Oil recommendations for chain oiler?

[David_g]

I've used various oils in my PD Oiler automatic chain oiler. I do no other cleaning or lube of my X-ring chain.

At first I was using Redline 75W90 NS GL-5 Gear Oil, because I had some extra in the garage. For the last few months it's been G Oil 5W30 motor oil because it's biodegradable and I thought it would be better for the environment.

At previous chain adjustments the chain has had no tight spots. This last time the whole thing was stiff--it seemed like at every pin it had resistance to pivoting. I think that means bad seals. Possibly swollen and tight. I didn't see signs of leaking chain lubricant, but the chain is a bit messy so who knows?

Unless you give me a better idea, I think I'll go back to gear oil for my next chain. What do you think? What works for you?

I realize some don't believe in using oilers. That's fine. I do. Some only adjust the chain: no oiler, cleaning or lube. If I were convinced that would work for me, I'd consider it. But I'm not (yet?). Switching from the oiler to cleaning and lubing the chain at factory recommended service intervals (400 miles) is not an option.

 

[Trav]

I would stay with with gear oil. On my CBR 1100XX Honda spec gear oil as their preferred chain lube.
How is that oiler as far as mess goes? I tried a Scott oiler one time and it made a mess of the rear wheel, the Scott oil seemed "tacky" also.

 

[LotI]

I've used M1 75w90 in my Scottoiler since I used up the sample bottle that came with it. I got 20k miles on my first chain, putting the luber on at 5k mi. I'm at 22k on chain #2 and within spec. I figure its best to use a GL4/5 oil.

Easy to clean off the excess, rust-free and minimal adjustments. It's adjusted to about 1 drop/minute hot.

Bike is a 2003 VFR800 with ~100rwhp. Honda recommends gear oil as a lube.

 

[David_g]

Thanks.

My big concern is that this most recent oil damaged the seals in the chain. On a different forum I was reading posts from 2 or 3 members who think the oil they were using damaged their chain in a similar manner. For one the oiler hits one side of the chain and that's the side the seals failed.

I think I'm going back to gear oil.

On chains where I haven't used an oiler, they'd get stiff spots, which I think were where I damaged the seals with brush cleaning. Got none of those this time--the whole chain got stiff at once.

Bike is certainly messier than when I'd wax the chain. The chain stays "clean" by slinging off dirty oil. Wheel gets a bit messy, but I check the tire to make sure it's not getting oily. Factory intervals would have me cleaning/lubing more than weekly, and I've found I don't even find time to do it every week. And despite the odd failure mechanism, I got better life from this chain than ones I manually clean/lube.

 

[Robenstein]

When I had an open(unsealed) chained bike I always used thick gear oil. Made a mess but kept things lubed up well. The thinner stuff slung off more, so I put the thickest oil I could. As for cleaning with a brush, i always used some really worn out hand towels and a soft bristled tooth brush to clean things up.

 

[qwertydude]

Originally Posted By: David_g
I've used various oils in my PD Oiler automatic chain oiler. I do no other cleaning or lube of my X-ring chain.

At first I was using Redline 75W90 NS GL-5 Gear Oil, because I had some extra in the garage. For the last few months it's been G Oil 5W30 motor oil because it's biodegradable and I thought it would be better for the environment.

At previous chain adjustments the chain has had no tight spots. This last time the whole thing was stiff--it seemed like at every pin it had resistance to pivoting. I think that means bad seals. Possibly swollen and tight. I didn't see signs of leaking chain lubricant, but the chain is a bit messy so who knows?

Unless you give me a better idea, I think I'll go back to gear oil for my next chain. What do you think? What works for you?

I realize some don't believe in using oilers. That's fine. I do. Some only adjust the chain: no oiler, cleaning or lube. If I were convinced that would work for me, I'd consider it. But I'm not (yet?). Switching from the oiler to cleaning and lubing the chain at factory recommended service intervals (400 miles) is not an option.




