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What's the Largest Bar I Will Put to a Stihl 026?

Stihl manufactures a vast selection of chainsaws for home, agricultural and forestry use, and also the 026 is a lightweight, gasoline-powered version. If you possess a Stihl 026 chainsaw, you’re able to raise its performance by installing a more guide bar, but exceeding the manufacturer’s recommendations for maximum bar length can void the warranty. The longest bar advocated for your own 026 is 20 inches, even whether or not it’s a bar created for low kickback.

Bar Length and Kickback

One of the dangers of operating a chainsaw is kickback, which happens when the chain binds in the wood being cut and throws the saw back toward the operator. Putting a more bar on your own chainsaw can raise the potential for kickback since the extra string in contact with wood raises the chances of binding or contacting a foreign object in the wood, and also the bar is harder to control. Employing a bar that is too short for the wood being cut is equally harmful — if the trick doesn’t clear the other side of this log, the saw could kick back.

Stihl 026 Standard Bar

The minimum bar length to get a chainsaw is 2 inches more than the object being cut. A 14- to 16-inch bar is usually all that is necessary for projects like cutting firewood, trimming tree branches and cutting edge construction timber. The Stihl 026 comes with a 16-inch bar, but a more one could be required to fell a tree or cut a log into smaller, splittable rounds. If the only saw you’ve got around the home is the Stihl 026, you can adapt it to get occasional heavy-duty log work by retrofitting the bar, however there is a limit to the bar length you can use.

Pros and Cons of a Longer Bar

Putting a more bar on your own chainsaw makes it harder to operate, since the extra period increases the force you need to apply on the saw to maintain the string steady. Additionally, it raises the total amount of power the engine has to generate to drive the string, and the engine can burn out prematurely if the bar is too long. The 49 cubic-centimeter, two-stroke engine on the Stihl 026 isn’t designed for a lengthy bar or heavy-duty cutting. Compare it with all the MS 880 Magnum, which will be Stihl’s largest chainsaw. The engine displacement of this Magnum is 121.6 cc, more than twice that of those 026, and it can handle a 59-inch bar.

Stihl 026 Bar Specifications

In order to comply with security standards set by the American National Standards Institute, Stihl advocates using just 16-, 18- and 20-inch bars together with all the 026 chainsaw. The company further advocates utilizing bars with green labels, which identify them as low kickback bars. A green-labeled bar ought to be used with just a harmonious low-kickback series, which can be characterized by a green label. Employing a normal chain using a low-kickback bar actually can raise the potential for kickback. If you select a bar with a yellow label, then the same length restrictions apply.

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