Your favorite chain lube for reel mower?

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What do you use to lubricate your chain? These days there's a whole selection of dry lubes on the market that will lube your chain without attracting dirt and other harmful particles.
 
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Originally Posted By: Merkava_4
What do you use to lube your chain? These days there's a whole selection of dry lubes on the market that will lube your chain without attracting dirt and other harmful particles.


A little more info please, what application? I assume bicycle, but it could be a motorcycle, or something else?
 
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Originally Posted By: JimPghPA
Originally Posted By: Merkava_4
What do you use to lube your chain? These days there's a whole selection of dry lubes on the market that will lube your chain without attracting dirt and other harmful particles.


A little more info please, what application? I assume bicycle, but it could be a motorcycle, or something else?


Seeing as it's posted in the 'bicycles' section, I'm thinking it would be for a bicycle.
 
Originally Posted By: JimPghPA
A little more info please, what application?I assume bicycle, but it could be a motorcycle, or something else?


How'd you know?
grin2.gif


The application is a California Trimmer. The bed knife adjusters on the homowner model are 3/8''-24 fine threads and they're constantly being exposed to dirt. I thought maybe a dry bicycle chain lube might be the hot ticket.
 
A good wet lube will work better than any dry lube in all but the dustiest conditions if used properly.

http://www.chain-l.com/

I do not use this product and I have no affiliation with this product. However through my many years of working on bicycles (including being a service manager) my experience with dry lubes is that they do not last very long even in dry conditions and they are very poor at actually protecting your chain. The only thing they have going for them is that they require very little prep work (if any) to apply properly.

My own choice after many years of using almost every brand and type of lube on the market...basic bar and chain oil (I use a biodegradable plant based version) applied sparingly using the techniques shown on the link above.
 
Originally Posted By: Merkava_4
Bar and chain oil? Really? Is that product called Chain-L similar to bar and chain oil?


In consistency yes, in formula I don't know.

And yes, a $5 quart of bar and chain oil is as good as any $10 for 4oz of "bicycle chain lube".

I've been riding most of my life in the wet Pacific NW and this stuff has kept my chain lubed through the soggiest days but also works great in the dry. I lube my chains less than I ever did with "bicycle lube" and I just wipe the dust off with a dry rag after rides. I did spend 3.5 years going to UNLV where everyone used dry lubes (nothing more than wax and solvent BTW). A two hour ride would require re-lubing the chain mid ride. Wax can't lube once it wears off...which is pretty quick.

I sent some friends down to the 24 hours of Tuscon with my special formula chain lube a few years ago and they raved about how well it worked even in the desert. None of them had to relube during the race. They just followed my directions on how to lube their chains. Directions I took strait off the Chain-L page. Guess what the special formula was...yep, bar and chain oil. Nothing else, I just put in a 4oz bottle and made a cool looking label for it.
 
BikeWhisperer,

Apparently there's some dude out there who disagrees with you.

Some dude named Steve Tischler.
grin.gif


"Oils that are specifically marketed as bicycle-chain lubricants are superior to non-bicycle-specific products. They generally contain Teflon® and are designed to repel dirt and water."

REI
 
I use supertech bar and chain oil for my chainsaw, so I decided to try it on my bicycle chain and it works perfect. It's cheap and the $7 gallon will last me forever for multiple uses. What I did was take the chain of the bike, put it in an empty large Gatorade plastic bottle, pour some bar and chain oil in it and let it soak for little bit. Then remove the chain from the bottle, wipe off the excess w a rag, install on bike and ride. Did this on my buddy's beach cruiser that lives outside and sees the beach often and the chain is good, no rust it squeaks.
 
90w/140 gear oil, warmed before applied. Back before motorcycle chains had O rings, I use to keep my gear oil sitting on top of the water heater. Use whatever sort of old style oil can appeals to you.....The sort you push the bottom in, or the type with the lever.

If you are really cheap, you can save used gear oil for this. Just let it sit for a while before you fill the can, so the solids settle out.
 
I wouldn't use White Lightning or other wax/parafin type lubes on my reel mowers chain. It's hard enough to get that off on the bike when it finally is filthy, I wouldn't want to deal with it on my old Savage reel mower. I'd stick to Tri-Flow, ATF, or if you want a really dry lube, Elmers Slide-All, which is actually dry to the touch and won't draw dust. It is a pain to keep up on it, and expensive.
 
Originally Posted By: Merkava_4
Originally Posted By: JimPghPA
A little more info please, what application?I assume bicycle, but it could be a motorcycle, or something else?


How'd you know?
grin2.gif


The application is a California Trimmer. The bed knife adjusters on the homowner model are 3/8''-24 fine threads and they're constantly being exposed to dirt. I thought maybe a dry bicycle chain lube might be the hot ticket.


I was recently remembering these from my youth (when they were popular) and wondered if they were still being made. I would buy one if the price was about half of what they're asking.
 
Originally Posted By: jkasch
I was recently remembering these from my youth (when they were popular) and wondered if they were still being made. I would buy one if the price was about half of what they're asking.


I have 8 of them and they were all free.
grin2.gif
 
Originally Posted By: Merkava_4
BikeWhisperer,

Apparently there's some dude out there who disagrees with you.

Some dude named Steve Tischler.
grin.gif


"Oils that are specifically marketed as bicycle-chain lubricants are superior to non-bicycle-specific products. They generally contain Teflon® and are designed to repel dirt and water."

REI


How can oil be designed to repel dirt?
 
Originally Posted By: Merkava_4
BikeWhisperer,

Apparently there's some dude out there who disagrees with you.

Some dude named Steve Tischler.
grin.gif


"Oils that are specifically marketed as bicycle-chain lubricants are superior to non-bicycle-specific products. They generally contain Teflon® and are designed to repel dirt and water."

REI


Combining REI and "Expert Advice", now that is hilarious

No real bicycle mechanic works at REI or Performance...all those "experts" there do nothing but regurgitate what the product reps tell them.

You just used the equivalent of Jiffy Lube giving you expert advice on your car...
 
Originally Posted By: Kamele0N
How can oil be designed to repel dirt?


The theory is that they use a carrier fluid to apply the dry lubricants and then after the carrier fluid evaporates, you're left with a dry lubricative film that doesn't attract dirt.
 
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