Bar Grease

[Kevin]

I want to buy larger quantities of that blue coloured bar grease, anyone know what type it is?

[SasquatchMan]

Kevin I may be totally wrong, but i think I remember somebody mentioning blue bar lube made by Chevron somewhere or other....

[Tom]

I had to look at this.  Thought you were talking about Grizzly Bar's. :-/

[Duane_Moore]

 :P Kevin. try.  Blue Guard 500+  High Temperature, Lithium Complex Grease.  made by CO-OP thats what mine says, the tube is silver no writeing on it, but have a case of it and thats what the case reads, hope this helps. Duh---Duane

[Rocky_J]

15-20 years ago I used a Blue Moly grease for my mowers and other equipment. It was pricier than regular grease and it looked high tech, so I figured it was good stuff. Ended up it was just overpriced average grease with blue dye.

For bar tips, keep in mind that the grease will migrate out of the bearing long before it ever breaks down. Just like bar lube, the idea is to keep a steady supply of lube. The quality of lube is not very important since it will not be there very long anyway. Whatever is on sale at the corner auto parts store is probably higher quality than most products available 20 years ago anyway.

[oldsaw-addict]

I dont see the point in putting grease in the bar nose if its not going to be there for more than 5 seconds after you start the saw. The way I figure things the supply of bar oil should usually be adaquate to keep the nose running well,  as long as theres bar oil going to the bearings in the nose it should work well and as long as you also keep the bar rails cleaned out. Of course this is just my personal belief not proven fact. Too bad they dont make a bar with a sealed bearing in the nose, those would be much less likely to wear out quickly than the current style bar nose.

[Kevin]

I'm not aware of any studies that would indicate the proper grease in the nose sprocket will only last five seconds.
The manufacturer of the bar says to grease it.
The grease will keep metal filings from chain sharpening out of the bearing and displace any water that sits in there so I see a need for it.
I haven't lost a bar nose from greasing it yet. ;D
I use the same grease on the clutch bearing.

[Corley5]

I haven't greased a bar tip in years and don't plan to start anytime soon.  It's been my experience that they don't last any longer if you grease them than if you don't.  I was told once that you should either grease them religiously or not at all.  Greasing them occasionally would only shorten their life ???.  I can't name one operator around here that greases them either.  As for blue grease.  Kendall makes a pretty blue grease that is rated for wheel bearing use.  It's pretty stuff ;D.  I think Chevron has one that's green and one that's red.  The last stuff I bought came from Car Quest and is a dirty looking grey color.  I don't plan on buying it anymore.  It even seems thin.

[Ron Scott]

What are the pros and cons to the 3 main types of guide bars? Is there any preference for specific uses and needs for grease as well as oil?

 Sprocket Nose Guide Bar
 Sprocket Nose Guide Bar Replace Tip
 Solid Nose Guide Bar

[Kevin]

Ron;
The solid bars are used in dirty conditions.
If you are boring on a regular basis I would opt for a replaceable tip.

[Larry]

CRC Sta Lube marine grease is a pretty blue color.  It is a waterproof grease meant for marine applications and boat wheel bearings.  Been using it for a few years and no problems.  Don't know if it is better than any other high quality grease as I have never had a nose problem except when the tractor ran over the bar. :( ;D

[oldsaw-addict]

The amount of time that the grease stays in the bearings for me is about 10 or so minutes when I start the saw, this may not be true for all of you but its about how long it stays there in my bars, maybe I should just switch to a hardnose bar.then I wouldnt have to worry about greasing the bar nose.

[Rocky_J]

What are the pros and cons to the 3 main types of guide bars? Is there any preference for specific uses and needs for grease as well as oil?

 Sprocket Nose Guide Bar
 Sprocket Nose Guide Bar Replace Tip
 Solid Nose Guide Bar

Perhaps better categories might be 1. Laminated, 2. Solid w/ sprocket nose and 3. Solid nose.

Laminated bars are the cheapest, made from 3 separate sheets of metal pressed together and spot welded. Most of these do not have a replacable sprocket nose as they usually do not last long enough to justify putting a new nose on them.

 Solid bars are machined from a solid piece of steel and are usually harder metal also. This style will use a replacable sprocket nose because they cannot manufacture the sprocket into the solid bar otherwise. Also, most of the wear will be right where the chain comes off the sprocket and slams into the straight section of bar. This becomes a replacable item so you can get more use out of that expensive bar by simply replacing the worn tip.

