Author Topic: Hard Wax Chain Greaser. (Read 13791 times)

frez · « **Reply #60 on:** July 05, 2011, 09:51:23 »

On my 100 bhp CBR600 I got well over 20k miles from a 525 x-ring chain and sprocket set using a scottoiler.

Juvecu · « **Reply #61 on:** July 05, 2011, 18:18:44 »

Do any of you ride all weather and through winter with salt on the roads? I ride through winter, this year I only didn't for 6 days (non consecutive) as the snow iced up where I live and I couldn't get out safely. Not sure if salt can make a 5k difference though?

Strommer · « **Reply #62 on:** July 05, 2011, 18:26:21 »

Yep - all year, all weathers.

Juvecu · « **Reply #63 on:** July 05, 2011, 19:22:11 »

The solid system has no way of getting rid of salt, if you use an oiler it can flush it out over time. Will that equal 5k of chain life though?

Strommer · « **Reply #64 on:** July 05, 2011, 19:33:27 »

I suspect so. I always err on the side of too much but then as long as it isn't getting on the tyre I don't really care about it spraying elsewhere...

Must say I'm tempted to switch to the higher temp oil for summer. But generally pretty happy with the system.

Keith Cross · « **Reply #65 on:** July 05, 2011, 20:51:51 »

Pretty much ride all year round. Use my bike for commuting from late Feb to mid November and for ride outs almost every Saturday.
I use a car for my commute during the depths of winter as a lot of the roads I use are single track lanes and don't get salted ever. It does mean I have to suffer the humiliation of driving a Dawoo Matiz though

Keith

Juvecu · « **Reply #66 on:** July 05, 2011, 22:17:54 »

Quote from: "Keith Cross"

It does mean I have to suffer the humiliation of driving a Dawoo Matiz though

We'll see how the second chain lasts, it will mostly be used in better weather than the previous one. Hopefully I get more out of it.

Juvecu · « **Reply #67 on:** August 22, 2011, 21:17:30 »

Countrysailor has PMed me to ask for an update on the chain waxer.

Funny that he asked, I was thinking about this the last two days. I cleaned and lightly oiled the chain on Sunday (normally do it on weekends if I remember to) and was thinking that the block alone is not enough. The chain dries out and without a bit of oil the seals will eventually get hard and perish sooner than they should. My last chain lasted 15k miles, it had tight spots that were very noticeable. The sprockets both looked very good though so the wax is doing it's job of limiting the wear. To be honest, the chain looked pretty good, no real wear. The issue is that the seals perish and the grease that they hold in gets contaminated. The aren't as well lubed as they should be and they get hotter than they should because of the extra friction. The current chain has 7046 miles on it, the sprockets look very good, so does the chain, but it has tight spots already. You can't see them, but if you check the chain slack at different points it's different. This isn't serious enough to cause me concern yet, but I can't help and think that with some oil the chain would last a longer. Maybe the ideal solution is to have the wax to limit the wear on the chain and sprockets and also have a very slow oiler to maintain the seals. I was thinking of getting a positive displacement oiler and using chainsaw oil, apparently it doesn't fling much.

The whole idea is to not need to do chain maintenance twice a week, the wax system does that, but at the cost of shorter chain life. For the next chain I'm going to clean and oil the chain every weekend to see if it makes any significant difference in mileage I get out of it. I'll be using the chainsaw oil so that at the same time I can also test how good/bad the fling of chainsaw oil is. I'll give an update when the new chain has done about 10k miles, but it will only go on in about 8k miles so it will be a few months before I can report on the difference from the test.

Countrysailor · « **Reply #68 on:** August 23, 2011, 00:17:14 »

Keith Cross · « **Reply #69 on:** August 23, 2011, 09:58:45 »

Had a further thought on this and really can't see the hard wax system can help with chain life. Like others have said oil systems help to clean the day to day crud off of the chain, as does chain lube form a tin.
Also I remember that companies such as Reynolds chains always give ideal conditions to be running in an oil bath.
Best of luck with this item, I won't be getting one until I hear that chain life is definitely improved by using this product on its own with no other lubrication methods being used to supplement it.

