chain breaker from Harbor Freight.

i've put all my master links to death. the only chain problems i've ever had, is when they've fallen off (those ones commited suicide.)

as the saying goes, "a chain is only as strong as it's weakest link."

and the "master" link is like a band-aid, holding your entire bike together.

case in point, a friend of mine left our halloween party the other night on his non-motorized beach cruiser. he came to a 4-way stop, and decided to beat the car coming on his right. he stood up to pedal, the chain fell off, now he's got no brakes either, and he coasted into the intersection, and got clipped by the car.

he's a little banged up, and it was his fault for running the stop, but he woulda made it if it wasn't for that stupid master link.

the last one i used was around 1979, on my mongoose with motomags. and it broke.
 
If you have problems with the master link - you have other problems lol

Not tryin' to start any issues - but everything I've ever owned that was chain driven had a master link, every motorcycle I've ever worked on had 'em too (and I did time in a MC shop lol), and the only problem I've ever had was dropping the clip while tryin' to put 'em back together heh

I have never, not once seen or even heard of a master link failing for any reason other than something that would have caused other problems in itself - namely the chain rubbing somewhere. Even then - odds are they had the clip on backwards and ya can't blame the chain fer that lol

While I wont dispute that having a new pin and mushrooming the head over is a great method, that it even may be moderately better - it simply isn't the best choice for all builders. Not everyone has the tooling, not everyone wants to mess with it every time they wanna take the chain off or pull a link.

This is strikingly similar to the dreaded tensioner dispute - not all "solutions" are appropriate for all builds and builders. I for one like to pull the master link to help taking my rear wheel off - again, my build so lacks clearance that when I leave the engine chain on and try to pull the wheel, it's a pain in the *** to say the least.

bairdco said:
case in point, a friend of mine left our halloween party the other night on his non-motorized beach cruiser. he came to a 4-way stop, and decided to beat the car coming on his right. he stood up to pedal, the chain fell off, now he's got no brakes either, and he coasted into the intersection, and got clipped by the car.
Click to expand...

In the above example, which is at fault? The master link (which we have no way of tellin' if was installed correctly) or the operator playing "drag race"? Not havin' brakes? Playin' in traffic in a prolly less-than-sober state?

All of the above? o.O (what happened to his E-brakes? Feets r good lol)
 
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BarelyAWake said:
If you have problems with the master link - you have other problems lol




Amen. I've never seen a properly installed master link fail. Not on bicycles, motorcycles or industrial chain drive applications. Installed correctly they are as strong and dependable as any other link. Some of the problems come from: Installing the clip backwards. Using a bent or distorted clip. Clip not fully seated on the pins. Wrong clip.
Never saw a pin break or a cheek plate fail either. And this includes the kit supplied Chinese 415 chain master links. As I said in another post: Show me the evidence.
Tom
Click to expand...
 
i don't have any evidence, (mostly because it would be left behind in the street) and i do agree that most masterlink problems occur due to improper installation.

despite that, bikes get pedaled backwards all the time, whether it be a couple of inches with a coaster brake, or setting up your pedals with a freewheel. there's always a chance of it contacting something and coming apart.

chain sway, or any other side to side deflection can pop that clip off.

i dunno if they still make them, but they used to have chains where the master link was only 2 pieces, and the flat clip part had holes slightly smaller than the rest, so you'd bend your chain sideways to install it, then the tension of the chain held it together. those s*cked.

on old bikes i've bought in the past, with old, rusty, stretched out chains, i've had the masterlink fail completely. granted, they're already old and rusty, but the chain was still usable.

in my BMX days, where a chain takes a lot more abuse than on a normal cruiser's chain, i've seen master links get literally ripped apart. like all the chain stretch concentrated in one point, the masterlink.

anyone remember old bmx chains that used a tiny little nut and bolt in the masterlink? those were cool.

anyway, my opinion is to get rid of the thing, as it's one more thing that can fail.

not to mention, this thread was about where to get a chain breaker for cheap, that'll work on both of your chains, regardless of if you use a masterlink or not.

so there.
 
just an update on this chain breaker. mine came with two different size pins. one big one, one smaller one. the smaller one works on bicycle chains.

BUT, i was at harbor freight the other day, and saw these again, and they still had two pins, but they were both the large size. dunno if it's just cheap china quality control, but all the ones they had were like that.

you'll have to grind the pin down a little to make it work.

it's still a great breaker, it weighs about 2 pounds, you just gotta modify it...
 
I passed up buying this thinking it was 2 large! LOL, a yr latter and I am still breaking chains with hammer and nail.



Opps, almost forgot. Love master links. I buy 2 when I need one and have asked for them, for Christmas. hehehehehe, nanananaana.

(sorry, was getting board with the tensioner "discussions")



.flg.
 
like i said before, my breaker came with two different sized pins, but i put a new chain on a bike today, and the smaller one got stuck and i had to pound it out. i grinded the end down a little and it works perfect.

the larger pin fits perfect on the 415 chain my grubee kit came with.

here's a comparison between a cheap, broken 5.99 piece of crap, and the HF.

the pin's in the 415 chain to show how it fits...
 

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Thanks for the tip on the HF chain breaker I was in Amarillo today and went to HF picked up the chain breaker was $12.99. when I got home I had to try it out works like a champ so now I'll take that POS Walmart chain breaker made out of zinc or lead filled aluminum back to Wally world.
I got 2 pins they both are the same size,the extra pin is a spare in case you damage one you will have an extra.
The pin in the breaker works fine on the motorized bike chain when I tried it, very nice tool.
It tells the size of the pin on the box and the chain sizes the breaker fits. I did put some never seize on the threads so it will work very smoothly. I like it!
Norman
 
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