Now for a serious ??

[deacon]

I have a pan filled with bike chains and pieces of bike chains from old donar bikes. All of them are in various states of rust. They all seem pretty solid just rusty as heck.

I read somewhere you can soak them in something simple to clean them up. I sure would like to do that since I have only one more new bike chain but I'm falling over old ones with more to come. So does anyone remember what to soak them in..

 

[Bikeguy Joe]

Transmission fluid or get a gallon of PB Blaster.

 

[deacon]

I got some tranny fluid from a car that leaked it like a sieve from years ago, now I have a use for it thanks joe;.... how long does it need to soak

 

[paul]

great thread. i have an old bicycle chain i was wondering the same thing about removing the rust

 

[Ilikeabikea]

When I was a kid we would soak our old rusty chains in gasoline for a couple of days. Then wire brush them a little and soak them oil. It would sure make them run smooth after that........................

 

[Norman]

Strong carb cleaner will get the crust off then I do a matathon power wire brushing and if I can't find any links cracked I will mix up grease and 90wt royal purple gear oil and boil the chain in it hang the chain up so excess will drip back into the mix can that I boiled it in after it done dripping wipe off the excess and go for it.
Lots more work, but I'm well, Bob has a word for it, and the way I'm about doing things. But I haven't had to pedal or push my bike yet have I Bob.
Norman

 

[Pablo]

Transmission fluid or get a gallon of PB Blaster.

I second the PBBlaster. Or Kroil. Just put the chain in a coffee can or food tub - spray the heck out of it. Do a work week....come back next weekend. Should be good to go. If pitted, throw it out.

 

[Skyliner70cc]

Biodiesel is a very gentle yet strong solvent. It is 100% safe and if 100% pure can even be drunk (don't recommend it because residual methanol from the manufacturing process can be present)

 

[deacon]

So many good answers and no one said varsol.... That is what my dad had around his shop to soak metal parts in. Yes I just remembered it and have no idea if it is still available or not. It was probably even a lower grade fuel oil than kerosene but I really don't know.

 

[Pablo]

As much as I'm a biodiesel nut, I don't think it will do much on rust.

 

[Bikeguy Joe]

Anyone into electrolytic rust removal?
Cheap, easy, fun!
electrolytic rust removal - Google Search

Been doing this for years, sometimes with rusty old junk just for the fun of returning an encrusted item back to something recognizable.....never done a chain though.

A couple of tips- use the hottest water you can (I have an "indoor grille" element I use to pre heat the bath).

Even though I have stuck my hands in the solution many times, do NOT do it...I got lit up but good a couple of times.

 

[deacon]

Now I'm gonna have to build a chain cleaner lol. This one gets my vote. But how long does it take to break off the rust.

 

[Pablo]

Indeed. Excellent!!

 

[Bikeguy Joe]

You can remove rust in a few minutes to a few hours, depending on the rust, the solution you use, and the power of your battery charger.

I use Arm and Hammer Washing soda as my solution, with a bronze annode and 50 amps on the juice.

Some things you can watch the rust litterally fly off of.

 

[deacon]

fifty amps my god no wonder you got lit up....my battery charger only puts out six amps.

 

[Norman]

You can use a dimmer switch to power up a 10 amp battery charger and by using the dimmer keep it under 10 amps this way you won't burn up the charger. If you do use the charger with out the dimmer switch it will pop a thermal fuse built into the chargers coil under the insulation a couple of wraps it can be replaced by buying the part a radio shack. Most people don't know this and throw away the charger. Be careful when using this device as it will knock the hello out of you and could kill you. Also be careful hydrogen gas and chlorine gas can come off in the process and some of the other stuff I've ran into will leave a very corrosive dust in the air so be careful.
Good find and nice post I know about this and have in the past used it. I've not posted about this because of some of the nasty things that can happen.

 

[deacon]

Im thinking my lawn battery I use for the bike as a power source.. I dont care for the idea of the batter charger at 110 volts even if it is down to 12

 

[Bikeguy Joe]

Note-

I have set my charger on the 50 amp setting and left it for an hour with no problems....may have to do with the amount of solution I used, about two gallons.

I did start of with lower settings and "worked my way up".

And yes, like anything using chemicals/electricity/danger, be careful or don't do it!

 

[General Disarray]

Cool, we never get too old for science experiments. Ever been in a small boat that's sinking and stood near the battery that was submerged? It's like fire ants at the waterline.

 

[deacon]

NEW QUESTION

Okay here is the background. I bought a bmx style foot peg to use as a drive wheel. It has a cruiser threaded end, which fits the engine drive shaft perfectly.. It also has a mtb threaded end.

Now, I would like to run a half inch bolt into the mountain bike end to hold a washer so that I can enlarge the diameter of the peg. In other words slip a cover over the peg and then run a washer and bold in the mtb end so that the cover wont work off.

Here in lies the rub... I can not find a bolt anywhere with the thread used on mountain bike axles. It is 3/8 x 26. I thought I would give the forum a try before I move to plan B. Plan B is a lead anchor and smaller bolt. Probably have to drill out the threads as well.

Plan C is to drill a hole all the way through the cover and the peg then use a cotter pin.