Solid nose bars are pretty much old technology. They require much more power to pull the chain around the tip, so you need a bigger saw or shorter bar in order to cut at the same speed as a sprocket nose bar. They are used in situations where sprocket nose bars do not hold up, such as dirty stump cutting.

Hopefully I shed some light on the matter without sounding insulting or dwelling on the obvious.  

[SasquatchMan]

Kevin, I'm pretty happy with Jigaloo's spray lithium grease... seems to hang in there pretty good.

[Kevin]

I can't come up with the name for specific grease sold by the dealers , it's a secret I guess but there are a few good ones out there.

G00733 LITHIUM COMPLEX E.P. GREASE
A premium quality, multi-purpose grease with an operating range up to 510°F. Excellent anti-wear properties and water resistance.
COLOR: Blue
TIMKEN LOAD: 60
NLGI GRADE: 2
USDA: H2

I have asked a couple of grease manufacturers also so we'll see what they come up with.
Thanks.

[rebocardo]

When OEMs promote their grease/lube, it  is about the same as OEMs touting gasoline. It is all basically the same and has to all meet certain min. standards.

I just bought some (Mobil?) blue high temperature wheel bearing grease for disc brakes and have been using it on my saws, saw bars, wheel bearings, door hinges, etc.

Whenever I refill my gas or oil, I lube the bar until it pops out from between the saw chain teeth. I have close to or more then 100 hours on my Poulan saw and the bar and sprocket are still good. So, I would say disc wheel bearing grease works for me.

[Mark M]

Kevin,

A lot of people underestimate the importance of a good grease. I recommend you consider Cat # 1 Auto-Lube grease. It's good from -29C to 41C and is designed to prevent water-washout. It's also 5% moly and a calcium sulfonate thickener that is mobile in cold temps and stays in the joint at high temps. This is what I use for general purpose grease and it is a low cost upgrade from lithium greases. It's not blue but it is a DanG good grease. Toromont can help you or or Michigan Cat if you don't mind sneaking it across the boarder.

Cat has a couple of other good greases for really cold or really hot temps.

Mark

PS - the thickener is one of the major factors that determine how will the grease stays in the joint and other properties such as mobility and water resistance. Lithium is one of the lower quality thickeners.

[Kevin]

We have a Cat dealer here Mark, I can check to see if they have that.

Thanks.

[jokers]

I`ve been operating chainsaws with sprocket or roller noses for nearly 30 years with no tip failures that weren`t due to wear or physical trauma. After hearing so many guys claim that they never grease tips and don`t have any failures, I stopped greasing mine last fall. In that time I`ve had a couple of small mount Stihl bars and a Windsor Mini Pro tip go south on me. Coincidence? I don`t believe it.

I grease `em all now with high quality wheel bearing grease and everything is fine, even the Mini Pro that locked up although I`m sure that it`s life has been shortened.

Russ

[Kevin]

I've been adding a few drops of the Reaper prior to greasing, just for good measure.  ;D

[jokers]

I`ve been saving the Reaper for something really rusty and stuck, never even thought of it as a lube. Luckily I haven`t had too many repairs this winter and all of the stuck stuff was accessable to the gas axe.

Russ

[Frickman]

I haven't greased a bar in years. I run a Stihl 20" roller nose bar and get plenty of life from them. Usually I wear the grooves out before the nose.

[Kevin]

It depends on conditions and the type of use the nose gets as to how long they last.

[Frickman]

As for conditions we don't have a lot of sand or fine grit to get in there, mostly just clay type soils. I do a lot of bore cutting when felling, but that doesn't seem to affect anything. The Stihl dealer said the two main things are keeping the chain sharp and the tension adjusted properly. I keep our chains sharp and adjusted almost banjo string tight and seem to get alot of wear. Of course rolling a log on a saw seems to shorten a bar's life too.

[Rocky_J]

I keep our chains sharp and adjusted almost banjo string tight and seem to get alot of wear. Of course rolling a log on a saw seems to shorten a bar's life too.

'banjo string' tight is too tight. After tensioning your chain, you should be able to roll it forward along the bar by hand without excessive resistance. If you cannot easily spin the chain by hand, it's too tight. Tensioning it too tight will trash your bars and sprockets in a hurry, as well as reduce your cutting speed.