Sluggy has a bit of a hard life during the winter in the UK especially when they salt the roads in case of frost.
This seems to affect the chain the worst and as I'm both too lazt to manually lube it daily and too much of a skinflint to buy a s Scottoiler (the vac operated tap won't work on the diesel anyway)
I decided to make my own:
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It's an oiler from an old (Huge) lathe, with 2 tiny bore brass pipes fitted, these drip onto the link plates on each side of the chain. It's filled with 90w gear oil 'cos I have some.
Invention, of necessity, is a MOTHER! Back in th e70's, a few of us set out on a long road trip. Bout 3,000 or so in a week. I was on a 900 Kaw at the time. I had just replaced the chain before leaving. I chekced it at around 500 miles, and it was damn near off! Tightened it up, and 300 miles later, the same thing. I figured I had to come up with some sort of oiler for the rest of the trip. Made a trip to a local discount house and came up with the following. A trigger type oil can, couple hose clamps, clear plastic tubing, and some zip ties.
Used the hose clamps to hold the oiler to the frame securely(down behind my left leg) zip tied one end of the tubing to the nozzle, and the other end zip tied so the that end of the hose was directly above the chain. Filled the can with oil and off we rode. Maybe every 50 miles, I'd reach down (with my left hand) and give the oiler a squirt. Oil would squirt onto the chain.. Worked GREAT... although messy.
Didn't have to adjust the chain for the rest olf the trip.
Can't take too much credit for it though... I saw it on an old cross country racer from the 60's...
If you all can afford it, buy a sealed chain and lube it with the proper spray lubricant, oil/grease is locked in the rollers for the life of the chain....all that is needed is a little cleaning and lube on the outside. I was always told to use heavy grease on plain roller chains, but its a nasty mess to clean up after and the grease has to be worked into the rollers....
Cris
1980 GS850 converted to 10hp diesel clone power.
2006 Jetta TDI for road work.
2007 Bonneville
The chain oiler idea is a good one Dave. Because I'm running a rather messy mix in the R.E gearbox and the climate here is rather HOT the oil "gunk" from the box slowly seeps out and puts a good coating on the chain, but I can see in your climate the oil/grease will be a lot thicker and less likely to run out of the input shaft.
Sealed chains (O ring ones) are good on high performance bikes, but I have found they rob too much HP from your one lunger. Different if your mount is a multi cyl job, you can afford to loose a little HP for the convenience of keeping your chain and sprockets for a long while.
I've also found that Valvoline Chainsaw Cutter-bar Lube works remarkably well - it wont fling off that easy and if it gets on clothing, it wont stain no where near as much as the red M/C chain lube etc = although the R.E is well guarded for oil fling.
Andrew I'm surprised you haven't fitted sealed bearings, which will cure the mainshaft oil problem (bet ya know that already).
That Enfield gear oil is made of squid and octopus ink, with buffalo dung to thicken it, I'm sure there's tom cat urine in there somewhere as well, it stinks.
I'm sure you can find a modern oil that's better than that.
Not EP gear oils though, I have heard they attack the brass bushes.
Thanks for that mate! Yeah that oil smells like some kind of toxic brew hay?
I did pop the sealed bearings in - the minor leakage is coming between the input shaft and output shaft
Looking at the input shaft it has zigzag recesses in it to bring that oily goo into the area, due to there being no seal at the end it slowly leaks out and lodges on the front drive sprocket where it finally forces itself on the chain for some real U beaut goo chain lube
I'd probably get more leakage then the fellows in Europe and the UK as the temps are high here (37deg C yesterday), making the oil thin out a lot more.
It's all good though, and hay! It means I can be a lazy ass and not oil the chain - just fill the box every now and then ?
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