chain care

[grannyknot]

I have never had a bike with an O ring chain before and considering how expensive new chains are for the FJ I thought I better ask you guys before I screw it up.
The chain appears to be in good shape but after 10 years of sitting needs a cleaning, can I throw it in the dunk tank with Varsol/paint thinner or will that swell the O rings?

[FJ111200]

TBH, i wouldn't even consider cleaning the chain. Get new C&S, and with care you should get at least 20,000 miles useage, if not more.
It'll cost more than the price of new C&S if the old chain snaps.
I've just looked on ebay Canada and prices aren't that expensive.

[andyb]

On the FJ I can give you a cautionary tale.  When I first got the FJ I was pretty poor and put what I thought was a decent oring chain on it.

After breaking it several times, I learned something.  You can pay now, or you can pay later, and there's probably interest involved if you decide to pay later, as well as the unpredictability.  A good o- or x-ring chain and a set of steel sprockets is going to cost you $250 or better, if you cannot afford that, you cannot afford to run an FJ.  End of story.

That said, I've become a huge huge fan of the chromed/gold/plated chains.  Not for the bling factor, but for the fact that they repel rust infinitely better than the natural ones (I ride in the rain and am a little permissive with my upkeep on it sometimes).  They're internally lubricated, so basically you keep them clean and you're golden.

[Arnie]

Best cleaner for an O or X ring chain is kerosene (NOT diesel).
That's what my RG500 shop manual told me, and Suzuki must know, right?
Anyhow, you only want to get the grit and crud off, without damaging the sealing ring.
These chains are pre-lubed at the factory and the ring keeps the lube in place.

I also use a semi-auto chain oiler and got over 60,000kms from my last chain & sprockets.
(DID ZVM2)

Arnie

[SlowOldGuy]

Paint thinner, mineral spirits will definitely swell the o-rings and ruin the chain.  Clean it up with kerosene or WD-40 and if it moves freely, has no kinks, and appears to still be in good shape (along with the sprocket teeth) then keep using it.

DavidR.

[grannyknot]

Wow, "throw it in the garbage" to "keep on using it" that's what I love about this forum!
Thanks guys, I really do appreciate your input. I have had the chain soaking in a bath of 10W30 for a week now and it's moving nicely now, both the sprockets look almost new so if I get the bike running this season I'll try it out with the old setup and see how it goes. I have had a chain break on me before, not much fun.

Arnie, interested to hear about your semi-auto oiler. 60,000 kms is very impressive, I have always thought that the chain is by far the most abused and least lubricated component of a bike. There might be others that would like to to hear about it too.

[Arnie]

I'll take some pics and post back here.
Basically, it amounts to a bottle that contains chain&bar oil, a siphon tube and a valve.  I try to remember to turn the valve ON for about 10min every tankful.  The chain doesn't need much lube, just to stay clean and cushion it onto the gear teeth.

Arnie

[RichBaker]

The HawkeOiler works very nicely.....  But a quick google and it looks like his website has been taken over or something, definitely NOT the hawkeOiler.

[NJona86FJ]

pretty sure i put mine on around the 28 thousand k mark and i have just ticked over to 51 thousand k, i didnt really take care of mine and its showing, has a tight spot which i can set to about 18 mm and the loose spot is around 30- 35 mm.... almost at the end of adjustment, 1 notch to go.... getting new chain very bloody soon sick of the tock tock tock tock under acceleration, and am definatly looking at making a luber or using some really really good grease.... got this stuff at work called polyplex grease..... super super sticky but that may be detremental that helpful... i have just been using the shell cahin lube and its got me this far.... would have gotten further if i hadnt taken the "she'll be right" attitude

[Dan Filetti]

The Brits seem to love their Scott Oilers.  scottoiler.com/us/Kits.html

They are not cheap though -they range from 130 - 270 (GBP)

Dan

[Dan Filetti]

Paint thinner, mineral spirits will definitely swell the o-rings and ruin the chain.  Clean it up with kerosene or WD-40.

Years ago, someone here (Randy T?) actually cut open an old chain, removed the o-ring material, and soaked a number of them in various liquids for several months (maybe still soaking, not sure).  Net net, to the above, thinner and spirits caused the rubber to swell/ get weak/ brittle, but kerosene and WD-40 had no ill-effects.

This made my mind up, I only use WD a rag, and a brush to clean my chain.

Dan 

[Dan Filetti]

I beg your pardon, it was TRoy, but Randy was involved...

TRoy, how long did the test go?  (By any chance, is it still going?)

Here's the original thread.

http://www.fjowners.com/index.php?topic=737.15

Dan

[Arnie]

Actually, David Mazzaferro did this O-ring test with a number of solvents many years ago (even before the big Yahoo split) and reported back to the yamahafj@netpath list.  Most of the liquids caused the O-rings to either swell, crack, or harden.  Only Kerosene and WD40 caused no discernible harm.

Arnie

[rktmanfj]

Actually, David Mazzaferro did this O-ring test with a number of solvents many years ago (even before the big Yahoo split) and reported back to the yamahafj@netpath list.  Most of the liquids caused the O-rings to either swell, crack, or harden.  Only Kerosene and WD40 caused no discernible harm.

Arnie

Arnie is correct.

Last time this came up, I went back and found Mazz's posts and pics from his tests.

IIRC, I posted all that here, somewhere...

tRoy did a test about then... not sure how it ended up.

EDIT: Ah, hell... all this is in the thread referenced above!

[grannyknot]

Just went back through all of the old posts that you guys supplied a link to, fantastic!
Gotta love all the hard work that earlier guys have put into solving the problems that come up in older machinery, Hats off to you Gents.