• Hi everyone,

    As you all know, Coffee (Dean) passed away a couple of years ago. I am Dean's ex-wife's husband and happen to have spent my career in tech. Over the years, I occasionally helped Dean with various tech issues.

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Interesting read on chain maintenance

EricV

EricV

Husqvarna
AA Class
Yep, I know, this ranks up there with "what's the best oil?" threads. :) Got to reading up on this as I started cleaning my drive system this evening. This guy really put time into this. Anyway, I'm hoping I didn't screw up my chain giving it a good soak down in wd-40 (will of course use chain lube once cleaned.) The caution thrown out as the thread below goes on is that the wd can dissolve the internally packed grease of an o-ring chain (and not harm the o-rings themselves) thus accelerating wear. Mine was cruddy, so I gave it a good soaking and will give it a good chain lubing tomorrow or the next day when I re-mount the wheel.

http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=345397&page=6

Not a perfect study but still good reading.
 
Hmmm...a klr rider...with a whole shelf of klr manuals. OMG.

Seems to take a LONG time to wear out a chain.
I use WD40, then chainwax...for like 40 years. :D
 
All I have ever used is 80/90 . Way cheaper too. Chain lube is just excellent marketing for something that dosent work as good. If you don't use sticky waxy chain lube you don't need solvent to clean the gunk off I find.
o.
 
Owen said:
All I have ever used is 80/90 . Way cheaper too. Chain lube is just excellent marketing for something that dosent work as good. If you don't use sticky waxy chain lube you don't need solvent to clean the gunk off I find.
o.
Click to expand...
I also use 80/90 on all 6 of my Huskies --The X -Ring chains i use actually say that is what one should use on the info inside the wrapping --- got all my friends to use it and they all love it --simple -- tried all the chain lubes and waxes ---
 
I spritz a bit of WD40 on my chain after washing the bike(garden hose, not with a power washer) to keep the chain from rusting. I usually have to wash my bike about 20-30 times a season.... That's it for chain maintenance. I use all the money I save NOT buying all those fancy chain lubricants to buy another chain and sprocket set, when the chain on the bike finally wears out after about 8-10,000km of messy dirt riding.
 
I use an O-ring chain and after washing the bike, remove the chain, clean and dry it then leave it in a bucket of oil until the next race when I leave it hanging for a while to get rid of the excess oil, put it on the bike and race again. The chain has done 1200 miles of racing, on its 2nd set of sprockets and rarely needs adjusting, the o-rings are still intact and there is very little sideways play in the links.
Whatever you put on the chain pre-race is gone within a matter of laps, in the mud and the dust the wax I've tried years ago just acts as a grinding paste.
As with everything though, each to their own, everyone has their own method.
 
The heavy oil treatment makes a lot of sense. I've never liked the way dust and wax sticks to chain wax. Once it's worn off the rollers and sprocket teeth it's not doing anything anymore anyway. The internal lubrication of the rollers doesn't seem like it would even see chain wax.

I got some Motorex chain lube a while back with the pocket size refillable sprayer, and this stuff is liquid when you apply it, seeps into the rollers and coats the chain, and then the carrier dries out and a white grease is left. Got it for the streetbike so I don't use it much on the dirtbikes, but it seems to work way better than the chain wax products.
 
I've been using the Bel-Ray chain lube and while it seems to do a decent job (and overall lives up to it's "won't fly off" tag line) it does stay tacky and attract dust/dirt. I'm going to try the 80/90...makes sense.
 
Since I use a chainsaw a lot to cut fire wood, had one of those UH -HUH moments. Why not use some chain bar oil on the bikes chain. Well so far it is working a treat. Should have realised that years ago.
 
I also use 80/90 on my air filters as well. When you have a middle class income and a family of 5 where everybody rides you tend to seek out cheeper more effective options. Only down side to 80/90 is the smell. Oh ya I'm of dutch decent. O.
 
Kreza said:
Since I use a chainsaw a lot to cut fire wood, had one of those UH -HUH moments. Why not use some chain bar oil on the bikes chain. Well so far it is working a treat. Should have realised that years ago.
Click to expand...
Hey thats a good idea I've never tried that.
O
 
Kreza said:
Since I use a chainsaw a lot to cut fire wood, had one of those UH -HUH moments. Why not use some chain bar oil on the bikes chain. Well so far it is working a treat. Should have realised that years ago.
Click to expand...

Winter or summer weight ?
 
Amsoil offers a semi-synthetic bar and chain oil for about $5 a quart.
I dunno, I've seen oil run on chains before and it makes a real mess from the fling off. Back wheel and the underside of the bike turns black - yuck. I took my chain guard off which does trap a lot of that. Here's their product: http://www.amsoil.com/storefront/abc.aspx

I have been using their HD Metal Protector for chain lube. It looks and smells like Maxima chain wax but seems to lubricate a bit better. About $7 for a 16oz spray can. This is what they recommend for motorcycle chains because once the carrier evaporates it's dry. It also lasts a long time between cleaning and re-treating. Daily on a dirtbike, 3-500 miles on a streetbike. http://www.amsoil.com/storefront/amh.aspx

For airfilters it's a high-tac oil for me with waterproof grease on the sealing foam. My favorite is maxima FFT. Goes on liquid and turns super tacky once the carrier evaporates. You definitely want latex gloves for applying this stuff. Regular oil will tend to drain off the filter, and dirt will tend to soak up the oil and pull it out of the filter. But yeah, regular oil is what we used to use for the old Briggs & Stratton lawmower filters. :D
 
I would like to try a product I used on my Mt. bikes. It's made with a Teflon base mixed with wax. It drys and is very slick, but flakes off after a short time. Stuff won't stick to it, but if it does it flakes off with the product. It's not cheap, so I'm not sure if it's worth it. Maybe some of the Mt. bikers will chime in and give the name of the product. I wish I could remember the name.
 
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