How to remove Rust from Chain

On Mon, 26 Apr 2004 20:04:30 GMT, "evsolutions"
<[email hidden]> wrote in message
<[email hidden]>:

Quoted message said:

Am too cheap to buy a new chain and wondered if anyone had a fast-easy-cheap
way to remove rust from a bike chain. I need to do a 40 mile hike Tuesday
and the chain is totally creamed in rust/

Assuming it hasn't already, riding on that chain will ruin the
sprockets as well.

--
Guy
===
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after posting.
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk

88% of helmet statistics are made up, 65% of them at Washington University

you know? said:

On Mon, 26 Apr 2004 20:04:30 GMT, "evsolutions"
<[email hidden]> wrote in message
<[email hidden]>:

Quoted message said:

Am too cheap to buy a new chain and wondered if anyone had a fast-easy-cheap
way to remove rust from a bike chain. I need to do a 40 mile hike Tuesday
and the chain is totally creamed in rust/

Assuming it hasn't already, riding on that chain will ruin the
sprockets as well.

Perhaps. Most rust I've had on my chains was on the outside of the
links and of no interest at all. Run it throught an oiled cloth for
appearance purposes and it cleans up well enough. The interior running
of the chain seems to hold up better (at least from road riding - all
of this assumes road) than people give them credit.

I'm guessing that it would take a pretty eroded chain to damage the
cogs from rust alone and it would be fun to see if the chain
disentegrates before the cogs are damaged. Stretched chain with the
chain climbing up the cogs might not be a great thing though.

I'd run the chain through a completely saturated oiled cloth, but not
dripping, just to see how it cleaned up. If it cleans up and the
bushings seem to be free, I'd ride. If the rust is deep and the metal
corroded, I'd think seriously about whether I wanted to walk back 20
miles from the ride.

Curtis L. Russell
Odenton, MD (USA)
Just someone on two wheels...

If it's very rusty I wouldn't trust it. I've had a couple chains in that
condition that I've used for homebuilts break. Probably your best bet is to
soak it in oil for several hours and brush it with a wire brush to remove
the rust. Check for stiff links and then ride it hard for awhile and see if
it holds together.
Take a chain tool with you on your ride
Denny in Sayre, Pa
"Bent but not broken"
"Just zis Guy, you know?" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

On Mon, 26 Apr 2004 20:04:30 GMT, "evsolutions"
<[email hidden]> wrote in message
<[email hidden]>:

Quoted message said:

Am too cheap to buy a new chain and wondered if anyone had a

fast-easy-cheap

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

way to remove rust from a bike chain. I need to do a 40 mile hike Tuesday
and the chain is totally creamed in rust/

Assuming it hasn't already, riding on that chain will ruin the
sprockets as well.

--
Guy
===
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after posting.
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk

88% of helmet statistics are made up, 65% of them at Washington University

Surface rust is seldom of any consequence.

"evsolutions" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...
| Hi
| Am too cheap to buy a new chain and wondered if anyone had a
fast-easy-cheap
| way to remove rust from a bike chain. I need to do a 40 mile hike Tuesday
| and the chain is totally creamed in rust/
|
| Joshua
| ******
|
|

Comments at bottom
Curtis L. Russell <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

you know? said:

On Mon, 26 Apr 2004 20:04:30 GMT, "evsolutions"
<[email hidden]> wrote in message
<[email hidden]>:

Quoted message said:

Am too cheap to buy a new chain and wondered if anyone had a fast-easy-cheap
way to remove rust from a bike chain. I need to do a 40 mile hike Tuesday
and the chain is totally creamed in rust/

Assuming it hasn't already, riding on that chain will ruin the
sprockets as well.

Perhaps. Most rust I've had on my chains was on the outside of the
links and of no interest at all. Run it throught an oiled cloth for
appearance purposes and it cleans up well enough. The interior running
of the chain seems to hold up better (at least from road riding - all
of this assumes road) than people give them credit.

True. Surface rust is of little consequence. If the rust has
penetrated the interior, though, all bets are off. I've seen many
chains that were neglected crack due to internal rust expanding the
pins. If the chain breaks once, toss it- it's toast.

Jeff

Jeff Wills said:

...
True. Surface rust is of little consequence. If the rust has
penetrated the interior, though, all bets are off. I've seen many
chains that were neglected crack due to internal rust expanding the
pins. If the chain breaks once, toss it- it's toast.

