Hi. Can somebody tell me what is the best way to clean the chain? I race in mud and sand, so when I come back home, the sans is heavily attracted to the chain. How do you guys clean the chain?

 

mickey

I use Kerosene. It will not harm the o-rings. Be careful using gas or other degreasing agents as they my damage the o-rings.

 

It is hard to find Kerosene around here, is diesel doing the same result? How long do you leave the chain in the liquid? Do you wash it with a rag or just leave it there? Do you lube it after?

 

Here is a method I have heard of before, and tried for the first time last night:

Using a round, metal 2" deep tray that will hold the chain, cover the chain with DexronIII transmission fluid. Then, heat the pan up over medium heat until you hear the water trapped in the orings start to boil and bubble out. In theory the trans fluid is supposed to displace the water and thouroghly lube the chain. It probably also displaces some of the factory grease too, so I don't know if this is the best way or not. I decided to start using this method anyway and see how it goes.

Unfortunately, I used the kitchen stove last night to heat it. Ummm, I advise against this. I am getting a hot plate or camp stove so I can do it outside next time. Heated trans fluid REALLY stinks, and the resulting cloud permeates everything so the stench lasts and lasts. Yep, I will be doing that outside next time!

 

Mickey

I am not sure if diesel fuel will work as well as kerosene, but you could try it as the diesel should not harm the orings. I use a small pan and a rag to wash the chain. When finished, I let the chain dry, the run the machine to heat the chain up, then apply Maxim chain wax. Hope this helps.

 

i use kerosene. this is the way i do it.
i set the swingarm skidplate onto a jack stand and sit on a bucket behind my quad and use a coffee can full of kerosene and an old toothbrush and just slowly work my way around rotating the chain as i go. takes about 10-15 minutes to get good and clean. then i run it for few minutes to warm up chain and add more chain wax.

 

This is funny to see how many different methode I can hear about that chain cleaning. Looks like everybody clean it their way or don't clean it at all. In the manual, they say to use a WET RAG and not to brush it, then lubricate it.

 

Instead of trying everything on God's green earth to clean my chain I just went out and bought a chain scrubber. It's made by Moose and they give you a bottle of cleaning solution. Works really good and it only takes a minute or two. The way I look at it is you spend at least twice as much time trying to do it your way when you could just do it the right way.