Great idea or a bad idea?

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While my trusty XS2 is down for a little repair,
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I took my chain off and thought I’d give it a good cleaning, I’ve been a little remiss with my chain lube. I soaked it in a plastic jug that had some old kerosene that I use for parts cleaning, everyday I’d go shake it a little. After a few days, I pulled it out and simply hosed it off and stretched it out on my hot driveway for an hour to dry. No scrubbing and this is the result.
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Then I got to thinking, I’d love to be able to lubricate the inside of those rollers and plates, so I got the bright idea to seal it up in a zip lock bag with a small amount of motor oil.
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I’ll give that a couple days to marinate, I had even thought about just using some used motor oil, but this stuff is cheap so......
Tomorrow, I’ll hang this chain up to drain into a pan for a day or two. I’m hoping that this thing doesn’t throw oil everywhere when I ride it for the first time!
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While my trusty XS2 is down for a little repair,
View attachment 167761

I took my chain off and thought I’d give it a good cleaning, I’ve been a little remiss with my chain lube. I soaked it in a plastic jug that had some old kerosene that I use for parts cleaning, everyday I’d go shake it a little. After a few days, I pulled it out and simply hosed it off and stretched it out on my hot driveway for an hour to dry. No scrubbing and this is the result.
View attachment 167762

Then I got to thinking, I’d love to be able to lubricate the inside of those rollers and plates, so I got the bright idea to seal it up in a zip lock bag with a small amount of motor oil.
View attachment 167763 View attachment 167764

I’ll give that a couple days to marinate, I had even thought about just using some used motor oil, but this stuff is cheap so......
Tomorrow, I’ll hang this chain up to drain into a pan for a day or two. I’m hoping that this thing doesn’t throw oil everywhere when I ride it for the first time!
View attachment 167766
I think if I was gonna soak it in oil, I'd be tempted to use 2 stroke oil. It's "stickier." ;)
 
I’m hoping that this thing doesn’t throw oil everywhere when I ride it for the first time!

Since it`s already partially disassembled this would be a good time to cut it up and make a tracker out of it.:jk: If the chain throws oil you might as well ride it through some mud and coat the underside of the fender and splash guard. Maybe a little splash back on the front of the engine too.:shrug: Let`s face it, that bike wasn`t that clean when it was new sitting on the showroom floor.:yikes:
 
Yep, I think there's gonna be some fling-off, lol. After I cleaned and renovated the o-ring chain on my '83, I brushed it down with moly grease. It didn't fling too much stuff off. But this isn't going to penetrate into the rollers either. But, my thinking was this wouldn't happen anyway no matter what I used because the o-rings seal them. I did it mostly to protect the outside from rust. When the grease looks to be wearing off, I'll just hit it with regular chain lube.
 
Here's a thought.... Take some moly grease and thin it with solvent until it's the consistency of oil. Acetone, mek... lacquer thinner... any solvent like that would work. Let it soak for a day... maybe regular agitations, then pull it out and let it air dry 'till the solvents evaporate... about 10 seconds in Az I'm guessin'. :rolleyes:
After the grease has re-solidified, wipe off the excess and Bob's your uncle. In a good air tight container, the liquid grease would last for years of reuse.
 
Way back in the day, some guys used to heat heavy grease in a double boiler and soak the chain in it.

Stuck way back in the corner of my mind was a story I read in a Cycle mag ( I miss that magazine :( ) about this guy that was preparing a Honda XL500 to run the Baja 500. Part of the prep was to soak the chain in a tank of heated heavy weight gear oil. Judging by the results in that video test above, that seems like a good idea. My oil will probably be too thin, but what the heck, it won’t hurt anything.
Edit: I wander if my wife’s salad spinner would spin off the excess oil? :D
 
Been in the dog house myself a few times. Beats sleeping under the stars I guess. Usually from either baking painted parts in the oven or for using the laundry room and sink for degreasing parts or washing out a gas tank or two. On chain lube, I switched from using oil to chain wax and really like how it doesn't fling crap all over the rear rim. Is there any downside to wax vs oil?
 
I switched from using oil to chain wax and really like how it doesn't fling crap all over the rear rim. Is there any downside to wax vs oil?

Maxima Chain Wax has always been my chain lube of choice. The one downside for me where I live is it is very sticky and dust and grit stick to it, but it is a nice product.
 
Im calling bad idea you will have lots of splash on your very nice bike that you have their mailman back in the day well I rode a lot of enduro we used to clean the chain then heat Grease in a pot and learn it do it's work for a while get messy but seemed to work. We also used to put a wire brush on a grinder and deglaze the break pads that seemed to work. Turns out thst was a bad idea in hindsight as they were asbestos.
 
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I wonder if it gets cold at night in the back yard... even with a sleeping bag.... ;)

yeah - look Bob, I’ve made this offer before but since you have had such a “great” idea related to your wife’s kitchen again - you can come and stay at my place till things calm down at home.

Pete
 
I used an O-ring chain on the Honda. The O-rings hold the lube where it's supposed to be. It's a clean running chain and might rust if left unattended without something. But get lube under the O-rings, you would have to take it off soak it or boil it or whatever. Ok, so the Honda and Yamaha had both setup for years. The Yamaha chain was really rusty and long sections were like, welded with rust! Honda was the same but it was an O-ring chain and even though it was as rusty as the Yam, none of the links were seized. Up until the time I got them, I doubt they got any special care. A little lube and care, of any kind, is better than none.
 
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