Naval jelly goes well with this type of toast.

--
Tom Sherman – Quad Cities (Illinois Side)

If you are too cheap to buy a new chain (which is the right thing to
do) then you are probably too cheap to buy a good lube or chain
cleaner and do the job right. So ride it the way it is and let your
real personality show.

"evsolutions" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Hi
Am too cheap to buy a new chain and wondered if anyone had a fast-easy-cheap
way to remove rust from a bike chain. I need to do a 40 mile hike Tuesday
and the chain is totally creamed in rust/

Joshua
******

Tom Sherman <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...
..

Quoted message said:

Naval jelly goes well with this type of toast.

Naval jelly is nice but Pickle-X 20 is better.

Jerry

Dom said:

If you are too cheap to buy a new chain (which is the right thing to
do)

I have the same problem as the OP; I can't speak for him, but I balk at
paying 22 British Pounds (40ish dollars) for a new recumbent chain if
there's any chance of resurrecting a slightly rusty one with a bit of
grease (both elbow & petrochemical). And if I'm not going to need a new
chainset for my sins.

Quoted message said:

then you are probably too cheap to buy a good lube or chain
cleaner and do the job right.

........... (10 dots)

Quoted message said:

So ride it the way it is and let your real personality show.

Are you Fabrizio Mazzoleni's new persona?

AC

Quoted message said:

"evsolutions" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Hi
Am too cheap to buy a new chain and wondered if anyone had a fast-easy-cheap
way to remove rust from a bike chain. I need to do a 40 mile hike Tuesday
and the chain is totally creamed in rust/

Joshua
******

Quoted message said:

Naval jelly goes well with this type of toast.

Quoted message said:

...nice but Pickle-X 20 is better.

Careful, both contain acid(s), and both can contribute to hydrogen
embrittlement, which is particularly bad news on some of the types of
hardened steel components typically used in decent bicycle chains.
Baking the derusted and thoroughly washed chain at ~400 degrees F for an
hour or so after treatment can help reduce HE cracking (BUT, do NOT try
to bake chain and warm pastries in the oven at the same time).

John

--

Toe jam's the best

"Jerry Rhodes" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Tom Sherman <[email hidden]> wrote in message

news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

.

Quoted message said:

Naval jelly goes well with this type of toast.

Naval jelly is nice but Pickle-X 20 is better.

Jerry

"anonymous coward" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Dom said:

If you are too cheap to buy a new chain (which is the right thing to
do)

I have the same problem as the OP; I can't speak for him, but I balk at
paying 22 British Pounds (40ish dollars) for a new recumbent chain if
there's any chance of resurrecting a slightly rusty one with a bit of
grease (both elbow & petrochemical). And if I'm not going to need a new
chainset for my sins.

Good Grief! I wouldn't pay $40. for a new chain for my recumbent if it were
the last chain on earth. For heaven's sake, just go out to Wal-Mart and get
3 chains at the cheapest possible price and it will be good enough and far
better than an older worn rusted chain. I used to get Sedis chains for about
$3. to $4. a chain not so long ago. Some bike shops (not high end) still
have brains enough to offer cheap chains for those who do not have to have
"the best".

--
Ed Dolan - Minnesota

anonymous coward said:

Dom said:

If you are too cheap to buy a new chain (which is the right thing to
do)

I have the same problem as the OP; I can't speak for him, but I balk at
paying 22 British Pounds (40ish dollars) for a new recumbent chain....

I suggest buying three of these chains for your recumbent. And no, the
price is NOT a typographical error.
<http://www.performancebike.com/shop/Profile.cfm?SKU=18300>.

--
Tom Sherman – Quad Cities (Illinois Side)

"Tom Sherman" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

anonymous coward said:

Dom said:

If you are too cheap to buy a new chain (which is the right thing to
do)

I have the same problem as the OP; I can't speak for him, but I balk at
paying 22 British Pounds (40ish dollars) for a new recumbent chain....

I suggest buying three of these chains for your recumbent. And no, the
price is NOT a typographical error.
<http://www.performancebike.com/shop/Profile.cfm?SKU=18300>.

Truly a chain for total morons. But why is it priced at $399.99 when you can
add a penny and get a nice round price of $400. Hells Bells! Why not $4000.
while we are at it? This goes to prove what I have known from my earliest
childhood, i.e., just because you have money does not mean that you have
brains. Sometimes I think there is an inverse relationship between the two,
especially whenever I see how the rich spend their money.

