I can only speak of the pro saws and bars, but i have never greased a sprocket in my life , have blowed out several hundred in my day , from bore cutting but the nose is Easly replaceable . Stihl is a far better bar. i emailed the ceo for stihl bars in Germany before and my answer was the steel makeup was of a 41xx he said he could not tell me any more. but it was a high chromium steel . you can use it in other projects as i did, to be heat treated and it works, getting the toughness up above 50 Rockwell . thats not not bad . could not do that on other brand bars.

I'm in agreement with you guys. I like the Stihl bars too. Never had a problem with the sprocket fouling or burning up. The ones you had to constantly grease were a nuisance more than anything.

Ok I’ll give Madsen a call I’m still having trouble getting the clutch off, a neighbor barrowed the saw had it worked on by someone and I think they used loctite and I’m going to heat it tomorrow and try to get it loose.

I've destroyed a 19mm wrench or two in my day removing saw clutches lol

Any tricks other than heating with a torch?

I’ve made a spanner wrench and using a socket over that so I’m getting good torque.

I sure you know that it's clockwise thread for removal on the clutch side of the saw.

I tap it with an impact it normally come loose.

I remove the spark plug, thread a starter rope into the jug to keep the piston from moving, then I put a wrench on there and beat it to death with a falling axe

Yeah I’ve had an impact on it trying to get it off, yep it’s left hand thread the retaining nut was stripped so I’m guessing the guy stripped the nut and used Loctite.

That would be my guess also.

Don’t over heat it as to ruin your seals.

I’m afraid of that, thinking about it I might try to freeze the shaft with r134a, the oiler quit otherwise I wouldn’t worry about it.

Well it's heat then.

Going to pull the clutch on a clone 660 tomorrow, I think it has a busted spring.

Saws are fun aren’t they.

Don't have to pull the clutch for a spring, you can pop a new one in with a carb screwdriver and a set of needle nose pliers

I pay someone to change my recoils when they break. I hate working on saws, if I have to spend all day working on saws I become afraid that I died and didn't make it to heaven...

I also hate working on them. But I run them for a living, and I grew up in a logging camp on an island, so we didn't have the option of paying for them to get fixed (still work out of camps, still gotta fix my own saws) but if that was more of an available option, I would happily pay someone to deal with them. I do have them ported by a guy down in Idaho before I ever put the first tank of gas in them, I'm too impatient for stock saws.

my last sugihsra worked OK but I or the kids bent it after w or 3 years. It was about a lb lighter than the stihl bar according to my saw shop. I don't honestly think it held up any better than stihl bars though. I had the end of my stihl bar replaced when it started separating after several years with something the shop recommended. The replacement split quickly and they did have the part to replace it under warranty in stock and I need that saw now so went with the sugihara over a new stihl trying to save a little weight since my boys were starting to learn to run that saw and the price was not to much more. I figured a lb lighter would be better for the young boys running thebsaw. When the new bar end came in they replaced it and I had an extra bar until the Sugie ended up bent.

That's weird to bend a sugi hara, they're tempered very hard. I've cracked a couple of the 36"s from letting the saw hang in the kerf while I go about other business (not an issue until it vibrates it's way out to where you have a 661 hanging 34" out of a cut and the bar hits it's flex limit) I cracked a lightweight cannon the same way. So I don't run alot of lightweight bars these days, but if I do, I don't leave the saw to idle in a tree while I drain my bladder or go move my backpack or find my axe, etc.

A cannon regular weight bar is absolutely the best you can get, and most people will only ever need 1. It's an investment for the average saw user, even heavy firewood burners or people who are chainsaw milling. I cut several million board feet per year (fall, limb, measure, buck) and I get 4-5 years from a cannon bar. I have the rails dressed by a saw shop once per year, and I replace the tip approximately once per year, or when it fails (I keep a spare nose and rivet in my backpack). Not trying to sell anyone on a fancier bar than they need or anything, but you won't be disappointed in a cannon, they cut laser beam straight and they are TOUGH. I had a large Spruce (about 8.5' on the stump) make an unfavorable roll in a blow-down unit last year, and it ripped the saw out of my hands and helicoptered it's way down through the unit, ending up under that log 3 different times before everything settled, the 661 was in about 661 pieces all through my strip, the cannon bar it had on it was in one straight piece (albeit I had to use a hammer to pound the mangled chain out of it) but i have that same bar on a 500i as we speak.