My steps were 1 submersion on ethyl alcohol for 3 minutes, 5 sub on hot water and laundry detergent for 5 minutes each, another alcohol submersion and to finish it off I used white vinegar. Bone dry, at least the rollers and the sides.
by General-Writing1764
7 Comments
Until the water wasn’t turbid, it came clear after I did the vinegar thing. It’s a Brand New chain
I can literally see the gunk in the rollers in your pic. Outside being clean means absolutely nothing. You want the wax inside, not outside. Dish detergent is a weak degreaser compared to chain specific degreasers or mineral spirits. I can guarantee that chain is not completely devoid of grease inside.
Wax it immediately. A completely bare chain with no protective layer is very susceptible to corrosion.
Sorry but you touched it with your oily fingers, try again!
I use my sonic cleaner for this. Run a few passes with degreaser and its good.
I recently learned that KMC sells pre waxed chains. Why aren’t more people using them ?
All this fuss with harsh chemicals feels like too much for the home mechanic.
1) You know a stripped chain more from how it sounds and feel in your hand. Very metal on metal.
2) Ethyl alcohol is like a final step to remove rsidue from the previous chemicals, it will not break down the grease in the rollers.
3) Stripping is the one area where I tell people to generally just buy the good commercial products (silca, UFO) if available where you live. Unless you have the time and access to a lot of nasty chemicals and a reasonably good way to dispose of it all just use what they make – it works.