When I was down at LS and broke a chain, a couple of big bore guys told me to just put the chain on and never lube it. The reason was because all lube attracts a certain amount of dirt and this will ruin the o-rings. They said just to run it and replace it every year and not run it till it breaks. Any opinions would be appreciated. I looked at past posts and no one has ever really answered this question.

Thanks

Justin

 

I would have to agree about not lubing them for lubrications sake. I used to lube the crap out of all my oring chains and they still only lasted a year and whipped enough dirty crap off them to permanently stain my fenders. On my latest quad I just spayed super silicone on it after every ride just to keep it from rusting and wouldn't you know it 7,750 miles later the alloy rear sprocket is shot but the chain is still decent. Spraying anything on them doesnt get through the orings but does get into the outer rollers. I think the problem is that the gap in the outer rollers is big enough to let debris and dirt in and what little lube in there just attracts the dirt causing a gritty paste that wears the rollers out. So in my opinion lube the nonoring chains because you have to and just keep the oring chains clean .

 

interesting. I just bought some chain lube but could just let my friend with a warrior use it all. I keep noticing the warnings in the booklet about not pressure washing the chain.... what will pressure washing do to an o-ring chain?

If im not gonna oil it, but still need to keep it clean, how can i do that? (scrub brush?)
I just couldnt figure out what pressure washing would do to a chain...

 

A pressure washer has so much pressure, it will wash the oil out from behind the o-ring in the chain, leaving behind only water, which is held in place by the o-ring. now instead of an o-ring oiled chain, you have an o-ring water chain, whcih means it'll rust in about 2.5 days. I would assume a scrub brush would be the best idea to keep the chain clean, though you might see if there is some street bike chain cleaning device available that cleans a 530 chain.

 

Pressure washing will force the dirt and water on the chain inside the o-rings. When this happens there is no way to get it out and it will wear out very fast because it is like getting sand in your bearings.

Justin

 

pressure washing will get water in behinde the o-rings wher it is definetly NOT supposed to be, as far as never lubing a o-ring chain, personally I use a non-aresol chain lube, although very sparingly. If your chain gets wet, rust pitting will amount to wear almost as fast as sand.

 

Say Baja I would like to get together and do some riding together, although it looks like you like a little more air than I do, I'm always up for a good hard woods ride. I live in north central Iowa, so maybe we could do something .

 

if you do not lube a chain. it will wear out faster. clean it, lube it. after every ride. or pay for a new one sooner than you should be. use kerosene or mineral spirits and a rag to clean oring chains. my chain and sprockets have lasted over two years. I only changed them to change gearing.

 

they make chain scrubbers there pretty cheap.