alternative chain oiling

Thread refresh.
I liked the "Grease Ninja" thing posted by Glennpm in post #15.
After washing the bike, needed to oil the chain, but wanted to avoid the blowby mess that occurs with the agressive foaming chain oils, that gets all over your freshly cleaned hub, rim, muffler, ...etc.

Got one of those spraycan trigger things, made a 1" channel from sheet aluminum, an extension bar, screws, rivets, 1/8" tubing.
ChainOiler01.jpg


Screw, rivet, assemble the thing onto the sprayer trigger.
ChainOiler02.jpg


Pop it onto a can of chain lube. The chain lube's schnozzle slides into the 1/8" tubing, which is aimed into the channel.
ChainOiler03.jpg


Fit it under the chain/sprocket from the rear.
Bend the extension bracket to get the height.
The channel surrounds the chain.
ChainOiler04.jpg


Spin the wheel backwards while pulling the trigger. The chain oil foams in the channel, wetting the chain. The wheel hub, rim, muffler, ...etc., all remain clean. Excess oil foams out the front of the channel, and puddles onto the ground.
ChainOiler05.jpg


The chain has been foam/flood lubed, the rest of the bike stays clean.

The floor's a mess, tho'...
 
Hi 2Many,
congratulations on the neat gadget and Mr. Driptray will keep the mess off the floor, eh?
But, be it never so elegant, your gadget has the same inherent defect as all the others:-
The chain is only lubed until the lube gets thrown off some time on the next ride and then it's running dry again.
A ScottOiler or other continuous chain oiler is the only way I know of to keep an exposed chain properly lubricated.
 
I put my bike on the centerstand. The back wheel is off the ground. Using my favorite, PJ1, I place the tube up against the side of the back sprocket. With the engine idling, I put her in gear and spray the edge of the sprocket close to the chain. The turning sprocket lets the lube get evenly around the chain without mess. PJ1 is very thin and capillary action pulls lube through the roller. The lube gets very thick in a short time.

My Triumph is tough as the back wheel does not naturally come up on the centerstand. I bent a small plastic tube into a J and put the tip on the side of the rear sprocket. I secured the J to the swingarm with cable ties so the tip rubs on the sprocket. A long length of soft vinyl tubing (aquarium) runs up a frame tube. I use a pump oiler to force some thick bar and chain lube into the tubing. The lube migrates to the sprocket where it flings into the chain as I ride.

Tom
 
Another vote for the Snotoiler here.
I've been using them for more than 25 years and chainy bikes I've had during that time have routinely done 10Kmiles between adjustments. The last bike I sold with a Snotoiler had 30K on the chain and it was still plenty good to go; at the most it was half worn. I never used anything but chainsaw oil, once I discovered it was pretty much the same stuff, at a quarter of the price.
The XS came to me with an oiler fitted, for which I was grateful.
I'm old enough to remember the Linklyfe days and still shudder at the thought of doing all that again, as I'm fairly sure spray-on lubes have limited efficacy or lasting effect.
 
Chainsaw oil is pretty good stuff. It lacks all those additives that engine oils have. Some of the additives attract water which then promotes surface rusting. Must buy some more.
 
All this agony is exactly what kept me from buying a new chain drive Triumph. Pissed me off, cause I really wanted it.

Hi Doug,
the price you pay for a final drive that will thrive on neglect is that of lessened performance.
If that exact same Triumph was a shaftie it'd weigh a lot more than it does and be tail-heavy besides.
Also a gear-drive rear-end is less efficient so less of the engine's power would get to the back wheel.
LinkLyfe & chainswapping are such long ago tech that folks younger than 40 have to read up on it.
These days all that's needful is to bolt on a ScottOiler and don't forget to check it's reservoir.
 
I like the foamy stuff. I also like RK Xring Chains. I understand the frustration of using the foamy lube when most of it doesn't even go on the chain. I spray the foamy stuff on a clean rag and run the chain through the rag. This is after washing the bike and the chain. This is only good for Oring chains. I'll never go back to conventional chains and the cesspool of oil that they require.

Yeah Fred, my sprockets get cleaner and lubed with my procedure.

Scott
 
Please read my post above. The procedure puts all of the lube on the chain no matter what you lube. It is a simple and clean way to lube a chain. Since I can't safely get my old Triumph's back wheel off the ground, I made a partial Scott Oiler type of deal for the sprocket. Both methods do the same as the lube spins off the sprocket onto the chain.

