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Chain oilers

J

Junkie

gone for now
Joined
Aug 23, 2006
Location
n/a
Moto(s)
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I'd like to pick up a chain oiler so that I can be lazier on long trips.

I know ScottOiler is the best known brand but there are various others as well.

Any opinions?
 
Junkie said:
Any opinions?
Click to expand...
Plenty of facts... auto oilers lube only the external roller and
between the roller and the sprockets (red area in my drawing)... they
do not lube the X rings nor behind the X rings so any oil applied
in that effort is wasted fling off... The running oil leak lowers the
operating temp where the factory installed grease has a chance to live
longer before the first adjustment... but the fact remains adjustment
is taking up the slack cause by metal to metal wear at the critical
pin and roller junction because the factory installed grease is
beginning to fail... you can submerge the chain into a sea of oil and
not one molecule will migrate pass the effective X ring seals to
reverse this metal to metal wear...

14746956046_fb75bdf189.jpg
 
Busy Little Shop said:
... they do not lube the X rings nor behind the X rings so any oil applied in that effort is wasted fling off...
Click to expand...

True. X or even O-ring chains are internally sealed for the life of the chain.

However, road grim on the outside of the chain is what wears the sprockets and external pins. The oil fling-off is not wasted because with it goes road grim thus extending the life of the chains and sprockets.
 
dmfdmf said:
The oil fling-off is not wasted because with it goes road grim thus extending the life of the chains and sprockets.
Click to expand...

Mr.Scott may have found a way to make your chain all pretty on the
outside but it still goes all rotten in the inside... the only worth one can
expect is the fact that if you coat the chain in enough oil the running temp
is lower where the grease has a chance to live longer but oh the price
one pays for that single benefit...
 
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People with chain oilers generally see significantly better mileage than people without chain oilers.

I can't say exactly why, but they seem to work.
 
With the lack of center stands oilers make enough sense to me that I put one on a girlfriends bike. No data other than a breakup available at this time.
 
Junkie said:
People with chain oilers generally see significantly better mileage than people without chain oilers.

I can't say exactly why, but they seem to work.
Click to expand...

It works by coating the chain in enough oil the running temp
is lower where the factory installed grease has a chance to live longer

Other than that your chain maybe all pretty on the outside but all rotten in the inside...

14746956046_fb75bdf189.jpg
 
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If the oil is reducing running temp, it's because of reduced friction rather than any cooling based on oil flow.
 
Automatic chain oilers can make a little bit of a oily mess but can be very somewhat useful.

Especially for riders who can't be bothered or have no clue how to take 2 minutes to spray their chain with some lube and inspect/adjust their chain slack once every other month.
 
I used Scottoilers on my two previous chain driven bikes (Vstrom and Transalp) and consistently got over 30,000 miles on each chain and sprocket set. If you are doing a lot of miles an automatic oiler is definitely worth it.
 
mototireguy said:
Automatic chain oilers can make a little bit of a oily mess but can be very somewhat useful.

Especially for riders who can't be bothered or have no clue how to take 2 minutes to spray their chain with some lube and inspect/adjust their chain slack once every other month.
Click to expand...
this is largely for long trips. I find it hard to get around to chain maintenance when I'm a long way from home.

My impression is that they don't make much mess if they're set correctly
 
Junkie said:
My impression is that they don't make much mess if they're set correctly
Click to expand...

My experience is that they make LESS mess if set correctly. They are still messier than a standard spray on lube. The Scottoiler fluid is basically AT fluid (which can be also be used if you run out of the Scottoiler fluid), which sticks poorly to your chain and therefore requires constant lubrication. Since it sticks poorly to the chain, it will also pick up less grit and grime than a spray on lube....which keeps your chain clean and extends its life. It’s almost a chain cleaner vs oiler. The disadvantage is the oil gets flung on your rear wheel and underside of the rear of the bike. Proper adjustment will minimize but not eliminate the mess. For long trips an oiler is much easier than maintaining a chain the traditional way.
 
