Tree Monkey 661 and .404 chain

[CR500]

That's my theory lol

 

[mdavlee]

Bigger cutter for sure. It takes more guts to pull it for sure. I run some on a 21" bar on a 385 for bucking hollow trees that had black gunk in it. Made one cut with 3/8" and killed it and made the other 6 or so with 404.

 

[Deets066]

That bar in the vid was 20"
Just wanted to try it out on a short bar. It'll work great if I ever get around to makin that chain right

 

[RI Chevy]

You think the .404 will be better and faster than 3/8 on a 20' bar?

 

[Redbull661]

these tests (see attached) were done on a muffler modded 661 back in 2015 when I first started testing 404.

the 24" 28" and 30" are flawed slightly as I was running 7pin for 3/8ths. Later testing proved that the 8pin was slightly faster up to 30" on a muff modded 661.

That said, the real beauty of 404 is that while 3/8ths may be faster for the first 3/4's of the tank. After that 3/8ths begins to dull and becomes slower than 404.

The best experiment for longevity I can point to was when my friend bought 22 cord of clean oak logs for firewood...
muff modded 661 -

new 28" stihl RS 3/8ths = just into the 4th tank it was clear the chain needed a touch up.

new 28" stihl RS 404 = well into the 10th tank it was clear the chain needed a touch up. But I kept cutting with it for another 2 tanks. The big cutter will still do the job even when it needs touched up, while 3/8ths just seems like it's just done.

I've played with this idea several more times since, with similar results. 404 just lasts and lasts.

 

[RI Chevy]

Thanks Julian.

 

[Redbull661]

out of all the stihl 3/8ths chain I've tested the full skip square 3/8ths dulls the fastest.

Stihl full skip square .404 lasts and lasts. Great for noodling big chunks in half and in dirty wood. But doesn't last as long as .404 RS. ...which from what I've heard may be due to stihl's factory square not being all that great...which is probably true because so many people report that their square outlasts their round.

I may be wrong but I don't see how full skip would out last a full comp anyway. Less cutters doing the same amount of work.

One more thought - IMHO semi skip chain is the best of all worlds. I wish Stihl and others made more versions of it with different type cutters.

 

[Tbrown]

404 rs out of the box is pretty rough, the rakers are way low. I have a new 20" 404 chain that I converted to square. But it still has a lot of the round hook.

It will pull the life out of a saw with an 8 pin

Very true. Ran two 661's yesterday of Julians. Both 404 RS full comp on 28" bars with 8 pin. The one saw had trouble stalling in out of position cuts. The other had zero problems. Was cutting a red oak that the bar was in full length by the bottom 6' of the tree. Very impressed with how they both ran. My dad couldn't believe how quick we could block that tree.

 

[Moparmyway]

You think the .404 will be better and faster than 3/8 on a 20' bar?

Better is one thing, faster is another

For the first tank or two, 375 will be faster.

After that, 404 will be faster

Because of those two sentences above, 404 is better if your saw has the stones to pull it

 

[RI Chevy]

Thanks Kevin.

 

[concretegrazer]

Better is one thing, faster is another

For the first tank or two, 375 will be faster.

After that, 404 will be faster

Because of those two sentences above, 404 is better if your saw has the stones to pull it

Is 404 rs faster than 3/8 rm?

 

[Manofstihl066]

After my testing of the 404 chains, the square filed half skip (custom) was the winner. It was fastest by a couple seconds over the full comp, while staying as sharp and almost as smooth. Some would disagree, but even in that hard red oak log the half skip felt nice...to me feels fast rather than rough when working. The redbull hybrid chain was awesome too, very fast and durable. Wouldn’t hesitate at all to use it in a work situation. All chains were filed at same angles and set raker heights. Saw pulls them all with ease, but with all that said along with having less cutters to file... I like the half skip.

 

[RI Chevy]

What is half skip? 2 cutters and a blank, 2 cutters and a blank?

 

[Manofstihl066]

What is half skip? 2 cutters and a blank, 2 cutters and a blank?

Yes. Left cutter, right cutter then space to clear chips...repeat.

 

[RI Chevy]

OK. Cool. I thought that was semi-skip?

 

[Manofstihl066]

OK. Cool. I thought that was semi-skip?

 

[Moparmyway]

Is 404 rs faster than 3/8 rm?

Squared 404 is faster than 3/8 rm

 

[concretegrazer]

Squared 404 is faster than 3/8 rm

I bet but I'm not talking square. 404 rs vs 3/8 rm?

 

[Moparmyway]

I bet but I'm not talking square. 404 rs vs 3/8 rm?

375 rm

The 404 rs off the roll has too much bite, rakers are usually 0.035 or more. If they were closer to 0.025, then the rs 404 would probably be the winner. Off the roll 404 rs is just too jumpy and grabby in the woods that I’ve been cutting

 

[Deets066]

OK. Cool. I thought that was semi-skip?

Half skip is the same thing as semi skip. Just depends on how you want to say it