Tom
 
Please read my post above. The procedure puts all of the lube on the chain no matter what you lube. It is a simple and clean way to lube a chain. Since I can't safely get my old Triumph's back wheel off the ground, I made a partial Scott Oiler type of deal for the sprocket. Both methods do the same as the lube spins off the sprocket onto the chain.
Tom
Hi Tom,
you could tilt the Triumph onto it's front wheel by draping your kit-filled saddlebags over it's front fender?
I reckon the drawback to your hand-pumped adaptation of the ScottOiler concept is that you have to
remember to pump the thing as you ride. I just check my ScottOiler's level now and then.
 
I don' t have a chain lube reservoir on the Triumph I just pump some oil into the tubing before I ride. I feel the oil stays on the chain long enough to finish my ride. It's old and so am I so most rides are under 100 miles on the Triumph.
 
I think I see what you mean Tomterrific. If the tube is nice and thin then the oil viscosity will provide for a very slow release to the chain. I feel a project coming on. Where is the oil best feed to the chain - a tube to either side of the sprocket or just one tube into the center of the chain?
 
Perhaps a little squidger running off the gear change. Each change gives a little squirt of oil.
 
The oil ends up on the side of the sprocket. The J bent tube wears to the side of the sprocket and the sprocket becomes polished. The fit is then perfect to seal unless the bike is moving. With the sprocket turning, the thick oil comes out similar to an ink pen. The J shaped tube is on the outside of the sprocket only on one side. Oil migrates through the chain to the other side.

Tom
 
download.jpg

I've found the answer to my chain lube dreams.

For some reason, Cycle Gear gave me a $20 promotional credit. Real money, no strings. I have no idea why, I almost never shop there -- maybe that's why, to get me in the store, or on the site.
So, I found a Thor MX T-shirt on-line for $19.95. Shipped to my local Cycle Gear store for free. All I had to do was pay tax, less then two dollars. It arrived today. Went to my local store to pick it up. There, on the counter, was the Motul C5 Chain Paste that I whined about in my initial post in this thread. Apparently, 5 years later, it is now widely available in the U.S. And Cycle Gear actually has the best price, although eBay and Amazon aren't for behind.
So, I guess Cycle gear's $20 credit promo worked -- it got me to buy and crow about their Motul Chain Paste. Can't wait to use it. I think spray lube is wasteful and messy.

Thread refresh.
I liked the "Grease Ninja" thing posted by Glennpm in post #15.
After washing the bike, needed to oil the chain, but wanted to avoid the blowby mess that occurs with the agressive foaming chain oils, that gets all over your freshly cleaned hub, rim, muffler, ...etc.

Got one of those spraycan trigger things, made a 1" channel from sheet aluminum, an extension bar, screws, rivets, 1/8" tubing.
View attachment 108336

Screw, rivet, assemble the thing onto the sprayer trigger.
View attachment 108337

Pop it onto a can of chain lube. The chain lube's schnozzle slides into the 1/8" tubing, which is aimed into the channel.
View attachment 108338

Fit it under the chain/sprocket from the rear.
Bend the extension bracket to get the height.
The channel surrounds the chain.
View attachment 108339

Spin the wheel backwards while pulling the trigger. The chain oil foams in the channel, wetting the chain. The wheel hub, rim, muffler, ...etc., all remain clean. Excess oil foams out the front of the channel, and puddles onto the ground.
View attachment 108340

The chain has been foam/flood lubed, the rest of the bike stays clean.

The floor's a mess, tho'...
By the way, this 2M gadget is an excellent idea. I should have given it credit 5 years ago. If I hadn't just found the Motul, I'd be making one.
 
Bunny, old trick from way back was to clean chain/hang/heat and met candle wax in.

Dry after hardening and does not pick up sand.

If the chain gets warm, the wax flows in to lube.


cliff
 
Well, @DogBunny, ya got me to make a purchase - from m&p on ebay.co.uk

The perfect chain lube is the Nirvana we all seek? I've used chain sprays, boiled chains in tins of chain grease - still have some but it's not recommended for O-ring chains. For quite a long time, been using H-D SAE90 gearbox oil - because I have some - painted on the inner run of the chain with a 1/2" brush. Sparingly but frequently, to minimise fling but prolong chain life.

Probably experiment on one bike - wash the chain with kerosene or maybe Motul chain cleaner, I'm sure there's a can of that in my products cupboard, and see how it goes with the chain paste.

Looking after the drive chain is good for the soul. Well, alright it's not but I hate to see a dry, rusty chain.
 
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