Good luck. I couldn't think of one, so I bought the Motion Pro tool.
When I replaced my chain in Reno, NV, my local friend had a different tool. He claimed you didn't need to grind the head off the rivet to push it out, with his tool. But when we tried to push the rivet out without grinding, his tool snapped. We managed to cut the chain, to remove it, but snapping his tool left us unable to peen the rivets for the new chain. I ended up pressing the master on with the remnants of his tool, then riding very slowly and carefully to a local shop he knew, where for ten bucks they peened it for me.
I have changed a number of chains using my McGiver method as follows.
Cut the old one off with a hack saw (3 minutes if you are going slow).
Measure the width of a number of links on the new chain and take an average. This will let you know how far to seat the new link plate.
Make a link pin adapter out of a piece of steel that will allow you to press on the new link plate without the pins getting in the way. (Sorry the pix was out of focus) using your favorite pair of vise grips. Note the holes in the adapter that pass the link pins. Measure the progress frequently so you know how far you have pressed on the plate and stop when you reach the average width as previously measured.
http://webpages.charter.net/vfr800/Chain5.jpg
Using a ball bearing, squeeze it between the link and the end of the pin to begin flaring the end of the pin being cautious not to slip and contact the plate.
http://webpages.charter.net/vfr800/Chain7.jpg
Finish the flare by using the vise grips alone. The flare does not have to be huge, just a bit wider than the hole in the link plate which is a press fit to begin with.
Ball bearing sounds interesting, I'll have to see if I can find one and try out on my dummy rivet master.
As far as plate depth, thats the nice thing about pressed clip types, as soon as it clears the clip recesses far enough.
I'm thinking the plate presser I have stops right at the correct point for a 530 chain width, but I'll be careful about that.
The only other alternative, is to buy a huge hammer for an anvil, and peen with a ball peen hammer, dont know how well that will work.
Another issue I have is finding a grease that will hold up in the master, waterproof grease seems to be gone by 10,000 mile and rusting. I need to find a think moly grease
but my present chain is toasting rapidly, I've had to manually force oil past the orings or rip them out, also had to make the first chain adjustment, here at 11,000 mile .
I've had terrible luck with chains as well, which is why I'm doing this chain oiler project. Even so I am guessing that if your chain is toast at 11K you are doing something wrong. Also if you are manually forcing oil past the o-rings or ripping them out, the chain's already shot and you need a new one.
FWIW, I got a tube of moly grease, Honda branded from Iron Pony last time I was down there. It is available but since most moto dealers don't actually carry anything useful, you probably have to order it.
My new masterlink (with my new chain/sprockets) came with a packet of grease to use, as well as the new rings. I used my angle grinder to cut the heats off the rivet to remove the chain, then use a tool borrowed to reinstalled/Peen it. I measured the spread of the other rivets in the chain to know how much peening to do.
its the post tripple, eats chains . I have gotten as high as 17,000 mile(original), before any sign of internal rusting starts showing , but I've run 3 of this type chain and one made it to 16,000 or so, and 2 only about 10 or 11,000
I'm about to change to differnt type chain to see if I can get some better internal grease longevity .
But even my masters with water proof grease arnt holding up, so I dont know if there's much hope in a different chain.
I think after several thousand miles, and the orings wear and loosen up, the oilers will be able to penetrate into the chain and prolong detioration. I know rain will, so why not oil , but oilers are messy, maybe I look that direction in the future
Thinking DID, since a few are seeing a longevity difference
I laid the new chain on a piece of plate steel on the garage floor, with the backside of the master link on the bottom (duh) and then peened the rivit pins using an appropriate-sized metal punch and a biga$$ hammer.
Just don't go too far or split the flare on the pins.
The FSM has specs on the protrusion of the pins from the sideplates as well as the dimaeter of the flared end.
Then, install the completed chain onto the bike. You'll need to loosen the swingarm pivot bolt and back the LH footpeg mounting bracket away from the frame to get the assembled chain onto the countershaft sprocket.
And most new chains now come with a spacer plate to put inbetween the sideplate and inner link so that you don't "bind" the link by compressing the sideplate on too far.