--
Ed Dolan - Minnesota

Quoted message said:

--
Tom Sherman – Quad Cities (Illinois Side)

Phosphoric acid is phosphoric acid.

'Hydrogen embrittlement' is penny wise and pound foolish' without a
significant driving force to get the hydrogen significantly into the metal.
Care to calculate the diffusion rate of hydrogen into CFe at room
temperature? At the relatively low concentrations resulting from consumer
concentration of orthophosphoric acid, H3PO4

"Jerry Rhodes" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...
| Tom Sherman <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:<[email hidden]>...
| .
| >
| > Naval jelly goes well with this type of toast.
|
| Naval jelly is nice but Pickle-X 20 is better.
|
| Jerry

Edward Dolan said:

"anonymous coward" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Dom said:

If you are too cheap to buy a new chain (which is the right thing to
do)

I have the same problem as the OP; I can't speak for him, but I balk at
paying 22 British Pounds (40ish dollars) for a new recumbent chain if
there's any chance of resurrecting a slightly rusty one with a bit of
grease (both elbow & petrochemical). And if I'm not going to need a new
chainset for my sins.

Good Grief! I wouldn't pay $40. for a new chain for my recumbent if it were
the last chain on earth. For heaven's sake, just go out to Wal-Mart and get
3 chains at the cheapest possible price and it will be good enough and far
better than an older worn rusted chain. I used to get Sedis chains for about
$3. to $4. a chain not so long ago. Some bike shops (not high end) still
have brains enough to offer cheap chains for those who do not have to have
"the best".

I get SEDIS/SRAM chains - probably the same as yours but at a different
price 🙁

10-14 dollars at
http://www.sjscycles.com/store/vIndex.htm

I was warned off the Taya chains, that were the only ones cheaper. If
anyone has any good experiences I'm all ears.

But at least with Toms chains I shouldn't have to worry about rust.

AC

jmm <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Naval jelly goes well with this type of toast.

Quoted message said:

...nice but Pickle-X 20 is better.

Careful, both contain acid(s), and both can contribute to hydrogen
embrittlement,

John,

I think that "hydrogen embrittlement" is the least of his worries.

I would toss the chain into a cement mixer along with a couple of
shovels of pea gravel along with some Simple Green in a couple of
gallons of water and let it run all night.

I would then rinse it off really well and then boil it in some really
hot (350+deg) paraffin/ATF until it quit foaming and then slap it back
on the bike and ride it for another 8 years.

Jerry

I build some of my trikes out of scrap bikes, and this is the method I use
to rejuvinate thoroughly rusted chains:

- take the chain off and brush off any loose matter with a wire brush
- then, put the chain on a wire wheel (I put mine on a small bench grinder)
and do the whole chain, all 4 sides to remove the vast majority of the rust
- drop the chain in a bucket of oil (any type is fine) so it's completely
submerged. 2L pop bottle or old 1L plastic oil jugs with the top cut off
work too
- remove the chain, put it in another intact 2L pop bottle, put any kind of
cleaner/solvent in with the chain, and shake it til the chain rinses clean.
Repeat as necessary.
- dump the wste cleaner out, cut the bottle and remove the chain
- hang chain to dry
- install chain and lubricate if/where necessary to stop any squeaks.
- stiff links are massaged out by hand by rotating the links to full exent
in both directions, and then giving the joint a light flex sideways, in both
directions. Then add an extra drop of oil to the FORMERLY stiff link 🙂

It sounds a lot longer to do this than it actually takes. Leaving it
overnight in the oil isn't necessary - I just leave it that long for a good
soaking. This has worked every time on old chains that were so badly rusted
that I could hold them straight out like a stick.

"evsolutions" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Hi
Am too cheap to buy a new chain and wondered if anyone had a

fast-easy-cheap

Quoted message said:

way to remove rust from a bike chain. I need to do a 40 mile hike Tuesday
and the chain is totally creamed in rust/

Joshua
******

"Sticker Jim" <[email hidden]> wrote in message ...

Quoted message said:

soaking. This has worked every time on old chains that were so badly rusted
that I could hold them straight out like a stick.

I sure hope you guys are just trying to be funny.

Here's the difference between you and Me.
http://tinyurl.com/2g8hx