Their motor oils are simply extra refined dino oils. They're not biodegradeable.

As for chain tightening. Most people adjust their chains wrong. When adjusting your chain you need to adjust it when the front pivot, front sprocket and rear sprocket are all inline with each other, usually this means having very heavy people sit on your bike to compress the suspension while you adjust it to factory spec. What I do is have those heavy people sit on the bike once, adjust the chain, then with the bike on a bikestand or jacked up note the free air chain tension and keep the chain adjusted to that level, maybe a little on the looser side too.

If not you're adjusting it too tight and big bumps will put a lot of tension the the chain, not to mention on the sprocket and bearings. This can lead to premature chain failure and kinking.

Generally on a quality o-ring or x-ring chain, when adjusted properly, after breaking in they often don't tend to stretch for long periods of time. And when they do need regular adjustment they usually just start kinking up soon after. Basically on a properly maintained o-ring chain, I've installed it, adjusted it properly, after a couple thousand miles I adjust it again and after that I don't tend to adjust it at all until it starts wearing out.

Keeping a slightly looser chain tension will greatly increase chain and sprocket life.

 

[David_g]

Originally Posted By: qwertydude
Their motor oils are simply extra refined dino oils. They're not biodegradeable.

Do you have a reference for that? They claim they are on the packaging and their website.
http://www.getg.com/engineOil/full_synthetic.php

 

[Robenstein]

I understood its tallow based, not crude oil based.

 

[Qwiky]

Right on qwertydude. That's the way to adjust the chain. ON a new bike I undo the shock link and move the swingarm through the tightest point and then get an idea how much slack is there when it is in the normal position.

I have about 30,000 miles on a RK 530XSO on a K7 750 Suzuki and it only needed adjustment once in the first few hours of riding. After that it hasn't stretched (worn) and further. I oil it everyday I ride it with kerosene gear oil mix. The rear sprocket is getting close to replacement though. The rate this chain is going I expect another 30,000 miles easy.

 

[kmrcstintn]

I've heard of using 30wt bar & chain oil which has a 'tackifying' agent to reduce slinging...any thoughts on this? thanks

 

[David_g]

Originally Posted By: kmrcstintn
I've heard of using 30wt bar & chain oil which has a 'tackifying' agent to reduce slinging...any thoughts on this?

People were using this in a chain oiler? Did they do manual chain cleaning? Or just let the chain get "clean" by slinging off dirty oil. Since I've been doing the latter I don't think slinging a little oil is a bad thing. But less might be OK too.

 

[beanoil]

I ran two stroke oil for a long time in my ScottOiler. Never a chain issue on my SV650S. A bunch of 2t oils aren't much more than bright stock and kerosene anyway. Cheap and easy, available anywhere.

 

[SOHCman]

Anyone ever made their own chain oiler? Old bikes sometimes had a little reservoir with a ball valve/ orifice that would drip slowly while you had it open.

 

[PaulGir]

I make oilers.
I weld up a reservoir to fit under the seat - usually where the tool roll goes (that can usually squeeze in somewhere else.
I use a solenoid valve to switch on the gravity feed flow.(solenoid comes on with the rest of the electrics.
Flow rate is set with a pneumatic flow control in the oil line.
Oil is delivered to the chain via a device of my own design.

 

[BusyLittleShop]

Originally Posted By: qwertydude


As for chain tightening. Most people adjust their chains wrong. When adjusting your chain you need to adjust it when the front pivot, front sprocket and rear sprocket are all inline with each other, usually this means having very heavy people sit on your bike to compress the suspension while you adjust it to factory spec. What I do is have those heavy people sit on the bike once, adjust the chain, then with the bike on a bikestand or jacked up note the free air chain tension and keep the chain adjusted to that level, maybe a little on the looser side too.


+1 Adjusting the chain with swing arm level is the most accurate method especially if you
add some ride height which requires a little more slack unless you run a chain roller...

 

[BusyLittleShop]

Originally Posted By: David_g

I realize some don't believe in using oilers. That's fine. I do.


