Guide Bar Care

To get the best performance out of your chainsaw, it is important to maintain your chainsaw’s guide bar. Oregon have a maintenance manual that can be downloaded by clicking the link below.

 Oregon’s chainsaw maintenance guide

Chainsaw Advisory

Bar maintenance & rim change on the Husqvarna 390XP

Bar maintenance when changing a chain

  • Clean the bar groove out with a bar groove cleaner

    I tend to clean the hardened sludge out of the bottom of the bar then blow it clean with a compressor to clean out the oil holes.

     Click here for Oregon bar groove cleaner

  • Dressing the bar

    Slowly the chain will start to make a track in the bar. If this gets larger it can damage the chain. This means faster bar damage which means faster chain damage and the problem escalates! When you take the bar off, dress the rails with a rail dresser. This will skim the rails and get them square, ready for the new chain to run on.

  • Grease the end sprocket

    To grease the end sprocket, you will need a grease gun and pump.

  • Oiling the Chain

    Dip your new chain in bar oil and hang it up for a few minutes before fitting it. There is huge wear and friction in a chain that is fitted unoiled to a bar.

    Turn the guide bar over

    Guide bars wear faster on the cutting side so by rotating the bar you’ll get even wear and longer bar life.

Fit Chain to Bar and Tighten

Chain tension is a tricky thing to describe. As a rule of thumb when you pull the chain out, it should come out so the bottom of the drive link is touching the bar. When you let go it should snap back into place.

 Video advisory

Run up the bar and chain

Stop and re tension. After doing some cutting stop and check tension again.