chain maintenance
 

I have found that cleaning my chain in an inexpensive ultrasonic cleaner has more than doubled it's life. The chains on my tourer and road bike have over 10,600 miles on them and show 1/32" wear in 12" of chain.
I use a home brew lube, but the main thing is cleaning the chain.

Oh? What is the ultrasonic cleaner you use and where can one find it?

I wish my chain could last that long :)
I'm assuming your tourer has seen some rain?
Are you located in a dry region? May I ask what
brand chain and cassette you're running?

And frequency of cleaning.

And what liquid are you using in the ultrasonic cleaner? Just ultrasonic cleaner granule powder dissolved in water?

As always, use the appropriate solvent. In the OP's situation a non-polar solvent would work best for lifting the lube and associated contaminants, IN SPITE OF the recognition that water is a "universal solvent". I think most of us recognise the utility of turps/diesel fuel/ etc to clean chains. Even Simple Green has been used to clean chains.

But I think you know that :thumb:

Any solvent that the ultrasonic cleaner can "handle" can be used. In a previous life we used hydrochloric acid (HCl) to clean glassware of all traces of a calcium based product that HCL dissolved. Water was used to dilute the HCl.

This is the cleaner. I target=_blank>www.amazon.com/Haier-HU781B-Ultrasonic-Cleaner-Black/dp/B000MVVZ8I
I use it every 650 to 750 miles. I use a mix of 50% Simple Green and water.
I lube the chain with 4 parts unscented mineral spirits to 1 part chainsaw bar oil from Ace hardware.
I live on the Texas Gulf coast. Rain, dust and salt air.
I run the cheapest KMS or SRAM chain I can find. 8sp on the road bike and 7sp on the tourer.
I have a stock of cassette cogs and replace them as they wear. I run shimano cogs.

I'm not surprised that cleaning with an ultrasonic cleaner works so well. IMO, getting the grit and wear products out from between the bushings and pins is what counts. There is wear chain elongation occurs. Most chain cleaning efforts are ineffective and often counterproductive in achieving this. Wiping a chain with a solvent soaked rag may make it look pretty but serves to drive grit into the chain and shortens its life. I keep chains well lubed with wet lube and periodically remove and soak and shake them in a jar of mineral spirits. IMO, this is only partially effective in getting grit out of the bushings and I get maybe 5-6k miles on a chain. Considering you can get good chains for under $40, that's OK for me.

I have an ultrasonic cleaner I bought from Harborfreight a few years ago, but I have never used it in cleaning chains.

Can I use the ultasonic cleaner with mineral spirits? I was kinda worried about this b/cos mineral spirits has a flash point that could be a problem since the ultrasonic cleaner has to agitated thru electricity.

Is it safe to use ultrasonic cleaners with mineral spirits?

Use min spirits in mine all the time. With all the sand down here it takes me two times then the chain is sparkling clean

Bravo and Bravo Davidad,
this is an exelent idea. Some biple cleaning rings with stone and the ultrasound machine clean it where brush can not.
Can have the same effect for the chains. Just have fund one that the chain can go into and find the right material for the cleanng.
losi

After using the cleaner for a few years I have found that because the chains last so long and I guess that the masterlinks pins are harder than the normal pins that the ends of the chain get ovalized. I can feel when the link goes over the cassette cogs. What I have done is at the 8,000 mile mark when the symptom shows up I cut the ends off the chain and add 4 new links. This solves the problem.
My tourer 7 speed has just over 16k miles on it and I have done this twice.The chain has less that an 1/8" wear in 48" of chain.

That's pretty impressive, davidad ("David"?) -- I really need to get an ultrasonic. :thumb:

A chain of yours that lasted 16k miles should have the same elongation as chain that has lasted only 3k miles, so why is your chain "ovalized" ???

Spoofing? Definitely! bk

I think solvents leave grit. To get things really clean you need detergent and water. Ultrasound is the only way to get to the internals. Ed

The end links of the chain became worn to the point that they were elongated when the rest of the chain is still in good shape.

Had to reread the thread, as it didn't seem possible. A 7spd will have long chain life, as the plates are thick(er) (everything being relative). Cleaning every 650miles or so would destroy my 9spd chain; I think I'm getting like 2k on a chain in my travels. Oil every 100-200miles, and off for cleaning in mineral spirits like every 500-600. Interesting, though, that an ultrasonic cleaner might make chain life longer, by getting grit out. I'll have to look at that some day.

[I kinda don't care, hence the rough approximates, as long as I get more than 1k out of a chain. If I did care about chain life I'd probably go back to 7spd.]

An update on the cleaner. . My Heron road with an 8sp. drive train has 7164 miles on it and shows almost no wear. The tourer set up as a 7sp. using the same type of chain has 18,335 miles and is near the end of it's life, but not at 1/16" yet.

The ultrasonic cleaner makes a big difference.