how to remove chain link

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brucemg51

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Jul 10, 2008
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I'm trying to shorten the chain. The manual says to remove extra links by knocking the pin out of a link with a punch. Not going to happen. Is there another way to shorten the chain by removing a pin from a link?
 

Bikeguy Joe

Godfather of Motorized Bicycles
Jan 8, 2008
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Two ways that I know of....1. Buy a chain breaker, and not the P.O.S. Bell from walmart! or 2. use a dremel or bench grinder and grind off the tips of the link and then use a hammer and punch. (grind it just until you are grinding the sideplate a little.

Do one link, then test fit it before you do a second!
 

brucemg51

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Jul 10, 2008
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Two ways that I know of....1. Buy a chain breaker, and not the P.O.S. Bell from walmart! or 2. use a dremel or bench grinder and grind off the tips of the link and then use a hammer and punch. (grind it just until you are grinding the sideplate a little.

Do one link, then test fit it before you do a second!
Thanks. I'm thinking I'll use a dremel rotary tool with a small grinding stone attachment to grind the end off a pin.
 

brucemg51

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Jul 10, 2008
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I went out to a bicycle shop to inquire about a chain breaker, but I showed them the chain and they said it was to thick for a bicycle tool. I stopped at a motorcycle shop and showed them the chain. They said they never use breaker tools as none of them work very well. Kind of a wasted trip, but it was an excuse for a nice cruise on my Yamaha. Back to work.
 

Motoschwinn

Member
Jun 27, 2008
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Independence MO
Thanks. I'm thinking I'll use a dremel rotary tool with a small grinding stone attachment to grind the end off a pin.
That's what I used. Installing the chain from my old Schwinn suburban onto the new Point Beach I found it was extremely tight. I used a dremel to cut one single link to insert and I was suprised how much slack there was. I had to use the tensioner, something I had hoped to get away from.

A dremel tool is a MUST for installing the motors on these bikes. IMHO
 

brucemg51

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Jul 10, 2008
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Realizing that it doesn't matter what happens to the links I'm not going to use anyway, I just ground them right off with the Dremel. As long as you're careful not to damage the links you are going to use, that works fine.
 

captainmorse

New Member
Nov 12, 2010
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S.E. Florida
Yep...Only way to do it is to Dremel grind the pins down and tap the pin off.
When you work on motorcycles long enough you learn the little secrets of
dealing with the quirks, getting rid of headaches.... and of course
the saying does go...IF IT AINT BROKE DONT FIX IT....In the case
of these motors and Bikes....its not a matter of fixing it ....its a matter of
compromising the kit to the bike.
 
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2door

Moderator
Staff member
Sep 15, 2008
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Littleton, Colorado
A hammer, a punch the right size and a small 1/4 socket works for me. I don't own a breaker and grinding off the pin makes it unusable again.

Support the link over the opening of the socket, line up the end of the punch carefully and give it good whack with the hammer. The trick is to use the right size punch and it must be long enough to drive the pin completely out of the roller.

To put the chain back together you just reverse the process being careful to not drive the pin in too far or squash the side plates so that the roller binds.

Tom
 

maniac57

Old, Fat, and still faster than you
Oct 8, 2011
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A hammer, a punch the right size and a small 1/4 socket works for me. I don't own a breaker and grinding off the pin makes it unusable again.

Support the link over the opening of the socket, line up the end of the punch carefully and give it good whack with the hammer. The trick is to use the right size punch and it must be long enough to drive the pin completely out of the roller.

To put the chain back together you just reverse the process being careful to not drive the pin in too far or squash the side plates so that the roller binds.

Tom
Grinding the pin tips off does not make it unuseable if you put a tiny tackweld over the pin to secure the sideplate when re-assembling. I do this all the time because I use #40 roller chain which is too big for the masterlink to fit easily without loosing the clip, so I eliminated it with grinding and welding. You can barely see the spot afterwards and its as strong as new if you don't grind into the sideplate too far, and keep the tack small so you don't overheat the sideplate. This works on any chain too big for a bike chainbreaker, all the way up into streetbike sizes and heavy industrial chains. (I learned this trick working as a Millwright rebuilding a sawmill with huge chaindriven saws)
 
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2door

Moderator
Staff member
Sep 15, 2008
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Littleton, Colorado
Not a bad idea if you know what you're doing but have you ever looked at some of the welds on builds here? OMG, I can only imagine what a chain would look like after some of our "welders" got through with it. :)

Tom
 

maniac57

Old, Fat, and still faster than you
Oct 8, 2011
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memphis Tn
Not a bad idea if you know what you're doing but have you ever looked at some of the welds on builds here? OMG, I can only imagine what a chain would look like after some of our "welders" got through with it. :)

Tom
This is true! But this still works even with fugly welds...Unless you melt through the sideplate completely! I've done repairs in a pinch with a coat hanger and electrical cord to tack the pin ends! Talk about ugly! But I did get home...took about half an hour with a buddy flipping the breaker back on every 30 seconds to finally get it fixed!
 

Bikeguy Joe

Godfather of Motorized Bicycles
Jan 8, 2008
11,837
252
63
up north now
I never thought about it that way....I used to grind off the pin, toss the link (needed to shorten the chain anyway) and put the chain back together.

I bought a chain breaker when I started doing a bunch of them, but never put a motorbicycle chain back together. Bicycle chains, yes.
 

maniac57

Old, Fat, and still faster than you
Oct 8, 2011
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memphis Tn
I'm a pack rat so I had to figure out a way to use all the spare links I have laying around...
Plus masterlinks are always locked inside a closed parts store when I NEED one...
 

Henshooter

New Member
Feb 10, 2014
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Melbourne au
I remove the chain links by getting an adjustable wrench and opening it to just over the size of the pin then sit the chain pin over the gap, I then line up a jewels screwdriver (a flathead)centred onto the pin and give it a few swift pounds with a hammer and she pops right out , always done it this way as the chain popper tools are notorious for breaking , to rejoin links without a master link I do almost the same except instead of the jewellers screwdriver I use one of those hex head screwdrivers ( the ones that have the removable and pieces) the diameter is just big enough that it fits over the pin and I simply close the wrench place the broken link over the wrench , place the screwdriver over the pin ,one or two swift hits and the pin pops back in ,never had any issues with bending or buckling the chain at all .

Regards Henshooter