After returning from "The Swinging Bridge" ride, I figured it was time to clean and oil the chains. It seems to me to be especially important after riding on gravel, and especially caleche, roads, as my intuition indicates that grit is a chain's worst enemy, and fine grit the worst of the worst.
There are more opinions and articles on care of roller chain on the 'net than I can ever read. It seemed to me that my method of cleaning the chain on the bike was not all that effective, so I rigged up the device in the pics from 2" PVC pipe to provide a bath for the chain on the bike.
It immerses about 1/3 a rear sprocket at a time. I turn the wheel backwards a few links, let it soak for a few seconds, then repeat, until the chain just engaging the rear sprocket is wet. I then take a small brass brush and work over the chain at the top of the sprocket while still turning it through the bath. Mine was really grimy, and took a couple of passes to clean it well.
As I have mentioned before, I use diesel fuel to clean the chain. It is cheap, I keep a barrel of it on the place for my tractor, and it leaves an oily film on the chain that helps prevent rust in those areas the chain lube does not reach. When I took the "bathtub" off the chain, and poured off the used diesel fuel, there was quite a deposit of sludge in the bottom. I cleaned the tub, put it back on, and rinsed in clean fuel.
Finally, I used spray on chain lube (Motul-- commonly called "chain wax", even though the word "wax" does not appear on the can anywhere). It does leave a "waxy" feeling residue, so I guess that is where the term comes from.
Reading on the 'net, I came across an article that suggested lubricating a chain by immersing it in melted paraffin, removing it and letting it cool. Perhaps this is how the spray on lubricants try to work, when the more volatile components evaporate off, leaving wax as a lubricant.
In any case, I have tired of cleaning the 90W oil off the chain, guard, rear wheel, etc. etc. so I guess I will stick with the "chain lube" for awhile.
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More pics:
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Wow Lawrence. That's pretty slick.
That is really slick Lawrence ... about how long was the piece of PVC pipe you used? I just may have to give this a try. I've got a 5 gallon container of Kerosine that should work just fine for the cleaning fluid too.
Charlie, I plan to make another "improved" version of this device. If you cut it 28" long, and taper the front sharply back, with the shortest end of the cut at the top, it should rest on the swing arm cross member and not need to be supported with bungee cord on the front.
I need to do a better job of gluing the cap on. I was out of PVC cleaner fluid and substituted acetone -- but I think the biggest problem was that I didn't get a tight fit because the slot had already been cut and the pipe flexed. I am working out a way to glue the cap on first, then make the cut -- or cut first, but not all the way through to the end. I will post pics of the new version after I try it out.
Kerosene should work well -- probably better than diesel fuel, as it has oil in it, but not as much. Around here kerosene is rather expensive -- probably because there is not much use for it. It has been 65 years since I was in a home (my grandfather's) lit by kerosene lamps. :lol: :lol:
Thanx for posting.. Nice set up..
My chain could probably use a bath soon.. Since I need to pull the rear tire off soon to check to see if I damaged the rear brake on my last trip, maybe that will be a good time...
Don't forget to take off the front sprocket cover and clean around the front sprocket area as well, it gets pretty caked up in there.. You can also clean the slide on the swing arm that the chain rides on...
I have a concern with utilizing a "brass" brush.. Yes it will not hurt the chain, but what damage might it do to the rubber o-rings??
Sounds like a plan ... I've got an old kerosene heater that I've used from time to time so that's where that came from. I've heard that most chain cleaning products contain it too so it should be okay. I also believe I've got some 2" PVC sitting around somewhere in the garage and I know I've still got PVC solvent/cleaner too so this should be a real cheap endeavor ... might even have seen a 2" cap sitting on my workbench after I cleaned all the other crap (stuff :-) off of it this past weekend. My chain's in need of a good cleaning/lubing too so you're timing couldn't be better. Thanks so much for taking the time to document your endeavors.
