well, my master link in the chain came out and the chain ended up wadded up, squeezed between the rear sprocket and the skidplate. took two guys to roll the machine forward to get the chain out. question is: after that kind of mangling, should the chain be re-used? it looks ok and the links still move well. i was going about 15 mph when all this happened. please advise...

 

Get a new chain... you can't see all the microscopic cracks and you really can't tell what happened to the chain. If you just get a new chain you won't have to worry about it.

 

If any of the rollers were tweaked out of line or the pitch was altered it could happen again with possibly worse results and the sprockets can be ruined also.