I am running a DID chain to replace the DID chain I removed...Chain had over 26K miles on it, so I can't complain. Very little rust showing on the rollers of the link I cut, and the o-rings were still in place.
No offense to any of the above methods but I wouldn't use anything but the RIGHT tool for the job. My last bike was a Honda Magna and the owner had put the new chain on himself using some kind of backyard method to secure the master link and it failed at freeway speeds :blink: Scared the crap out of me but fortunately didn't kill me. Just spend the money and buy one of the many chain tool kits or find someone nearby who has one that you can borrow.
Guys & Gals; My 2 cents worth , I always grind the side plate off the chain with my bench grinding tool. Then carefully pry the side plate off and remove the balance of the link as a method to cut the chain. I believe doing it
this way is so much easier on the chain. Using a small press (chain cutting tool) to force the peened pin through the chain causes alot of stress on the chain and its components, thats why alot of these type tools
end up broken or bent plus they sometimes distort the chain and scratch the I.D of the chain. I may be wrong on this part,but I dont get to concerned about the chain width when peening the two pins. What I do is use the chain tool to flare the pin,I continue to flare and make sure the
master link has enough clearance to swivel on the next link, I will continue to flare but never allow the master link to not have enough clearance to swivel. Thats about it for what I do in the chain cutting assembly department. Also I have never had a chain come apart on me during a run. As far as the mileage goes, I am pretty well ready to replace the chain at around 10K. eddie
I intend to instal my master with chain on the bike, no swingarm stuff >G<
Yeh I seen those wire spacers, I'll defititely use
I have every thing I need to install the master , its only the peening.
Not going to spend $90 for that one little peice of the puzzle
The plate is so tight it wont move anyway peened or not, even pressed clip types, I've lost the clip, sideplate never moves. But I will fiqured a way to do it, I have some ideas thus far from the thread.
When I pressed my test dummy master, I did a full bottom on the tool, I took it out to measure against an actual chain link and its 1 plate thickness narrower, so I will have to use the spacers, to avoid a tedious guess while compressing the side plate.
Here's what I got, a 4 1/2 lb sledge hammer, to use as an anvil and a 16 ounce ball peen Hammer to do the pounding, it worked okay and my test dummy doing it on my Knee.
Next will be doing the real thing on the bike, as the final test.
On a side note, I was all excited when my new chain came in a day early, I got a super deal price wise. I discovered why?
It was a 520, how did I miss that when ordering, back it goes. I'll have to ride this chain for another week.
[image: View Post]JTG, on May 10 2009, 01:43 PM, said:
No offense to any of the above methods but I wouldn't use anything but the RIGHT tool for the job. My last bike was a Honda Magna and the owner had put the new chain on himself using some kind of backyard method to secure the master link and it failed at freeway speeds :blink: Scared the crap out of me but fortunately didn't kill me. Just spend the money and buy one of the many chain tool kits or find someone nearby who has one that you can borrow.
Any one could be get hurt by work done by people who don't know what they are doing. There are so many "right tools" that are used incorrectly by shade tree mechanics that cause just as many. As long as the end plate is pressed on correctly and the ends of the pins are flared to prevent if from coming off with out being cracked it will not fail.
[image: View Post]Tightwad, on May 10 2009, 08:44 AM, said:
My new masterlink (with my new chain/sprockets) came with a packet of grease to use, as well as the new rings. I used my angle grinder to cut the heats off the rivet to remove the chain, then use a tool borrowed to reinstalled/Peen it. I measured the spread of the other rivets in the chain to know how much peening to do.
Tightwad, I started running orings around 1990, the masters always came pregreased, but the grease didnt last(normally replaced masters every 6 month(chains every 12), as the clips wore and discovered how dry they were internally , so I did the waterproof grease thing in addition , but even that on the street , dissapears in about 10,000 mile or so. I bought some Extreme Pressure Moly grease, I'm going to see how that holds up in the master.
Present chain has about 12,000 mile on it ,and I've been babying it since about 10,000 mile when I first started seeing a couple links sprout redust. Other links have also sprouted since that time.
People might be interested in knowing once the chain needs any adjustment the grease it pretty much gone.
