Chain Oiler - Homemade

[Stick]

I posted this in 2004, so it's in the archived area, but lacks the photos. Here is my 2007 re-post:

This chain oiler basically a gravity-fed system. I used an old fork oil container (16 oz.), drilled 2 holes in the lid, just the right size so the red fuel line that I bought at the True Value Hrdwe. store was a snug fit through these holes. One is a dip tube--goes all the way to the bottom, the other is a vent. I got a little fancy and used a modified check-valve from an aquarium as a "burp" reservoir, in case any oil came up thru the vent. This all sits in the left side fairing, nestled in some carpet padding. Oh, I used "plastic epoxy" on the lid to ensure the hoses would never move, and also to create a guaranteed seal. I use ATF, which is thin, and it has a tendency to creep. Have NOT seen any residue on the lid area, and no mess out of my burp valve, either. It seems to be G-proof (wheelies). Now, 3 years later, I see that the epoxy did weep. Plus, I rarely had to add oil (over 1 year between fills). So I reduced the size of the reservoir, and this time, I used Bondo instead of the epoxy. When I was young, I repaired a large go-cart gas tank with Bondo, after pre-testing some cured Bondo submerged for a week. It never seemed to change state or soften, so I went with it, and it did work.

The flex tubing goes down to a Skinner solenoid valve. This was the most expensive part. I think it was $22 plus about $8 to ship. It's a 12VDC valve w/ 1/8 FPT. The inlet is a barbed fitting to male pipe thread--the hose slides on snugly. The outlet is a modified brass shut off valve. I modified the stem to a taper, so that it acts more like a needle valve. It's got a "tee" handle, so it is really easy to remember where it bottoms out.
One side of this valve is 1/8” MPT, and the outlet is ¼” compression fitting. Both of these valves make an assembly, which I have tie-wrapped to the inside of one of the frame members. It sits on a home-made mount, a strip of steel, with 2 long beads of RTV, so that the 2 beads can straddle a frame member. Roughly where the lift handle is on an ST. It’s pretty cool, because all you can see are the tie-wraps, yet the valve tee handle is readily accessible.

The plastic tube exits there, goes down the frame around the swing arm pivot, comes out just rear of the front sprocket, and continues down the bottom of the swing arm. I felt it was better to come out here, rather than risk the heat of the rear exhaust header with the plastic fuel line.

The dispense gizmo is nothing more than some 1/8” copper tubing, bent is a serpentine shape, and clamped between a couple of pieces of plastic. The serpentine keeps this section fixed to the flat bottom of the swing arm box tubing. This “sandwich” is held in place with tie-wraps. (I swear that my middle name should be Ty!) I was out of tubing, but had some brass capillary tubing, so I soldered a piece of this into the 1/8" copper, and this cap-tube is the piece that dispenses against the side of the sprocket.

I have the solenoid wired into the rear parking light, so it comes on with the key.

[mingthemerciless]

With the advent of O-ring chains, does anybody really bother with this
stuff anymore? In the bad old days of non-o chains, perhaps it actually
served a useful purpose other than coating everything in sight (including
the engine cases, swingarm, rear shocks, chainguard. rear wheel,etc.)
with a rust preventive oil film, but today?

[748girl]

Stick,

Cool, pity we didn't look for this before we bought our third Scottoiler! Note it is our third because it is going on our third bike the might striped number, not because they stop working. Wouldn't be without automatic chain lubing on our bikes, so sorry Ming, I guess we must be the exception and we don't find it coats everything and if it does it is a hell of a lot easier to get chain oil off than teflon lube and saves having to remember to pack the chain lube for those long touring rides we do, it is on the bike already and can be adjusted for rainy conditions.

We find that we get far longer life out of chains and sprockets and far less chain adjustment required with such a system and that can only be a good thing.

Thanks for sharing.

[mingthemerciless]

Hey there 748Girl. Glad to hear you've had good luck with your chain
oiler. You mentioned extended chain/sprockets life. Could you quantify
this? Just what king of mileage are you geting? As my post mentioned,
I take a dim view of these things, but as my wife constantly reminds me,
because I think I know everything, it doesn't make it so.

