Chain oiler puking excessively ?

I've searched the forum concerning the chain oiler and it seems that most people seal the end of the pipe. Before I do that to mine I like to know how much oil generally gets pushed out. Running the motor on and off while adjusting the carbs left a puddle the size of a silver dollar on the floor. Is that normal ? This is the initial shake down of the bike so I'm a little nervous and jerky about minor problems popping up.
Thanks for your help.

Art

Did you have it apart? Just a felt wad to restrict flow. Is it in good condition? New?

concours said:

Did you have it apart? Just a felt wad to restrict flow. Is it in good condition? New?

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Its the original oiler, on the bike and in good condition. I did reuse the felt wad.

I added a brass fish tank air valve in-line to regulate along with the felt filter. The valve is almost closed and just allows a very slow drip of oil on the chain (and rear fender which is fine ). This was THE MOD in the mid-70's.

Russ

My God, that was the first leak I sealed. Never worry about it, you can get chain lube and apply it yourself and replace the chain every 5K for less than filling up your SUV.

This is how Norton addressed that problem on their later Commandos. They added a hose clamp that you can adjust by hand for regulating the oil flow. It is located on the outside of the tube where the felt regulator is. It seems kind of a hokey way of doing things. I imagine any hose clamp would do the same thing. Also the tube around the felt needs to be pliable as my original one here is rock hard.


Chain oiler regulator

Gee Dave, replacing your chain every 5k, thats not much mileage for a chain, I have well over 30,000 miles on my chain at the moment and its still good, the same as my sprockets, I take it off every 6 months and give it a good soaking in diesel then a good soak in hot grease, my Norton has over 140,000 miles on it now and I have only gone through 4 or 5 chains in that time and 37 years of ownership and in that time I have broken one chain from doing a burnout when I was young and about 3 weeks ago I gave my bike a good rev from the lights and lost a joining link in the chain when I threw it into second gear at high revs and the chain is still good.

Ashley

PeterJoe said:

This is how Norton addressed that problem on their later Commandos. They added a hose clamp that you can adjust by hand for regulating the oil flow. It is located on the outside of the tube where the felt regulator is. It seems kind of a hokey way of doing things. I imagine any hose clamp would do the same thing. Also the tube around the felt needs to be pliable as my original one here is rock hard.

Chain oiler regulator

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I agree hokey...

ashman said:

I take it off every 6 months and give it a good soaking in diesel then a good soak in hot grease,
Ashley

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I'm not even that ambitious. I just give mine a light brushing about every three thousand miles with a soft bristle brush to knock off any built-up grit, then give it a good dousing along the side plates with spray grease.
http://www.napaonline.com/Catalog/C...Purpose-12-oz-Spray-On/_/R-MCC1394_0075098584 It's like chassis grease in a volatile solvent that evaporates, leaving the grease behind (and inside), and my chains have been wearing very nicely with it.
Engine oil doesn't belong on the chain. It's too light to carry the load imposed on the pins. Besides, my oiler (and others I've seen) only seems to add the oil to the rollers where it doesn't do any good. It needs to get between the side plates so that it can find its way into the pin/bushing interface, like the spray-on grease does.
I capped-off my oiler, but left the lines in place for "the look", whatever that means...

Nathan

Boiling is the only way to lube a chain is to regualrly boil it, as stated above.

Most shops wont stock it as it is expensive and there is no profit in it.

Most "oilers" are at best not very good (the lube needs to penetrate on to the pin and
bush which is highly unlikely at umpty umpty 1000s of revs.

Dont even start me on oilers with O ring chains, despite the reports of millions of miles
life when one is fitted.

If youy must use a spray which mimic oilers as above, then over the years I have found
the Chaintec forklift spray very effective. Goes on like water and then sets to form a
"waxy" layer. Spray on sparingly on the inside run and then go for a ride. It is also cheap,
put "motorcycle" in front of a product and the size halves and the price doubles. Oh yes
it is also clear so no black crap.

Andy

I clean and soak in hot grease every 6 months but in between those 6 months when the chain needs lub I use gear box oil, I use a 25mm paint brush and just brush it on top and bottom of the chain, it works better than spray chain lub, I put it on when the chain is wram, so as soon as I get home from a ride, when it needs it I relub the chain and next time I am going for a ride it is well soaked into the chain, and it last longer than any other chain lub and its a lot cheaper, I do this on all my bikes even my dirt bikes, but you got to do them evrey ride, as for the oginal oiler on the Commando's they never worked and was the first thing that got plugged.
Another reason I fully clean my chain every 6 months is to make sure there are no tight links. I check the chain before cleaning it for tight spots then I throw it in to my tub of diesel and leave it soak for a day or so, depend on if I 'm not ridding the bike for a day or so, the longer it soaks the better, nomaly if there is a tight spot in the chain the soaking for a day or so will fix that then soak in hot grease, in the long term with a little effort your chain will last for a very long time.

Ashley

I was about to put an automatic chain oiler on mine, when I found the original was still in place but had been blocked off. Cleared it out, took off the hose clamp that regulates the flow, and in its place I put a 4mm Hozelock tap, the sort that is used for garden micro-irrigation. Now I just have to remember to use it. The chain generally looks clean and well oiled, and the back wheel safely collects all the old oil and dirt until you want to get rid of it.




Those of you who use hot grease -- do you buy the special Putoline stuff for chains (expensive) or do you just heat up and use some ordinary grease?

I sell the putoline at £20 which is just about cost.

In shops it would be closer to £40, as folks dont like paying £20 they
wont pay £40 so the shops dont stock.

Andy

My chain oiler is kept in the same box as my advance/retard units, rectifiers, zener diodes, capacitor packs and original brake hoses.

I think I know how it's supposed to work, but...

I'm not saying I change my chain every 5K, I'm just saying for the price of a chain, you can do it. I'd rather replace one than boil it. Besides, I'm lucky if I get between 1-2K per year. If I rode like ludwig my chain methodology might change. Personally I'd rather keep the bike a bit cleaner and oil it like Andy says from the inside with proper chain lube.