Ghetto chain lube

AgentX

AgentX

Over 1,000 Posts
So here I am in the third world, surrounded by chain-driven two-wheeled vehicles, and it turns out no one sells or can obtain purpose-made chain lube, aerosol or otherwise. They just smear whatever grease or gear oil or engine oil they can find on the chain and call it a day.

Any advice on what to use and how to apply it in these circumstances? I am a cyclist and am used to lubing chain links individually and reasonably laboriously, but I know none of my bicycle lube products are going to last long under motorized circumstances. As of now I have used both 80w90 and 20w50 in the first few miles of break-in...
 
The advantage of some of the chain lube sprays is that they stick longer (and therefore work longer) -- with regular oil you'll just have to oil them more frequently.
 
if you can apply it to a warm chain,or heat up the oil, use some chainsaw bar oil , quite sticky,works great as way lube also
 
I've used a mix of diesel and motor oil before in desert conditions and it seemed to work ok. In extream inviorments accelerated chain wear is to be expected. The diesel oil combo can be mixed up and kept in a soda bottle. Use an extra cap with a small hole in it to spray the mixture on the chain and it'll help wash the chain as well. Diesel not gas, gas evaporates diesel is more oily. Hope this helps.
 
carnivorous chicken said:
The advantage of some of the chain lube sprays is that they stick longer (and therefore work longer) -- with regular oil you'll just have to oil them more frequently.
Click to expand...

Yep! That is why 30 wt is the way it USED to be done. ;)

We used to have to oil chains very frequently. There have been some good suggestions....I think the chainsaw bar lube might be a very good suggestion, if it is available to you.
 
I can get straight 50wt and diesel, so that'll have to be it. Chainsaw oil availability would require that there are chainsaws to oil, which isn't the case. Given temps here, I hope the extra viscosity won't be a problem...thanks for all the suggestions!!

Mike
 
Im sure ill get some flak for this, but you could just... not lube the chain. A guy i work with bought a ninja250 brand new and he rides the crap out of it. He has almost 20k on the bike and has not lubed the chain once, except maybe when he got new tires they could have lubed it for him. As an experiment I bought a good x-ring chain and have not lubed it once since I put it on my kz650, i have close to 10k miles on it and have not had to adjust the chain once. Im curious how long it will go.
 
What makes you think some of the bicycle lubes won't work? I've been using the waxes with good results. I think melting paraffin and dipping the chain will work, as well. The catch might be having to apply more often. Regardless, the liquid waxes are essentially cut paraffin. The problem with heavy weight oil is it collects grit which damages the chain.
 
That's the thing, a good sealed o-ring chain has the lube sealed inside so if you keep it clean, it doesn't need lubing the same as other styles, they wear faster if you cover them in sticky lube then get dirt and grit in it to sand it and wear it out. Keeping a sealed chain clean will make it last longer, now any other style needs to be cleaned and re-lubed as you wash the lube out of the spots you need it when cleaning. I would look at a dirt bike auto luber with 30 wt oil for where you are at. If an autoluber is to hard to get sent to you, a fat syringe and some tube ziptied to the frame over the chain that you can reach down and push on while you ride every so often would be good. Check on here, there is a thread from one of our OZ members who did up an XR600R to hit the outback and he made up a syringe lube system for it. had it right above the front sprocket and all he had to do was every 100 miles push down on the plunger while riding to oil the chain and it worked a treat in the dusty sandy outback.
 
doc_rot said:
Im sure ill get some flak for this, but you could just... not lube the chain. A guy i work with bought a ninja250 brand new and he rides the crap out of it. He has almost 20k on the bike and has not lubed the chain once, except maybe when he got new tires they could have lubed it for him. As an experiment I bought a good x-ring chain and have not lubed it once since I put it on my kz650, i have close to 10k miles on it and have not had to adjust the chain once. Im curious how long it will go.
Click to expand...
you must lube an old fashioned non oring chain tho ,especially if it gets wet much the rust internally really does a job
 
Maritime said:
That's the thing, a good sealed o-ring chain has the lube sealed inside so if you keep it clean, it doesn't need lubing the same as other styles, they wear faster if you cover them in sticky lube then get dirt and grit in it to sand it and wear it out. Keeping a sealed chain clean will make it last longer, now any other style needs to be cleaned and re-lubed as you wash the lube out of the spots you need it when cleaning. I would look at a dirt bike auto luber with 30 wt oil for where you are at. If an autoluber is to hard to get sent to you, a fat syringe and some tube ziptied to the frame over the chain that you can reach down and push on while you ride every so often would be good. Check on here, there is a thread from one of our OZ members who did up an XR600R to hit the outback and he made up a syringe lube system for it. had it right above the front sprocket and all he had to do was every 100 miles push down on the plunger while riding to oil the chain and it worked a treat in the dusty sandy outback.
Click to expand...
tumbs up ;) the auto lube is the best solution if good sticky chainlube is not availabel you just need to be abel to accept that the rear of the bike will be a greasy mess
 
My bike can't fit an o-ring chain, alas. I will look into a lube system...some Enfield riders actually route the crankcase breather hose towards the chain for a little oil-mist, although others contend this will actually accelerate corrosion.
 
Render the fat from a camel and use the stomach as an IV bag hung from the shock tower to drip the fat onto the chain... Wud Ah Win?
 
If your in a particularly dusty or wet environment it's better to make a drip oiler so chain gets 'washed off' in use.
I have used a gear oil bottle taped to frame rail in the past, make a pin hole at high point to allow air in and various pieces of tube to reduce diameter of output (hell, even a carb jet or something?)
It will make a hell of a mess over back of bike but chain will last at least 4~5 times longer than a dry chain even under real extreme conditions.
When I raced Enduro in Mid Wales in early 80's, (often riding around/through coal waste slurry, bogs, swamps, high acid forestry) I could wear out a chain and sprocket set in one 80~150 mile event depending if it was 'wet' or underwater :eek: . (plus wheel bearings, brake shoes, tyre's, etc, etc, etc)
After a bodged up oiler, I did 4 events plus a few practice weekends and sold bike with a still good chain sprocket set 8)
It wasn't 'environmentally friendly' as I had it set at a high flow, 1litre bottle lasted about 20 miles/40mins ;D
Ended up using waste oil from oil changes, it's total loss so doesn't need to be particularly clean
 
to play devils advocate here..

I used to use Maxima chain wax on my enduro. Goes on liquid and dries sticky to keep from flinging off. Well... that sticky lube attracted a LOT of dirt. I believe it's why my chain wore out so fast. Any heavy coating of oil, paraffin, etc will attract dirt that will act as an abrasive to the chain's surfaces.

I suggest using an o-ring chain, cleaning with a toothbrush dipping in a water based cleaning solution (solvent based will degrade the o-rings and can seep past them, thinning the grease inside the chain) and then spraying liberally with WD-40. While WD-40 is NOT a lubricant, it does displace water (the reason it starts with WD) to keep rust from forming.

Also keep an eye on sprocket wear. Worn sprockets will kill a chain faster than anything else.
 
Tune-A-Fish said:
Render the fat from a camel and use the stomach as an IV bag hung from the shock tower to drip the fat onto the chain... Wud Ah Win?
Click to expand...

This might possibly be the funniest thing I've ever seen posted in a forum ;D ;D ;D
 
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