[748girl]

Howdy Ming,

My bike has 63,000kms on it and we replaced the rear sprocket at 60,000km service time. Thought we should, but strangely when we got it off the bike and put it against the new one there was surprisingly little wear, probably could have kept going with the one for quite some time, but hell we put the new one on.

As for chains and fronts, I am on second chain and front sprocket.

Cheers

[DukeDesmo]

Originally Posted by 748girl

Wouldn't be without automatic chain lubing on our bikes, so sorry Ming, I guess we must be the exception and we don't find it coats everything and if it does it is a hell of a lot easier to get chain oil off than teflon lube and saves having to remember to pack the chain lube for those long touring rides we do, it is on the bike already and can be adjusted for rainy conditions.

We find that we get far longer life out of chains and sprockets and far less chain adjustment required with such a system and that can only be a good thing.

Agreed, friends think I'm 'strange' fitting a scotoiler to a sportbike, they seem to think I should want to clean/lube the chain every couple of hundred miles and that scotoilers are only for touring bikes.

Mine fits under the seat, I use the dual sided injector which is fitted fairly stealthily and my chain is 'almost' maintenance free - other than wiping excess oil off the wheel rim (which comes off much easier than lube) and occasional topping-up of the oiler, it's not just the lubing but the cleaning that prolongs chain life.

At 25,000 miles I'm on my second chain but I didn't fit the oiler until the second chain which has far exceeded the life of the first and still in good condition.

Oiler location;



'Dual' injector;



Oil pipe runs inside rubber hose alongside brake line in channel in chainguard;



Stick, Your home made oiler looks great but scotoilers are cheap and other than my rear sprocket 'eating' an injector (good thing they're plastic ) mines been 100% reliable.

[mingthemerciless]

Hey guys, I read both of your reponses and your justifications for
installing chain oilers. But at the risk of starting an argument, let me
ask you both how you know when your chain is worn out and needing
replacement? Pre widespread advent of o-ring chains, it was simple: 2-3%
elongation was the benchmark. But today, with riveted-on master links,
does anyone actually measure anymore? It seems that most use
sprocket tooth wear as an indicator, but that tells one nothing concerning
the wear of the chain's internal pins. I suspect that most quality o-rings
chains routinely replaced along with their sprockets still have a lot of
life remaining. My M750 has 25,000 miles on it's DID chain, and while
the front sprocket is starting to show wear, I'd drop dead with surprise
if the chain itself has any measurable wear. The only lubing it gets is a
dab of moly grease on the front teeth whenever I feel quilty about
ignoring it. The upshot of all this is, if either of you two still have your
"worn out" replaced chain still hanging around, how about measuring it's
total length and reporting back. I'd be awfully curious. Thanks.

[DukeDesmo]

Originally Posted by mingthemerciless

I The upshot of all this is, if either of you two still have your
"worn out" replaced chain still hanging around, how about measuring it's
total length and reporting back. I'd be awfully curious. Thanks.

Don't still have and didn't measure my last chain for elongation but it had several 'tight spots' (possibly due to poor maintenance) to the point where it was overly tight at one point and sloppy loose elsewhere. When I took it off it had far more sideways flex than the new one and was definitely expired.

At my last service the guy said he'd measured the chain (over so many links) and that it was fine.

[748girl]

Ming,

Mine was the same, it seemed fine for adjustment, but there were tight spots that weren't necessarily noticeable if you looked, but I could feel it riding and changing gears was a little more difficult. When we took the chain off we didn't measure it either and no, there is enough rubbish in our box of discarded spares without keeping chains. Sorry.

[martinc]

Had a scottoiler on my R1 and an Omega chain that lasted over 50k miles with it.

I said "had" because the valve broke on the oiler and they wouldnt sell me a new valve but a whole kit.

There are electronic systems on the market and if I ever find a spot to put it on the 1098,its gonna be the way I go.