What should i soak my chain in this winter?

Ok, i have the chain off of the 900, just wondering if it would be ok to put it in a tub with say 80 or 90 weight gear oil for the winter? Im guessing it would be good because it would soak into the links and stick because it is such a heavy weight oil. Thanks, jim.

Probably be differing opinions about this, whether there's any need or reason to soak at all, and if so, what to soak it in.

As I understand it, the premise of an o-ring chain is that the o-rings are supposed to keep the original lube inside and to keep any outside stuff from getting in.

Any external soak would be prevented by the o-rings from getting inside. And might actually deteriorate the o-rings as most petroleum products are prone to do.

WD40 isn't a lubricant, but supposedly doesn't harm rubber o-rings. Perhaps ATF would do nicely as it is supposedly good for rubber, or at least non-damaging to rubber, and touted to soften and preserve rubber seals. What about brake fluid, as it won't hurt rubber. Or kerosene, the chain-soak of yore.

Why remove the chain at all? After a good chain-warming ride, just wipe it down and apply a quality chain lube product, using whatever speciality chain lube product RonKZ650 recommends.

If guessing, would in this case where it's already off the bike, consider cleaning it by dipping in kerosene, then dipping in ATF, allow to drip dry, and then spray with quality special purpose chain lube.

The peanut gallery has spake. :laugh:

Good Luck!

del

spray it with some diesel to clean it up ,let it hang up to dry.check all the links i like the side to side test myself,if it checks out ok put it back on the bike and soak it with chain lube.if you slop 90w all over ityoull end up with nasty smelling gear oil all over you and your bike everytime you ride it.

PLUMMEN wrote:

if you slop 90w all over it youll end up with nasty smelling gear oil all over you and your bike everytime you ride it.

darn good point there

ya thats is a good point. anybody know the kind of grease they put on the chains when the come new to you in the box?

i think its the same stuff they pack guns in,more of a rust preventer than a lube.

Cosmoline?

The chain doesn't need to soak in anything. Just clean it up a little with mineral spirits to get the crud off, then hose it down with PJ chain lube or something similar and drop it into a trash bag and tie it off. It won't rust or corrode if stored like that and you don't have to worry about solvents displacing the lube inside the O rings..

You folks are starting to make me feel 150 years old!! Didn't any of you start riding bikes before chain lube came in a spray can, or when there wasn't any such thing as o-ring chains??

Return with me to the thrilling days of yesteryear, when men were men and chains didn't have o-rings (and I don't think anything else did either). Where a woman's place was in the kitchen, bitching because you just stunk up the house with that pan of 90 weight you warmed up on the kitchen stove so you could soak your chain in it to lube it and make it last. The chain that you had just spent an hour cleaning in kerosene, and that you are bringing into the house to put in that pan of hot 90 weight, since it didn't take you more than half a second to rule out carrying that pan of hot oil outside, especially after the mental flash of fried jewels :woohoo:

And that's the way it was, in the days when the BSA 650 Lightning and the Triumph 650 Bonneville vied for King of the Hill.


Damn, I have got to lay off the Tequila

i saw that somebody mentioned what the factory suggested to do with a chain remember that was an 1981 manual it is and i'm not trying to make anybody feel old that was 27 years ago chain and lube technology have progressed mightily over that time i would clean it well and then spray it down with some high quality lube like chain wax or that nice belray product that comes out white so you know how much you have actually sprayed on.don't need to take it off or soak it or anything.that was my .98cent opinion.

steell wrote:

... before chain lube... when there wasn't any such thing as o-ring chains... thrilling days of yesteryear... pan of 90 weight you warmed up on the kitchen stove so you could soak your chain in it to lube it and make it last... that's the way it was, in the days when the BSA 650 Lightning and the Triumph 650 Bonneville vied for King of the Hill... got to lay off the Tequila.

Actually tried a variation of this on my 1967 BSA 650 Spitfire , as the highly recommended sure-fire cutting edge method of chain care and preservation (back then it was Boone's Farm Strawberry Hill) :

Soak chain in a kerosene bath and clean it up real good. Let it drip dry, while attending to the following.

On the kitchen stove, melt a block of paraffin, and stir in a healthy dose of powdered graphite.

With this magic potion well-mixed, piping hot and water-thin, add the chain (immerse the chain in the potion) and let it cook for a few moments.

Remove chain slowly so as not to drip off all the graphite impregnated wax, resulting in a beautiful clean graphite impregnated wax-laden chain. Things are really looking good at this point. Confidence and self-pride exudes.

Handling the chain is rather clean and sanitary. Reinstalled without drama, and adjusted perfectly.

Crank bike and take a five mile ride.

Awfullest black mess I've ever seen all over the rear end of bike, wheels, spokes, every where. It all slung off. Didn't know chains got that hot.

And we all know what cleans off melted wax. Just about nothing.

Silver lining -- the old cheap pan -- threw away without cleaning.

Good Luck!