Cleaning a (rusty) chain...

garrynolan
garrynolan Posts: 560
edited August 2010 in Workshop
... easily. Is there a way to clean heavy surface rust easily? Any ideas greatly appreciated. Thanks.
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Comments

  • Steve2020
    Steve2020 Posts: 133
    brillo pad? not very easy but it works
  • father_jack
    father_jack Posts: 3,509
    Or fine wire brush.
    Say... That's a nice bike..
    Trax T700 with Lew Racing Pro VT-1 ;-)
  • huuregeil
    huuregeil Posts: 780
    Buy a new chain. If it's that rusted that cleaning is an issue, you run the risk of having weakened the links and chain breakage down the line. Learn to lube!
  • father_jack
    father_jack Posts: 3,509
    Or buy a new bike :wink: you get a FREE chain with a new bike. :wink:
    Say... That's a nice bike..
    Trax T700 with Lew Racing Pro VT-1 ;-)
  • jairaj
    jairaj Posts: 3,009
    I restored a rusty chain by cleaning with a wire brush and brilo pad. But if its heavily rusted chances are it won't work as well, even once clean.

    Mine took ages to clean and didn't work very well. I couldn't get all the links to run 100% free there was always a bit of stiffness in some of them. It was far easier to pop down to the shop and get a new one :)
  • desweller
    desweller Posts: 5,175
    I have just done a heavily rusted 6-speed chain. I just used liberal quantities of WD40 and plenty of up-and-down and side-to-side wiggling to free it up. Then mopped up the WD40 and applied a liberal dose of chain lube. Runs lovely (if not especially cosmetically pleasing).

    It's a heavy old chain though, and the rider is not going to be ascending Mont Ventoux with it or owt like that so YMMV depending on the sort of duty you're envisaging.
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