OPERATION

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Chain Tension

WARNING: Never touch or adjust the chain while the motor is running.The saw chain is very sharp, always wear protective gloves when performing maintenance to the chain.

1.Stop the engine before setting the chain tension. Loosen the guide bar nuts slightly, turn the chain tensioning screw clockwise to tension the chain. Refer to Assembly-Assembling the Bar and Chain Section. Retighten guide bar nuts. A cold chain is correctly tensioned when there is no slack on the underside of the guide bar, the chain is snug, but it can be turned by hand without binding.

For warm chain, see Item 3.

2.Chain must be retensioned whenever the flats (A) on the drive link tangs hang out of the bar groove. See Fig. 29.

3.During normal saw operation, the temperature of the chain will increase. The drive link tangs of a correctly tensioned warm chain will hang approximately .050” (1.25 mm) out of the bar groove. See Fig. 30. To help determine the correct warm chain tension, the tip of the combination wrench (Fig. 31) can be used as a guide.

CAUTION: Chain tensioned while warm, may be too tight upon cooling. Check the "cold tension" before next use.

CAUTION: A new chain has to be retensioned more often than one that has been in use for some time.

Breaking-in the Chain

New chains will stretch and must be tightened frequently.

Lift the chain out of the bar groove and lubricate the bar groove with additional oil, see Fig. 32. Place the chain saw on a piece of cardboard or scrap plywood. Start the chain saw (refer to the Operation-Starting Engine Section) and allow it to run at moderate speed for approximately one (1) minute. Stop the engine. Check that the oil pump is working properly. The cardboard should have excess oil from the chain rotation if the oil pump is working properly, see Fig. 33. Adjust the chain tension (refer to Operation-Chain Tension Section). Start the saw again and make a few cuts in a log to heat up the chain. Stop the engine and re-adjust chain again. Repeat this process until the chain retains proper warm tension adjustment as shown in Fig. 30 in Operation-Chain Tensioning Section. Never touch the ground with the chain.

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