Chain Stuffs

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fixxervi6
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Chain Stuffs

Post by fixxervi6 » Mon Jun 25, 2012 7:48 pm

CLEANING

http://www.didchain.com/streetChains.html

http://www.motorcycleanchor.com/motorcy ... hains.html

The chains have seals that hold in lube, when the seals go bad the lube comes out (appears as red dust) and you effectively have little to no lube in the pins which means wear is going to accelerate not to mention heat etc. (eventually bad things happen).

I use wax because it doesn't fling off and it makes the chain nice and waterproof, I used to soak the entire chain but it made cleaning it a pain in the ass, the side links would gum up and I had to brush the hell of it to get it clean.

The following is how I care for my chains, I'm not an expert, it's just what works for me.

First, I won't take WD-40 anywhere near a chain, I've seen countless threads and arguments from all sides, but funny enough WD-40 themselves will tell you not to use it on motorcycle chains. WD-40 is actually a solvent, not a lubricant. It's great for things like cleaning out gunked up key locks, spraying on rifle primers to make them inert before throwing them out and other cool things, but not good on rubber.

In Scuba we have to be uber crazy about what solvents we use and cleaning procedures due to high pressure oxygen and sensitive parts. It really boils down to 3 different solvents commonly used.

Simple Green (gear cleaning)
Crystal Simple Green (regulator cleaning)
Blue Gold (cylinder cleaning)

Part of the reason these are used is non toxic, wash away clean and easy without leaving residue, oxygen compatible, cuts organic crap very well without harming o-rings.

Since I don't take pure oxygen to my chains, I use the cheaper of the 3, simple green. Just don't let it sit on the metal for too long, it'll do bad things, but short term, it's harmless.

I soak the chain down real good with simple green and let it sit, maybe 5 minutes, then give it a good spray off, then I do it again, another good spray off, then soak it down again. I then take a brush and get between the links real good on the sides, sometimes gunk will stick in the wax and build up here, so I clean that out real good. Then I take the brush to the barrels inside the chain and scrub it good, but not the o-rings just the barrels where the pins sit, gotta get all that gunk out of there. I spin the back wheel a few times to rotate the barrels and scrub as needed.

Then I get the surface of the chain by scrubbing across the chain, not with the direction of the chain. Be careful where you stand, I did this one time in a brand new pair of shorts and the black nasty wax flew up my ass crack ruined a brand new pair of shorts.

At this point I'll have sprayed and rinsed the chain a couple more times.

I then brush the sprocket, wax will build up in the teeth and around the edges of the teeth, spray it down and scrub scrub.

Careful NOT to brush with the direction of the chains, you'll break the seal and either let the grease out or get degreaser in, both are bad. One time I thought I was going to be "smart" and soak the chain down, get a real stiff brush with the bike in first gear and just press this brush hard down on the chain, I figured hell as long as I keep my fingers clear this thing will just scrub itself. It wasn't long before all kinds of greeasy shit was all over the place and I couldn't figure out what it was, eventually I figured out that I was getting degreaser in past the o-rings and I was effectively "washing out" the pins. <-- don't do that

Once I'm satisfied that the chain is clean I dry it off and heat it up, basically I just squid it around the neighborhood for a bit, drys it off and heats it up.

Once I get back I prop it up on the rear stand and get some child labor to spin the wheel and I lay the wax to the barrels as it spins and try to cover the o-rings too, the wax will protect the o-rings and lube the barrels where they make contact with the sprocket.

Let it sit for about 20 minutes and your done, it's amazing how much a clean chain will smooth out the bike.

This is how I do it, and I've gotten almost 30K out of a chain with this method.

Watch this video real close for a glowing red object flying past the left side, take a guess as to what it is


Take a google around at how many damaged engine cases there are out there from broken chains. I was at the dealer onetime when a GSXR rolled up in the back of a truck with the left side of the engine destroyed, if a chain can carry that much energy, imagine what it would do if it shot out the back and hit someone. It would be like getting shot with a gun.

If your seeing red dust, it's too late your chain is toast. If your chain is rusty, it's too late, it's toast.

Think about how heavy a motorcycle chain is, and then think about how fast that chain is moving, that is a hell of a lot of energy in a piece of metal that can be ejected in any direction at any moment!
K1600

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Re: Chain Stuffs

Post by milesmiles » Mon Jun 25, 2012 8:30 pm

I personally could care less if you have to replace your chain every 1000miles, but that video shows why i hound so many people about doing so. Clean yo chain folks!
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Re: Chain Stuffs

Post by russian » Mon Jun 25, 2012 10:16 pm

good stuff! i clean my chain every other week when i ride, didnt know about wd40. wont use it from now on!

i got almost 10k miles out of my stock chain(heavy abuse, drag racing, highway rolls to 200mph etc)

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Re: Chain Stuffs

Post by Stardog82 » Mon Jun 25, 2012 11:52 pm

Very informative!
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Re: Chain Stuffs

Post by Rhino » Tue Jun 26, 2012 6:35 am

I lube my chain every few thousand miles, sometimes with WD-40.

*shrug*

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Re: Chain Stuffs

Post by DarcShadow » Tue Jun 26, 2012 7:00 am

Don't use WD-40 to lube it, but I use it to clean all the time. Pretty much the same as any other cleaners, so long as you don't leave it on there too long you won't have any problems. It's not so much the rubber, but the grease, if it gets into the O/X rings it'll push the grease out. Most modern chains that's not an issue as the O/X rings form a good seal and as long as you don't leave the WD-40 soaking too long it'll be fine. Now once your chain gets old and the rings start to fail, cleaning with WD-40 will certainly speed the chain degration. To each his own. I've also heard kerosene is really good for cleaning chains.
Thank you for contacting the WD-40 Company with regards to using WD-40 on o-rings. WD-40 is a multi-purpose light lubricating oil, which will displace water and moisture from the chain. The "WD" stands for water displacement and acts as a rust preventative on any metal surface. WD-40 will not dry out the rubber o-rings. We have found no visible effects on the surface of rubber and o-rings. Certain types of rubber will swell under prolonged immersion in WD-40 (this refers to long soaking and not just a spray).

WD-40 is also a cleaner, which will remove grime, dirt, tape, bumper stickers and oil. It is possible that if there is a special lubricant in the o-rings, WD-40 could act as a cleaner and remove that oil. The special lubricant would be replaced with WD-40.

We are sure there are superior heavy-duty chain lubes on the market. There are several people who recommend using WD-40 on their chains. Perhaps some experimenting with WD-40, as a water remover and rust preventative followed by a heavier chain lube would fit your needs. The bottom line is WD-40 will not harm your o-rings, but it could remove a lubricant that was previously applied to the chain.

Thank you again for contacting the WD-40 Company. Please let us know if we may be of further assistance."
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