Thats why when I hear, some get big milege, how many adjustment have they done. Normally I'll do one adjustment, but first sign of any link shows red dust, I start looking for a new chain.
you might notice alittle nics in the side plate, this was from me originally trying to hold with channel locks and a regular hammer, that just didnt work at all.
the 4/1/2 lb sledge hammer and 16 oz ball peen will do the trick well enough, came out good, ready to do the real thing, soon as I get a new chain.
[image: View Post]spud786, on May 10 2009, 10:49 AM, said:
Elli,
its the post tripple, eats chains . I have gotten as high as 17,000 mile(original), before any sign of internal rusting starts showing , but I've run 3 of this type chain and one made it to 16,000 or so, and 2 only about 10 or 11,000
I'm about to change to differnt type chain to see if I can get some better internal grease longevity .
But even my masters with water proof grease arnt holding up, so I dont know if there's much hope in a different chain.
I think after several thousand miles, and the orings wear and loosen up, the oilers will be able to penetrate into the chain and prolong detioration. I know rain will, so why not oil , but oilers are messy, maybe I look that direction in the future
Thinking DID, since a few are seeing a longevity difference
Not just you, but I've seen quite a few post on the master link not holding up to the chains life...... So I have a question!.... Why not just replace the master-link and keep using the chain until the chain needs replacing?........ Just learning here :blink: ...Monk
The times I had to replaced masters due to clip wear was offroad where the pressclips(clip) wears ( but I'm seeing waterproof grease not lasting more than 10,000 mile on the street . Your right if only the master was dry , replace that, but that's not the case with my chain on the vfr, whole thing is trashed as far as internal grease, I've had to blow out every oring and force oil in there.
I'm waiting on a new chain babying this one, but after 3 of these chains I'm looking for more milege, so I beefed up alittle I think, with a DID this round.
[image: View Post]spud786, on May 17 2009, 09:59 AM, said:
MOnk,
The times I had to replaced masters due to clip wear was offroad where the pressclips(clip) wears ( but I'm seeing waterproof grease not lasting more than 10,000 mile on the street . Your right if only the master was dry , replace that, but that's not the case with my chain on the vfr, whole thing is trashed as far as internal grease, I've had to blow out every oring and force oil in there.
I'm waiting on a new chain babying this one, but after 3 of these chains I'm looking for more milege, so I beefed up alittle I think, with a DID this round.
Thanks for the info........ I also was just thinking of something I saw on this site about checking the tensile strength rating of a chain........ If memory serves, I THINK, 16,000 ft.lbs. is as low as we should go, I'm not sure on the numbers, but the key was, "tensile strength"....... If anyone knows, please chime in...... Monk
The most expensive chain I ever bought was a Regina ZRP, huge chain $180 mail order. Luved it expected 30,000 mile, but those zrings type orings are crap, blowing reddust at 9,000 mile. I'd buy another if they put regular oring in it . But paying those kinda of bucks on a Top line maxed out tensile strength chain, I went back to the $100 chain which lasts as long.
Even the strongest chain on the market is about 10,000 lb tensile max. Anything in the 7500 or 8000lb range is enough, as long as the grease holds up internally.
[image: View Post]spud786, on May 17 2009, 10:41 AM, said:
Monk
The most expensive chain I ever bought was a Regina ZRP, huge chain $180 mail order. Luved it expected 30,000 mile, but those zrings type orings are crap, blowing reddust at 9,000 mile. I'd buy another if they put regular oring in it . But paying those kinda of bucks on a Top line maxed out tensile strength chain, I went back to the $100 chain which lasts as long.
Even the strongest chain on the market is about 10,000 lb tensile max. Anything in the 7500 or 8000lb range is enough, as long as the grease holds up internally.
The DID chain I bought didnt come with the wire spacers for the rivet master, so I used some regina wire spacers to atleast get it in the ball park on width, before finalizing. Was a bit tedious
Regina rivets are also a Harder metal to me, DID seems to use copper in their masters. The copper seems to go all they way through with outer layer of steel, I wouldnt think copper wouldnt be that strong
New chain is installed with rivet using 4 1/2 lb sledge hammer and 16 oz ball peen, looks good.
