What is your cleaning and maintenance routine for your chainsaw?

   / What is your cleaning and maintenance routine for your chainsaw? #41  
Just got my Echo. Man is it light, must be less than 5 pounds.
 
   / What is your cleaning and maintenance routine for your chainsaw? #43  
Contrarian that I am I never drain the fuel out of my 2 cycle equipment. The three saws can sit on the shelf for 6 months. Starts up just fine. Saws work a hard day or two, or a light day depending on what has fallen on the trails. I used to just use premium gas for my mix. Now I just use non-ethanol gas for the mix.

I do have a fuel cutoff on one 4 cycle generator. I like to turn that off and let the engine burn up what is left in the carb. I did not set a calendar on that generator but it had fuel that was older than 5 years. It would start right up after sitting a year or two. That said I have had a few 4 cycle tools that got gummed up jets but none since I started using non-ethanol gas.
So very true, 2-stroke engines don’t have the “bad” fuel worry because of the oil mixed with the gas. An extended period of time, say a year, might be a problem. They can even run upside down for ever, a 4 stroke can’t.
 
   / What is your cleaning and maintenance routine for your chainsaw? #45  
To reiterate that saw chain covers, plus the bars chain groove and oil ports etc, etc, really do need to be cleaned out on a regular bases. This helps your chains and bars to last longer, and gives you an opportunity to check the brake.
 
   / What is your cleaning and maintenance routine for your chainsaw? #46  
The issue with bar channels is, they tend to collect swarf and impede the flow of bar oil and really need to be cleaned regularly. Every time I flip a bar, the channel gets cleaned as well as the side cover and I always inspect the drive sprocket for wear. Drive sprockets are cheap and so are new loops. Flipping the bar allows it to keep the radius intact which is necessary for the teeth to cut aggressively. Of course I grease the roller nose too. All my bars have Carelton replaceable roller noses with grease ports and I have this neat, refillable grease gin just for those ports.
 
   / What is your cleaning and maintenance routine for your chainsaw? #47  
I usually clean out clutch area and be sure oiler ports are clear and turn over bar every time I remove chain for sharpening, remove air filter and blow it out whenever I happen to think about it.... Always put away saw with touched up chain, full of fuel and oil.... Always ready for "next" days work.... Alway a negative to have to deal with saw problem at start of days work....Never have any issues leaving fuel and oil in my chainsaws, lawnmowers, generator, log splitter... It you go with the concept of draining fuel and running dry, do you do it with your tractor or pickup truck or wifes flashy car when it gets parked....

Also does the $50 a gallon custom fuel blend make you saw run any better and give longer life than the gallon of pump gas and small bottle of oil (50:1) fuel mix...
I would say no to your last line. Also I have never had a problem running reg unleaded in anything I own. I had a Stihl 044 that I had for almost 30 years and it never ate anything but reg gas and I never once drained the tank or let it run until it ran out of gas. The same with all my lawn mowers, tractors or any of my boats. In fact, my 044 in all those years never had the carb taken off. I am a firm believer in a good fuel stabilizer and using a good brand of oil, not penns oil or any of the stuff you get at walmart and keeping it in a clean container. I ran only Stihl oil in my saws or other two cycle engines. Well that is accept my boat motors which were always Mercurys, which I ran their premium plus oil they had to offer.
I found in my 35 year plus time as a boat or equipment mechanic that where as fuel problems were the most common problems that occurred in gas engines. Most can be traced to trash or water in the fuel system or those engines that were run on oils designed to be run in water cooled engines that were made for air cooled engines. I other words you don't use the same oil in your boat engine that you use in your chainsaw or vice versa. The oil brands you get at the box stores claim they can be used in anything but that's not really true, They may be ok as far as the lubrication aspect for awhile but it's the additive package that make the difference. Manfacturers don't really have oils made with their names on them just so they can charge you more for them. It's more of an engineering thing when they build these engines they design a oil that best suits the type of use that engine will be expected to do.

Air cooled and water cooled engines are different and they need a different type oil. As I said the lubrication base oil stock can be close but it's the additive package that makes the difference. The box store oils claim to be a one size fits all kind of thing. That don't mean your engine will blow up in a week or two but you will see more problems related to this or that type use.

Keep your fuel clean and free of water and use the correct oil for what you are running and reg gas will do just fine. The biggest problem with eythanol was the effect it had on rubber lines and some of the parts that the engine was made of. Most engine manfacturers figured this out after a few years and corrected this problem and their engines will run just fine on what ever you feed them for years to come. Accept some of the 4 stroke engines that maybe don't like reg grade gas as they may need a little more octane to get the same work done.
 
   / What is your cleaning and maintenance routine for your chainsaw? #48  
I'm curious whether the level of cleaning and maintenance. I'm also wondering whether too much cleaning and maintenance can be bad for a lawnmower(constantly disassembling the powerhead, using compressed air on the air filter, exposing the carburetor mouth, constantly greasing the needle bearing, daily use of cleaning agents like Citrol or Simple Green, etc.)
After a normal day of cutting, what daily cleaning and maintenance tasks are you doing for your saw?
After a week of work what deep cleaning and maintenance tasks are you doing for your saw?
What are your once or twice or three times a year cleaning and maintenance tasks?
My maintenance is, keep air filter clean, make sure chain is tight after every fill up of gas/oil. You can tell when chain needs sharpening.
Blow off dust and chips after every use.
Once a year new plug and filter if needed
 
   / What is your cleaning and maintenance routine for your chainsaw? #49  
To reiterate that saw chain covers, plus the bars chain groove and oil ports etc, etc, really do need to be cleaned out on a regular bases. This helps your chains and bars to last longer, and gives you an opportunity to check the brake.
Something I never use (brake). In fact, I usually remove the brake band entirely. My older saws don't have brakes and I see no need for them and never have. To me, just another gimmick brought to you by the gummit.
 
   / What is your cleaning and maintenance routine for your chainsaw? #50  
Something I never use (brake). In fact, I usually remove the brake band entirely. My older saws don't have brakes and I see no need for them and never have. To me, just another gimmick brought to you by the gummit.
Kick-back puts about 30,000 people in ER per year. I'm not that smart, but still smart enought to make sure the chain brake works.
 
 
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