One thing a engineer should posses is an natural curiosity to any and
all claims... if people make a claim about Auto Oilers then it should
be scrutinized and tested... if you do test like I have done you may
come to the same conclusion that externally applied oil can not reach
behind the X ring and lube the critical pin and roller junction... in fact
externally applied oil can not even lube and X ring held in tension
between the chain plates... so it does beg the question... if
externally applies oil can not reach the critical pin and roller
junction and it can not lube the X ring then why pay good money for a
running oil leak messing up our bikes???

Yellow notes the factory installed grease behind the X ring that no external oil can reach...

 

[Clevy]

Originally Posted By: qwertydude

I've used various oils in my PD Oiler automatic chain oiler. I do no other cleaning or lube of my X-ring chain.

At first I was using Redline 75W90 NS GL-5 Gear Oil, because I had some extra in the garage. For the last few months it's been G Oil 5W30 motor oil because it's biodegradable and I thought it would be better for the environment.

At previous chain adjustments the chain has had no tight spots. This last time the whole thing was stiff--it seemed like at every pin it had resistance to pivoting. I think that means bad seals. Possibly swollen and tight. I didn't see signs of leaking chain lubricant, but the chain is a bit messy so who knows?

Unless you give me a better idea, I think I'll go back to gear oil for my next chain. What do you think? What works for you?

I realize some don't believe in using oilers. That's fine. I do. Some only adjust the chain: no oiler, cleaning or lube. If I were convinced that would work for me, I'd consider it. But I'm not (yet?). Switching from the oiler to cleaning and lubing the chain at factory recommended service intervals (400 miles) is not an option.




Their motor oils are simply extra refined dino oils. They're not biodegradeable.



Pardon?
Where exactly did you find info stating g-oil was crude oil because when I went to the g-oil website I found the so I copy and pasted it

GET-Products replace the petrochemical base of traditional appearance and performance chemicals with an Ultimate Biodegradable bio base made with plants or animal fat. It is sustainable and can be collected domestically with grown beef, pork, chicken fat and plant oils. Bottles are made with 30% post consumer recyclable plastic and our labels are printed with water based inks on recycled paper. Plant & animal fats GET recycled to make a highly demanded product in place of foreign oil.

So I'm just wondering if you research all your statements as well as you did this one considering I found it in less than 5 seconds,and if so can we expect all your answers to be of similar accuracy?

 

[PaulGir]

I make chain oilers.
I have installed about 12 on friends' bikes.Most of them use Scott Oil for convenience but I recommend a mix of 20w40 motor oil and 20% to 25% kerosene.
The oil can be the cheapest you can lay your hands on.The kero seems to aid in wetting the chain.I had more oil fling off with straight 20w40.

My longest lasting chain was 93,000 km on a hard ridden 1200 Bandit.This chain needed about 5 or 6 adjustments in it's life.Elongation was only about 30% of maximum allowable when I replaced the chain.
The chain was replaced because it began to make a loud click on every revolution,this was due to a collapsed pin bushing.

 

[PaulGir]

Originally Posted By: BusyLittleShop
Originally Posted By: David_g

I realize some don't believe in using oilers. That's fine. I do.


One thing a engineer should posses is an natural curiosity to any and
all claims... if people make a claim about Auto Oilers then it should
be scrutinized and tested... if you do test like I have done you may
come to the same conclusion that externally applied oil can not reach
behind the X ring and lube the critical pin and roller junction... in fact
externally applied oil can not even lube and X ring held in tension
between the chain plates... so it does beg the question... if
externally applies oil can not reach the critical pin and roller
junction and it can not lube the X ring then why pay good money for a
running oil leak messing up our bikes???




Because it is what keeps those O rings in good condition and the factory lube inside the chain.

 

[cycleman]

I would think that chain saw bar oil would work and you can get it in light & heavy weights.

I don't know if anybody has ever done a test on the oil that comes with the Scottoiler's.