Stihl 028 WB - What Chain?

[Scotty Dive]

I inherited my dads Stihl 028 WB. It had little use because he bought it and then moved shortly thereafter and stopped burning wood. I cleaned it up and found a few gotcha's with it. The first was that it had no felling dogs and that this model did not have an inertia brake from the factory.

Well, thanks to ebay and the internet, I found the dogs (easy to find) and a Stihl brake kit (hard to find) and got those installed. Ported out the exhaust to help it breathe a bit better and now I am somewhat confused on what chain to use on it. In the past, I bring my old chains for my Jonsered to my local shop and get them replaced. Honestly never thought too much about it. This time I am scratching my head on what my choices are. I am looking for a relatively aggressive bite to cut the hardwoods (oak, hickory, maple) I burn. It has an 18 inch bar and a 7 tooth Sprocket. This 028 came in a few flavors over the years and I think my saw was one of the very earlier versions so not exactly positive the info that is coming up for the 028 is accurate to my saw. Cruising around I see a .325 and .050 gauge to be recommended, specifically a 22LPX074G by Oregon but it says its for a 8 tooth sprocket and I have 7.

Any Stihl chainsaw experts care to point me in the right direction?

 

[davesl708]

If you don’t have the original manual that came with the saw, the manufacturer or a local dealer can use your saw’s serial number to look up the date of manufacture in a database. The serial number is on the front of the saw’s housing near the bumper spike. Contact Stihl, or your local dealer, with this number.

 

[Junkyard Jim]

Get the numbers off your chain and bar and go to a website like Welcome To Madsen's Online They are easy to work with and if you can't figure out what you have by looking at their website, give them a call. On some of the older saws, I have found it cheaper to buy a new bar with a more common chain gauge, but your mileage will vary.

 

[Gunny]

.325 is the pitch for a specific chain, .050 is the width of the drive links, but if you're not sure, any good saw shop can match you up with the correct chain in just a few minutes. They should have a gauge for the width of the bar slot and it's very easy to lay different chains up against the sprocket and nose wheel.

 

[motownbrowne]

If you already have a bar, you need to get a chain to match it. The teeth on the sprocket at the tip need to match the spacing (pitch) of the chain. Also, the width of the channel in the bar needs to match the width (gauge) of the drive links.

If I were putting a new bar and chain on that saw, I'd go 16 or 18" 3/8 pitch .050 gauge. I'd go with a full compliment semi-chisel chain. Semi-chisel cuts slightly slower than full-chisel, but stays sharper much longer. 3/8 stays sharper longer and is easier to sharpen than .325 pitch.

 

[Toyboy]

Log on the Stihl web site and download a manual for free. I've done that with a couple saws and print them out.

 

[hslogger]

You post gives no indication as to the wear of the bar. If it is clearly worn, you might wanna get a new bar and chain combo. Stihl chain is hard, other brands are a tad softer and easier to hand file IMHO. For standard home owner use, I always recommend safety chain and or full compliment. It runs much smoother and your greatest enemy in running a chainsaw is kickback. Pro saws are usually set up to run like a jack rabbit by personnel who run them DAY IN AND DAY OUT. A regular guy doesn't need that kind of set up.

 

[TreePointer]

Bar chain is standardized, so you need only match PITCH, GAUGE, and DL (number of drive links).

PITCH = drive sprocket, bar tip sprocket, and chain must have same pitch
GAUGE = bar and chain must have same gauge. (Drive sprocket is gauge independent.)
DL = determined by bar length/shape. (DL required will be stamped on bar.)

KERF is a fourth characteristic that sometimes comes into play. Narrow Kerf (NK) bars can use narrow kerf chains or standard kerf chains. You cannot use a narrow kerf chain on a standard kerf bar.

The easiest way to determine all these characteristics is to look at what's stamped on the bar.

 

[TreePointer]

After you've determined pitch, gauge, DL, and kerf, the next thing you need to do is decide what kind of cutters you want. For a smaller saw like yours, that usually means choosing between full chisel or semi-chisel.

Simple recommendation? Try a loop of Stihl RS (or RS3). It's Stihl's version of full chisel chain.

Whether your saw has a 7t or 8t sprocket should not matter for that saw, as there should be enough chain adjustment available for either one. The easy answer is to buy a chain with the same number of DL as the chain that already fits your existing saw+bar combination.

 

[rkaufmann]

My 028 WB purchased new in 1981 with the original Stihl 18" bar used .325 pitch, .063" gauge, and 74 drive links. I always used the (yellow) RS square cutter chain after the original round cutter chain wore out.
Rick