i will have had my Trailboss for a year in like a week. when i first had it, i only greased the chain like once. the front sprocket got screwed and needed to be replaced. anyway...after replacing it, i started using Maxima chain wax on it. every now and then i would throw some real grease on it. the other day, i put some motor oil on it...today the sproket is clunkin...[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-confused.gif[/img]maybe the motor oil screwed something up?

 

Sounds like you fried the o rings on the chain. You CANNOT use just any kind of lubricant on the chain. It must be made for o ring chains. Gotta replace the chain, and don't do that again.

Scott

 

He's right, motor oil is the worst thing you can put on an O ring chain-just eats them away. For sprokets I recomend stainless steal, will outlast the bike.

 

I think it is WD-40 that eats rubber. Engine oil should work fine. It touches many rubber seals under normal use and you put it on the rubber oil filter seal when installing a new one. I have used oil on my chain for a while now and the only bad thing I see is how easy it will sling off. I use old oil taken out of my truck so it really doesn't even cost anything.

 

I'd have to agree more with PolarisPower500. Atleast for as long as his trucks stay running.

I have actually replaced more 02' Trailboss chains under their 1 year warranty than anything else, BY FAR. Have you ever replaced the chain? I believe that Polaris might have had some issuses with them(my opinion). Jack the rear wheels off the ground and adjust your chain. Now slowly rotate the tires while watching the chain tension. What you are looking for is either "tight spots" or "loose spots" in the chain tension. This means that part of the chain has more wear than other parts of it. This can make all kinds of "clicking" noises and chews up front sprockets.

 

The gold chain that Polaris uses is JUNK, stretches out very fast and/or breaks. The engine oil maybe OK but the grease is bad, all the dirt cticks to it and wears the chain out faster yet. I'd stick with a good o-ring chain lube on a quality replacement chain.

 

Motor oil is fine or even 80 weight gear oil. The idea is to keep the o-rings from drying out. The o-rings are what holds the lube inside the chain and if you keep them from drying out, you keep the lube inside. On non o-ring chains you can use your other chain lubes like the waxes or the sticky stuff like PJ1.

 

I used the Polaris chain lube on my Scrambler chain and got 4 years out of it. I thought this was pretty good so I replaced it with another Polaris chain and it was fine when I sold it this year.

 

I have to agree with EasterEgg. I always use the Polaris chain lube and never had any premature wear unless I was in the mud a lot.

 

A D.I.D 520 O ring chain will last forever. (what we use on CR 250)