My KLR650 came with a Scottoiler and it was great when it worked. To clean the chain you just wipe the oil off the chain. After a while it would just keep on leaking so I ditched it. I was trying to make an electronic one but I gave up on that also o_O' And yeah it's kinda messy.

When I'm on long trips every night is chain maintenance =( or every other. A large can of lube last a long time I found out o_O'
 
Busy Little Shop said:
Plenty of facts... auto oilers lube only the external roller and
between the roller and the sprockets (red area in my drawing)... they
do not lube the X rings nor behind the X rings so any oil applied
in that effort is wasted fling off... The running oil leak lowers the
operating temp where the factory installed grease has a chance to live
longer before the first adjustment... but the fact remains adjustment
is taking up the slack cause by metal to metal wear at the critical
pin and roller junction because the factory installed grease is
beginning to fail... you can submerge the chain into a sea of oil and
not one molecule will migrate pass the effective X ring seals to
reverse this metal to metal wear...

14746956046_fb75bdf189.jpg
Click to expand...


So are you saying you don’t lube your chains because it’s a waste of time? Or do you have a secret way to make it effective? Btw, I’m into chain oilers im just interested in your information
 
Gixxer343 said:
So are you saying you don’t lube your chains because it’s a waste of time? Or do you have a secret way to make it effective? Btw, I’m into chain oilers im just interested in your information
Click to expand...

Fact is what we are only lubing are the external roller and between the
roller and the sprockets (red area in my drawing)... we are not lubing the X rings
nor behind the X rings so any oil applied in that effort is wasted fling off...

14746956046_fb75bdf189.jpg


This is what we don't see behind the X rings... metal to metal wear
every time we adjust the chain that eats into our engine's available
HP... a new pin measures 206.5 and wears down to 205.5 at the 8K mile
mark... looks good to the naked eye but multiply that 1 thousand of an
inch times 108 links and you have 108 thousands of an inch wear or
about the range of the green marks provided by Honda's wear gauge...
202.8 show the very visible wear at the 12K mile mark... the pins are
turning red from extreme heat of grinding dry metal... a chain in this
condition may consume up to 6 to 8% of our RWHP... not to mention it
may snap into and cause case damage...

gallery_3131_51_50064.jpg


Some manufactures provided a handy guide to monitor chain wear... stay with
in the green and you'll be looking for a new chain and sprockets at the 8 to
10K mile mark...

gallery_3131_51_39609.jpg



I recommend Motul Chain Paste... squeeze the white grease from the
tube and load the brush... Hold the loaded brush to the inside of the
chain rollers to transfer the white grease... After a couple of spins
of the chain it's lubed like from the Factory... Motul Chain Paste
clings with no flings...
IFSsIxV.jpg

sNNeKhh.jpg

gaR69pV.jpg
 
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Junkie said:
If the oil is reducing running temp, it's because of reduced friction rather than any cooling based on oil flow.
Click to expand...

True Oil will reduce friction and help lower temp but the majority of heat still
radiates from the heat of combustion which transfer to the engine oil which
heats the shaft of the transmission and on to the primary sprocket and thus the
chain... I recorded 212ºF engine oil temp produces over 100ºF on our chains...

attachment.php
 
It seems to me that some people interpret "o- and x-ring chain links are greased and sealed" equates to "ya don't need to oil the chain". Weird.
 
In theory, a chain oiler should extend the life of the chain (outside the sealed areas) and of the sprockets. By how much is debatable.

I still wonder what a good tungsten disulfide treatment of all the chain components (before assembly) and of both sprockets would do for chain life. It seems a perfect application for the material.
 
Busy Little Shop said:
True Oil will reduce friction and help lower temp but the majority of heat still
radiates from the heat of combustion which transfer to the engine oil which
heats the shaft of the transmission and on to the primary sprocket and thus the
chain... I recorded 212ºF engine oil temp produces over 100ºF on our chains...

attachment.php
Click to expand...

I wonder how much of that heat is from friction alone. Wouldn't be hard to build up a test bed to find out.
 
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