Slick, Mr. Ragan, pretty darn slick. 8)
So, this post will show the promised update to the "chain bath"...
First, cut the 2 in PVC pipe to a length of 30.5 inches, longest dimension, which will be on the bottom. I used something greater than 45 degree cut on the power miter saw -- as steep as it would go.
Second, I marked on the square end the distance that the PVC end piece would fit, and stopped the longitudinal cuts that far from the slot at this point. I used a table saw, and made a small mark on the guide where the saw blade intersected the table. I cranked the blade up to a little over halfway through the pipe to make a steep cut.
Third, I cemented the 90 degree elbow (instead of a cap -- more on that later) to the end, covering to the end of the slot cuts, with the open end up.
Fourth, I used the miter saw, now at 0 degrees, to cut through the hanging material to complete the slot. Then I drilled a hole in the edge of the lip of the 90 degree elbow to hook a bungee hook into.
The pictures on the bike explain it all. I removed the saddle bag only to take a good photo. It really is not necessary to mount the chain bath. Simply fit it up around the chain, lift the front so it clears the slide on the swing arm, and push it all the way forward. Then connect up the supporting bungee at the back and you are good to go.
This provides a clean, simple, way to clean the chain. When you are finished, carefully remove the device and dump the cleaning fluid into a container for environmentally correct disposal. With a little care, not a drop is spilled on the driveway or garage floor.
Watch this space for further development into chain lubrication using this gizmo.
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One more picture, and an addendum to the text:
The obvious advantage of the 90 degree elbow is that it provides a simple attachment to the bungee at the back, and an easy way to fill the bath.
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Thanks for the update Lawrence ... plan on building one of these later today. Found my spare PVC yesterday but will need to run to HD to pick up the 90 degree elbow. What would be great is to figure out a way to attach or restrict the cleaning element from my can of Tirox (http://www.tirox.ca/) so that I can just spin the wheel through the bath and have it brush the chain clean in one shot ... just short of automated chain cleaning. I'll look into that when I get my hands dirty later on ...
Charlie, I have been thinking about incorporating a brush in the device somehow, and even bought some cheap brushes to cut up and mount. I was thinking of mounting a brush mechanism forward of the solvent. The brush in the Tirox may be just the ticket, depending on its diameter.
However a brush is attached, it needs to be mounted so it is easily replaced. Let me know if you come up with something.
I may be able to drill a small hole through the metal portion of the Tirox brush and attach a small stainless steel snap ring. If I then attach a small length of chain to that (perhaps ball-chain will do) and then attach the end of the chain to the tube (possibly using another snap ring or "S" hook), that might just do the trick. I'll let you know if it works ...
Update ... this is as far as I got today ... made a minor modification to your design and incorporated a drain cap on the back. I'm not sure if it will be useful but since I was at HD anyway, the parts looked like they might work well. It just occurred to me that I suppose I could have even oriented the T fitting to put the cap at the bottom too ... perhaps on the next go-round ... I've got to find a good small split ring to try to attach the Tirox brush and then I should be ready to give it a whirl.
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Finally got to put the chain bath to work today. The Tirox brush fits tight enough into the PVC tube that you don't have to hold it in place with anything. It will sit in one spot as you turn the rear wheel and brush off any loose grime on the chain. This setup works very well as the brush encircles the chain so in theory it should get at most of the moving parts. I didn't even need to remove the lower exhaust pipe on that side of the bike, which I've always done in the past when doing this sort of work. The drain cap works well to empty the tube but I think that reorienting with the drain down would be better as the fitting gets very close to the rear wheel (rubs the tire a slight bit but can be held away with one hand as you rotate the wheel).
Thanks again Lawrence for this great idea and time saver!
Lawence that's an awesome idea. Approx how wide a cut did you make down the length of the tube. My bike is being store at a different location. So I can not readily measure the chain.
Jigger, the slot is right at one inch wide. Just enough to comfortable clear the chain.