A Yank builds a chain oiler

[ladder106]

I finished my chainoiler bodge. I put 200 miles on it today and it works surprisingly well. What it ISN'T is pretty. My bike is a 1990 Transalp with many Africa Twin bits. It's like this because the ATs were never imported to cruiser-happy America and poor sods like us have to build our own. It looks like this:


I just couldn't see spending about $200 for what amounted to a bottle and tubing so I started poking around the hardware store. I spotted some small plasitic valves for drip irrigation systems and thought I knew of a spot on the TA (and the AT) swingarm where a diverter or wye (Y) would go. The only thing I needed was a reservoir. I found one cheap...but you need to see the photos for this.

Here goes:

The diverter or wye was built from small block of aluminium that I had lying around. I carefully drilled a single hole into one side and then lined up two holes on the other side to form a "Y". I actually got all the holes to line up and didn't drill completly through the block....a rather amazing piece of engineering.....for me.

Got a bit of 1/8 in copper tubing and epoxied three bits into the aluminium block. Drilled a 6mm hole and used the front bolt of the sprocket guard to hold it up. I had to use a long M6 bolt to extend through the sprocket guard hole. Spaced the block with a nylon spacer and bent the two copper tubes out to clear the sprocket and then back together again to get close.



On the two outlet pipes I cut some plastic tubing from the pickup tube from an old Windex bottle (the tube that goes down into the liquid). The plastic is "stiffish"....flexible but will hold a shape.....you can kinda form it with a hair dryer. I used this to extend the copper tubing down to the point that almost touched the chain to a point just after the chain and sprocket mesh. No close-up photo so use your imagination. It looks alot like the Scottoiler thingie.

Next I ran small tubing up to the drip irrigation valve. I used two valves. One valve just upstream of the diverter on the swingarm. I use this to turn the system on and off since I didn't want to disturb the placement of the flow regulation valve and I thought that if oil will drain out from the valve, this will make less of a mess on the shop floor when the bike it just sitting.



I ran the tubing forward and turned about at the place the silly sidestand indicator switch used to be. Then the tubing runs up the angled frame tube that runs up and back to the rear of the frame.

OK......laugh away.....this part of the bike is looking more and more "Good Housekeeping" The coolant overflow tank was relocated when I had to make room for the shock reservoir on the AT shock. Now with the addition of the Ketsup bottle (yes, mustard or mayo will work too for those of you who will have to ask) it looks like a grocery store behind the left side cover.



The Ketsup bottle fits perfectly. I drilled and added a vent/fill port. I discovered that the cap to the Ketsup bottle must be sealed to the bottle with silicon. Otherwise the oil oozes out between the cap and bottle and drips down the frame.

To fill I used a large syringe with a piece of tubing on the end that fits over the vent tube. Squeeze the air out of the bottle, insert vent tube into syringe and squeeze in oil. I'm using chain saw bar oil...Husqvarna brand cause, well, at least that part is motorcycle related.

The second valve you see on the frame diagonal tube is the one I use to regulate flow. The valves are "quarter turn" so regulating flow is a bit sensitive but can be done while riding.

The photos taken were after a 200 mile ride with about 15 miles of graded dirt and 5 miles of gravel roads. The dirt was dry but is wasn't very dusty. The chain wasn't wiped down but the valve and tubing was to make the photo better defined.

What I mainly notice with this system is that the chain seems to stay lots cleaner than with spray lube. With the spray, after dirt or gravel, the chain would be quite a bit "goopier" with the dirt and the lube mixed. The rear rim had maybe 25% more oil spots on it than spray lube so that may be a disadvantage if dirty rims bug you.

On the whole I'm very pleased. Next thing I'm thinking of is inserting a small carb jet into the line to reduce flow so the adjustment valve isn't so sensitive. Right now wide open produces a drop of oil about every 5 sec. I'm trying for about one drop every 60-90 sec.

The guys with Scottoilers say that the system is temperature sensitive so flow will most likely increase when the weather warms....so "jetting down" seems to make sense. I'll play with this and post what I find.

The system is "manual" in that you have to remember to turn it off...but then my fuel valves are "manual" too. I'll stay away from the "manual" engine oil pump from the 30s...happy to keep that one "automatic"

Total cost....about $12.00 in Americun money.

[kennymact]

Hey dude,not a bad looking bike for a conversion

[piguglyshandydrinker]

Looking good mate, I love simple, cheap homemade solutions

I have a Scottoiler fitted, but they wanted silly money for a large capacity reservoir.
Here's my version - again a brown sauce 'squeezy' bottle.



If you have trouble with the lid leaking oil, once primed, the system will 'draw' (re. syphon) oil out of the RWU container.

Phil

Good job for $12.

Bloody madnes running a split link though, sometime it does not pay be too cheap.

Grab a link either side of that split link and push them together and see the play on the link.

They should only be seen on push bikes.

Steve

[ladder106]

Phil,

For some reason I never considered a "siphon" system. Now that you mention it I feel a bit dense. I'm considering refitting to your system since it would allow a larger container (mounted vertically) and move the container out from under the side cover.

While lying abed last night I also thought that if I had used clear plexi rather than aluminium, I could have observed the drill bit while trying to make three holes line up.

Steve,

Thanks for the tip on the split link. Right after I read your post I went out to try the "push-pull" on the link. You're right, there IS play....feels like maybe .30-.40.

The reason I use a split link on my off-road bikes is to allow relatively easy repairs if I develop chain problems while far away from civilization (it's getting more difficult but you can still get very isolated in this country). Without that, the entire swingarm has to come out to get the chain off. I've not had a problem with any of the links but the TA is most powerful bike I have right now.

Now that I think about it, I only USED to have chain problems. This was years ago before "O" ring chains arrived.

What do you suggest? A riveted link? Or is it best to pay extra for the specific length of chain you want and buy it in one prebuilt loop? If you do this doesn't somebody somewhere have to cut and rivet the chain?

Does a riveted link eliminate this play?

Hi Ray,

The only reason the play is there is wear on the pins, why these slit links wear quicker I am not sure, maybe pins are not as hard.

I buy the chain and rivet myself. I normally change the sprockets at the same time.

By the way one of the benefits of the oiler is the chains tend not to get tight spots.

Buy a good chain splitter / riveter and do it yourself. If the new chain supplied is too long grind the top of the pin off before pushing it through, that way it will not damage the internal bore as it goes through.

When you put a rivet link on, getting the compression right is important. You should be able to get that information when you get the chain I use a verner gauge to get it correct. make sure the chain and rivet link are the same make that way you can use the distance of the chain link to get the rivet link correct.
If you can buy the chain in a loop made by the manufacturer and you don't mind taking the swing arm off that would be the ideal method. Good reason the grease the linkages.

I don't normally carry a rivet tool as chains today are excellent. Don't skimp on the quality. If I am on a big road trip I take a rivet tool and some links, with a good tool I can spit a chain and re assemble it. Practice on an old chain, I don't grind the tops off the rivets when this happens.

On my Transalp, which has an oiler I have run a chain to the end of the adjustment and split it to see how much wear is on the pins, the front sprocket really suffers when you run it that far.

I get 25000 miles from a DID chain. I don’t worry about it in the dirt and sand the oil helps the sand fly off.

If you use an OE DID chain the specified pin protrusion (before riveting) is 1.15 - 1.55 mm and the diameter of the pin after riveting should be 5.5 - 5.8 mm

Steve

PS i saw your PM and if you send me your email I will scan the workshop manual on riveting the chain.

[apple3]

Just want to say I like your bike its really very Individual and Savile Row.
Regards Apple 3