How tight should your chain be?

[dodge man]

I’ve read the manual but want opinions. I always looked in the middle of the bar, pulled up on the chain, and want to almost see light under the chain and above the bar. I was cutting wood with a buddy and he was wanting to tighten a lot tighter than that.

 

[3Ts]

I pull on my chain and expect to see some light, but expect the links to always be in the bar groove.

 

[jeff9366]

I was cutting wood with a buddy and he wanted to adjust the bar a lot tighter.

Move the chain with a gloved hand. If you feel more than slight resistance to the chain moving, the chain is too tight. Too tight a chain results in a hot saw, a hot, easily dulled, easily stretched chain, rapid sprocket wear and a slower moving chain under power.

 

[kenmbz]

I pull from the bottom on the middle of the chain and expect it to just about clear the bar.
Then check by moving chain by hand
If too tight the sprocket will suffer and it will heat up the bar (like Jeff's example above).
If too loose, it may throw the chain.

Quite a bit of adjustment where the chain will be fine, and not just sag.

 

[sea2summit]

I like to keep it where I can barley see light on a free hanging chain. I usually check it every few minutes for the first tank of gas and tighten as it gets hot and if it has a chance to cool off I check it before I start. A lot of problems I've seen on folks' saws seem to be from failing to care about their chain from tension to sharpness and they end up damaging their saw in one way or another as a result.

 

[dodge man]

Thanks for the replies, it sounds like I’m doing it correctly.

 

[Helogabals]

Our pro guys say - pull chain at the middle of the bar as hard as you can.
Very top of link should stay in the groove.

 

[kenmbz]

That is reasonable for bottom of bar check. As long as the chain glides well when you try to move it.
Pretty much what I do.

 

[Jstpssng]

How often do you throw a chain? If the answer is "not often" you don't have anything to worry about.

 

[etpm]

I have found that when I am just doing a few cuts it is best to keep the chain a little looser than when I am going to use the saw for an extended length of time. This is because as the saw is used more the chain gets hotter and expands more. My saw is a Stihl that requires no tools to adjust chain tension so it is easy to change the tension. Which means I don't mind changing the tension for the job.
Eric

 

[dodge man]

The reason I brought this up is someone else was using my saw and threw the chain.

 

[RandyT]

I like to be able to pull up on the chain and then have it snap back against the bar without any sag, and a slight sag with a warm chain and bar. Most of this is just subjective as long as you are not just cranking down the chain tension, like most people do with their bar nuts. I love having to put a wrench on the bar nuts and set the saw on the floor and stand on the wrench to break them free. I have broke two screnches over the years just trying to break the nuts loose.

 

[sandman2234]

I watched a video a couple weeks ago by a well known chain company and when the guy told how tight to run the chain, my thought was...he is in the business of selling chains and bars, not buying them! I am on a chainsaw ministry team at church, and the leader and I disagreed about chain tension, so at next meeting everyone was asked, and while I run it a little looser than most, nobody ran it as tight as the leader, so we met in the middle.
In my defense, our first chainsaw did not have a roller tip bar, which allows a tighter chain tension without harmful damage to the bar.
David from jax

 

[dirttoys]

surprised I am the only one, bottom middle, should be able to pull firmly and get a dime between the chain and bar. all my buddies did it the same way, maybe a home town thing............

Best,

ed

 

[PILOON]

Tighten the adjustment with a screwdriver between the chain and the bar.
When U pull out the screwdriver you'll have just the correct tension.

 

[kenmbz]

What size screwdriver, I have from barely visible to big enough to use as a pry bar

 

[ArlyA]

The reason I brought this up is someone else was using my saw and threw the chain.

That reminds me why we don't loan out our chain saws. You should be able to just pull the chain away from the bar at the midway point.

 

[dodge man]

The guy using my chainsaw was about 100 feet away from me when he threw the chain. It probably needed tightened up a little bit when it happened.

 

[thclimer]

What are the negative aspects of a "too loose chain"

1) Its falls or is thrown off your bar.

What are the negative aspects of a "too tight chain"

1) Bar and chain heat up damaging one or both.

2) Excessive force on drive sprocket leading to premature failure of bearings or sprocket.

3) Energy from the saw to cut is lost to friction between the bar and chain resulting less cutting power/speed. This issue alone is more noticeable on saws with smaller engines 50cc or smaller and also when your using a longer bar option on a smaller saw.

If your chain is constantly being thrown off your bar it too loose and as others have indicated there is quite a bit of adjustment between where a chain is loose or too loose for it to fall off the bar.

I tend to error on a looser chain than probaly most. When cold I don't want to see a gap between the cutter and the bottom of the bar, but a slight pull should open that easily.

 

[PILOON]

What size screwdriver, I have from barely visible to big enough to use as a pry bar

I always used an about 5/16" shaft sized one.
That trick was shown to me by my local chain saw shop.

When the screwdriver is withdrawn you'll notice that U can pull the chain by hand as well thus confirming the tension is just right,