of exhaust gases emitted. the volume of gases increases by 50-60%, and the fumes themselves take on a dark blue, brown or black color.

Adjustment of the chainsaw should be performed on a fully serviceable and stably running engine. Before you begin tuning you will need to wash or replace the filter, check the integrity of the fuel pipes, and make sure there are no burrs and other damage on the surface of the cylinder and other parts of the chainsaw power unit.

The chain saw has steel spring-loaded screws in the carburetor for self-adjustment. Their number and marking depends on the brand-manufacturer of the chainsaw.

The procedure for adjusting the fuel unit for most chainsaws looks almost the same.

First you need to stop the saw and wait for its engine cool down; After that, all available in the device of its carburetor screws should be turned in the direction of the clock hand to the stop; Then each of the screws need to turn a fourth or fifth of a turn in the opposite direction; Then you need to adjust the operation of the power unit at low revolutions. To do this, start turning the respective screw slowly in different directions

As soon as the engine becomes as quiet and stable as possible, the screw should be left;

To adjust the idle speed on the chainsaw, you need to pay attention to the chain. If it rotates on the bar, then you need to find the screw position where it will stand still;

At the end it remains to adjust the work of the engine at high revolutions

To do this, you will need to connect the tachometer to the motor cylinder and start turning the appropriate screw until the indicators on the scale of the device and the instructions in the manual coincide. For example if the manual says that the maximum rpm of the saw should be 12500 rpm, this is also the number that should be indicated on the tachometer scale when making the adjustment.

To check the chain saw’s operation after the adjustment, you need to stop it and wait for the motor to cool down completely. Then restart the engine and slowly squeeze the gas pedal lever. If at the same time the power unit smoothly picks up speed, it means that the adjustment of the saw has been done correctly.

Excessive wear

If the chainsaw is cutting crooked in the arc, it could also be due to excessive wear on the saw headset. It can be checked by a visual inspection of their contacting surfaces. For this purpose, the bar must be removed from the chainsaw and look at its plane of contact with the chain from the end, positioning it at eye level in such a way that the boarding slot under the chain is fully visible.

When you do this, you can visually assess the wear on the left and right sides of the tire in relation to the groove. Generally, the edges should be worn evenly, and if one side is more worn than the other, the tyre must be replaced with a new one to correct the defect.

For even wear and tear, some manufacturers recommend that you rotate the tire periodically. But keep in mind that this recommendation is not correct for all headset models. к. Many manufacturers indicate on the surface of the tire the direction of movement of the chain on it, and, accordingly, such a part can be installed only in one position.

The figure below shows several types, the upper has the direction of the chain, which informs us of the icon on the tip of the tire and the direction indicator.

Experienced chainsaw service center technicians advise that if increased wear is detected, a complete diagnosis of the saw’s lubrication system should be performed, because. к. if your chain lubrication system is working correctly and the chain is adjusted to the bar of your chainsaw, you shouldn’t have this problem, it could be the faulty or out of adjustment of the oil system.

If you observe a crooked cut while working with a chainsaw, the first thing you should pay attention to is the correspondence of the chainsaw chain to its guide bar. If everything is normal check the sharpening of teeth and wear of the bar, in case of high wear, check the functionality of the lubrication system, i.e. к. the problem could be. And the main thing to remember is that in a chainsaw everything is connected, and use of low-quality chain lubrication oil can cause premature wear and loss of chainsaw performance.