[TeeTee]

WARNING Do NOT use WD-40 it has water in i and will eat your chain from the inside out!
Diesel or lamp oil is best.......and use an old tooth brush(softer) and treat yourself to the new one. BF

I've accused WD-40 of many shortcomings in the past but never about it having a water content. You sure about that?

Anyway Farhad. You've got the right procedure all right. Get it up on the stand and scrub it down with a brush and some sort of solvent. Use paper toweling a couple of times to wick away the dirty stuff.

The only addition I'd suggest is to do what I did and make up a cardboard or corrugated plastic (best long term, it won't disitegrate) board that fits up between the chain and wheel and goes all the way to the ground. This will keep the splashes off the wheel and tire. Mine looks like a big rectangle with a cookie bite out of the upper edge near one corner to fit around the wheel hub between the sproket and the spokes. If you can't figure out what I mean I'll pull it out and take some pics.

As for the cleaning solvent I've used low odor paint thinner (regular oil base paint thinner, DON"T USE LACQUER THINNER OR OTHER HIGH VOLITILE THINNERS), WD-40 and if I'm feeling really cocky I'll use the paint thinner with some heavy oil mixed in just so it has some lubricity for the O rings while cleaning. And also any solvent that gets into the O ring seats at least will leave some heavy oil when it dries.

If your thinking ahead you can even collect the solvent in a shallow tray and pour it back into a jar. It'll settle over the next week and you can use the clear tea colored top layer again for next time. Just decant it off into a clean bowl for application. I've been using the same jar of "settlin's" for over a year on both the MC's and my bicycles. When the bottom sludge gets really thick I decant the top clear stuff into another jar and toss the dirty stuff.

And a big HURRAH for doin' the sparkplugs without incident. We'll make a mechanic outta'ya even if we gotta drag ya kickin' n' screamn' :flip

PS: PH-Q2, if ya REALLY cared about yer bike you'd SHARE that new toothbrush with it. A few grease stains on yer teeth just shows you care :laughing

 

[TeeTee]

the beauty with diesel is ,it has a shit load of oil in it ,and is able to clean the chain without drying the oil in the chain out?

any other way will dilute the oil already in the O ring part of the chain and leave residue of whatever solvent you have cleaned it with inside the O ring part of the chain,so do yourself a favor and just use diesel

AFAIK there is actually grease inside the chain links. I agree that the heavier and oily deisel can be used very succesfully for cleaning but I suspect the biggest advantage of using diesel fuel would be that being thicker it is less likely to get past the O-rings in the first place. And if it did it's not much better than paint thinner or WD-40 for lubricating under the load the chain needs to support. And then there is the all permeating smell that gets into everything. It might be good for the chain but diesel just stinks too much for me.......

One reason that I like to use the grease based lubes with a solvent carrier is that I'm hoping that some of the thin mix can get past the rings and then the solvent will dry out and leave a decent addition of new grease to the factory stuff in there.

But in the end I suspect that we may all just be blowing smoke. I've seen lots of guys over at SBN and the rec.motorcycles.sportbikes newsgroup that claim to never use anything but WD-40 and they say they get 25,000 miles out of a chain. They never clean the chain. Just spray on some new WD and a quick wipe with a towel and they're off. The only thing is that they DO admit to needing to do it more often. Like almost every ride. Especially if they run into rain then they need to do it as soon as they get home or park for the day. I for one will keep using the PJ1 or Silkolene.

 

[TeeTee]

I like the toothbrush or similar because it loosens up the grit down in the gaps between the plates. Nothing else will do the job. But I agree that it should be done with a soft brush used gently.

 

[TeeTee]

Bender, I agree with the paint thinner drying out the rings IF it's a harsh solvent like lacquer thinner, toluene or any of those more volitile ones. But basic oil based house paint thinner commonly sold as "low odour thnner". Check out the WD-40 ingedients and you'll find "petroleum distillate" which is........ TA DA, low odour paint thinner which is also pretty much the same thing as Varsol. We're talking about a low volitility solvent here that is only a step above kerosene.

I've been using this paint thinner for years and on more than one occasion I've left O rings in a bowl of it for days with no bad effects. But put a bit of rubber into lacquer thinner and watch it swell and deform almost before your eyes.

You have to remember that there are about 10 to 15 commonly found "paint thinners" out there for different paints. Only the one is OK for cleaning the chains AFAIK. Fortunetley the good one is the cheap one in this case.

 

[TeeTee]

BTW, I just know that we all buy the WD in those little containers but there is nothing wrong with getting it in bulk and using a little plant sprayer with the stuff. Maybe we could do a "group buy" on a 5 gallon (or whatever the metric equiv. is) and just put it away in a gallon, oh sorry, a 4.55 liter can or bottle until needed.

I know when I use it for chain cleaning it seems to dissapear awfully quickly..........

 

[TeeTee]

Has anybody tried Simple Green? It works like magic on grease, but I'm not sure of its effects on aluminum.

It doesn't bother aluminium at all. I use if for cleaning my bicycles all the time. It's not very powerful though.

I doubt it would even touch the sludgy mess that chain lubes leave behind. You really need a solvent for that. We could probably use a water based degreaser like Citri-Solv but it goes against my nature to use anything water based that I have to use water to wash off my chain.

BTW. I know there are O rings in the chain but it's really not a good idea to use any amount of pressure from a hose around the chain or any other seal area. For this reason I will only use a soft flow from an open hose or a soft plant friendly spray from a nozzle. Hard water jets like strong hose nozzles or spray type car washes that blast dirt away will push the water right past any lip or O ring seal in a flash ruining chains, bearings and whatever else is in there.

And besides I usually clean and lube my chain after washing the bike and I don't want to wait for any water to dry so I use solvent or WD and after rubbing and wicking as dry as I can get it the lube goes on. I know some of you like to warm the chain but I don't go riding for at least 1/2 hour after doing this so it's quite dry and sticky enough thankyouverymuch.

 

[TeeTee]

.....<toothbrush>......preferably one you won't be using for dental hygiene again..........

What's the matter? Yer bike not good enough to SHARE with ? :mad Ya gonna let a few chain lube spots on yer teeth get between the rider and bike bond? Hmmph, sounds like a two class system at work here :rolleyes


:flip