Keith C and the Mighty Matiz

Juvecu · « **Reply #70 on:** August 23, 2011, 12:57:32 »

It will never increase chain life by itself, the idea of this is to reduce maintenance. I had a chain oiler that wasn't working too well and I lost my faith in them because of that. It was either oiling the chain twice a week or this system, that's why I got it. It's done what I got it for, but the effects are REDUCED chain life compared to using an oiler (one that actually works...) or oiling it yourself. It's still better than not having anything and it saves me a lot in maintenance time. I just have to live with replacing chains a bit more often, every 5 or so months isn't so bad

Depending on how the chainsaw oil test goes I might get a chain oiler too and if I then find that the oiler alone works well enough I will stop using the hard wax system. The mess of an oiler is still something that puts me off though.

frez · « **Reply #71 on:** August 23, 2011, 13:30:19 »

I've done 4K miles now with the PD Oiler on setting 3 of 9 using gear oil (had plenty spare from when my son had a 2 stroke). Setting 3 appears to be enough to keep the rollers looking wet, I may turn it up when the roads start getting salty to try and keep it 'washed'.

By the look of it there is just some mild fling of oil on the rear wheel, number plate and chain guard, but it is not too bad, and I've not washed it in four or five weeks (about 3000 miles). I'm planning on giving it a wash at the weekend so I'll see then just how bad it is.

Juvecu · « **Reply #72 on:** August 23, 2011, 13:52:34 »

Let me know when you've washed it, the PD Oiler is on my list of ones to check out

Abercol · « **Reply #73 on:** August 26, 2011, 10:35:09 »

I'm doing a similar experiment - with WD-40 only.

Fitted a new 525 chain & sprockets at 13,500 miles late last year & I've only ever used WD-40 on it. I thought I'd see how it compares to chain lube. I give it a squirt every 2-300 miles or so, its easy to do, takes less than a minute to apply.

I'm now at 18,500 miles and I've adjusted the chain once at around 14,000 miles (assume initial stretch). I did run a WD-40 soaked rag over it at about 1,000 miles as the original factory grease was stuck to the side plates and looked manky, it wiped straight off. The chain is lovely and clean, no rust or dirt on it anywhere and there is no fling at all from the WD-40.

So far, so good...And I'm no lightweight either personally, or with the throttle. But the bike is rarely used from October to March, too damned cold and icy up here in the far North...

Pleiku · « **Reply #74 on:** July 31, 2012, 08:13:58 »

Thanks you all for the feedback, I just ordered my hard wax chain greaser yesterday. I hope I want have any trouble to mount and install it.
All the pictures and video showed are not clear enough to see if it's easy to install. Can anyone give me some feedback on the installation and tips if there are any to avoid making a mistake in the installation. I have the new 2012 V strom and I use the Profi dry lube for the chain as I did with the BMW G650GS that I had before the V strom. I must say this hard wax chain greaser seems to bereally great, I hope I won't be dissapointed. Best to all of you

Juvecu · « **Reply #75 on:** August 10, 2012, 11:05:06 »

The install is dead easy, I think the instructions come with it. Just read them carefully and make sure you understand it before you put it all together.

I don't know if I mentioned it earlier in the thread, but you'll still need to lightly oil the side plates on the chain or else they will rust. I've changed to a PD Oiler and I find it works better in my scenario than the carbon wax block did, I do a lot of miles though.

james.t · « **Reply #76 on:** August 11, 2012, 15:22:59 »

Quote from: "Strommer"

I fell asleep during the video.....

I couldn't under stand it all a bit German to me (sorry)
j

loggamatt · « **Reply #77 on:** September 06, 2012, 20:00:45 »

Have ordered one of these for the new Wee2 I have on order...

My main motivation is laziness... looks easy to fit and I won't have to worry about chain cleaning/lubing anymore which is something I hate! If I don't get quite as long out of the chain/sprocket as usual then so be it...

However, I'd like to avoid surface rust on the chain as much as possible... obviously, I could oil the chain as well to prevent rust, but that kind of defeats the point. So what do you think about occasionally using ACF-50 on the chain to stop it from rusting? Think that would work, or would it stop the hard chain lube doing it's job?

Juvecu · « **Reply #78 on:** September 07, 2012, 11:01:42 »

I think I might have used ACF-50 a few times on the side plates. I don't think it caused any trouble.

loggamatt · « **Reply #79 on:** September 07, 2012, 15:40:15 »

Quote from: "Juvecu"

I think I might have used ACF-50 a few times on the side plates. I don't think it caused any trouble.

Sounds like it'll do the trick then, thanks! I'll let people know how I get on with it once I've put a few miles on.