spring battery maint; charging a new conventional battery

[rockiedog2]

Right I agree that's a lot of money. KLR650.com has an oring chain/both sprockets/chain breaker set for 89 bucks. Might be Chinese sprockets or something, but cheap enough that I wouldnt care, personally. Probably run a long time...

--- In DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com, Rick McCauley wrote: > > I purchased a DID chain, and JT sprockets to the sum of $200.00. > I don't want to do that any more than I have to. Lots of folks out there > make enough money not to worry about such things. I am not one of them. > > Rick > A17 > > --- On Wed, 4/22/09, rockiedog2 wrote: > > From: rockiedog2 > Subject: [DSN_KLR650] Re: chain life > To: DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com > Date: Wednesday, April 22, 2009, 12:24 PM > > > > > > > > > > > Last May I left on a 13000 mile trip with a new chain/sprockets and started out spraying it down a couple times a day with WD40. I was doing 500 or 600 miles a day lots of days. Lots of rain,mud and grit. 4000 miles of dirt and gravel roads. Early enroute I quit doing anything to it, never did clean it...I figured that all the trouble frequent lubing/cleaning and the cost of WD 40 or whatever you use more or less canceled out the cost/trouble of installing an early new chain. It made the 13000 mile trip but was shot when I got home. That's good enough for me. I don't do anything to mine except run it til its worn out. > > > * Lube every 500 miles or so with 90wt gear oil per the manual. Just a small bead of oil along the o-ring "inner" surface. A drop or two along the chain surfaces to put a little lube on the sprocket tooth faces. > > > > *After each day of trail riding (My trips are usually day trips on fire roads, etc), or every 1500 miles of street riding, I clean the chain with CLP and a toothbrush, just like people mention they've been using WD-40. CLP is a little bit thicker than WD, but it cleans well, and the military uses it to protect firearms in a salt-water environment, so I figure it has that going for it. > > > > *I'm at 15,000 miles and have had to adjust my chain once, and there's still plenty of length left. > > > > > > > > -Jeff Khoury > > > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > > From: "Jud Jones" > > To: "DSN KLR650" > > Sent: Tuesday, April 21, 2009 8:59:02 PM GMT -08:00 US/Canada Pacific > > Subject: [DSN_KLR650] Re: chain life > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > --- In DSN_KLR650@yahoogro ups.com , Jeff Khoury wrote: > > > > > > Good Morning, > > > > > > I've always used exactly what the manual recommends: 90wt. gear oil. > > > > > > I have an old hand pump oiler, and you can pick up Castrol Gear oil for under 6 bucks a quart. > > > > > > A little dab'll do ya on the inside surface of the o-rings so centrifugal force will work it down where it needs to be. > > > > > > I clean it once in a while with CLP. It's the WD-40 for us ex-military types. > > > > > > > I used to use 90wt, just as the manual recommends. I applied it at every opportunity, through a squeeze-bottle- operated Loobman chain oiler. The 90wt combined with road grit to make a very effective grinding paste that chewed up a chain and sprockets in under 5000 miles. > > > > How long do your chains last, and how much do you ride off pavement? Do you think the oil is getting past the o-rings to where it can supplant the factory-supplied lubricant? > > > > > > > > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] >

[Rick McCauley]

that's quite a difference. Rick A17

--- On Wed, 4/22/09, rockiedog2 wrote: From: rockiedog2 Subject: [DSN_KLR650] Re: chain life To: DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com Date: Wednesday, April 22, 2009, 2:05 PM Right I agree that's a lot of money. KLR650.com has an oring chain/both sprockets/chain breaker set for 89 bucks. Might be Chinese sprockets or something, but cheap enough that I wouldnt care, personally. Probably run a long time... --- In DSN_KLR650@yahoogro ups.com, Rick McCauley wrote: > > I purchased a DID chain, and JT sprockets to the sum of $200.00. > I don't want to do that any more than I have to. Lots of folks out there > make enough money not to worry about such things. I am not one of them. > > Rick > A17 > > --- On Wed, 4/22/09, rockiedog2 wrote: > > From: rockiedog2 > Subject: [DSN_KLR650] Re: chain life > To: DSN_KLR650@yahoogro ups.com > Date: Wednesday, April 22, 2009, 12:24 PM > > > > > > > > > > > Last May I left on a 13000 mile trip with a new chain/sprockets and started out spraying it down a couple times a day with WD40. I was doing 500 or 600 miles a day lots of days. Lots of rain,mud and grit. 4000 miles of dirt and gravel roads. Early enroute I quit doing anything to it, never did clean it...I figured that all the trouble frequent lubing/cleaning and the cost of WD 40 or whatever you use more or less canceled out the cost/trouble of installing an early new chain. It made the 13000 mile trip but was shot when I got home. That's good enough for me. I don't do anything to mine except run it til its worn out. > > > * Lube every 500 miles or so with 90wt gear oil per the manual. Just a small bead of oil along the o-ring "inner" surface. A drop or two along the chain surfaces to put a little lube on the sprocket tooth faces. > > > > *After each day of trail riding (My trips are usually day trips on fire roads, etc), or every 1500 miles of street riding, I clean the chain with CLP and a toothbrush, just like people mention they've been using WD-40. CLP is a little bit thicker than WD, but it cleans well, and the military uses it to protect firearms in a salt-water environment, so I figure it has that going for it. > > > > *I'm at 15,000 miles and have had to adjust my chain once, and there's still plenty of length left. > > > > > > > > -Jeff Khoury > > > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > > From: "Jud Jones" > > To: "DSN KLR650" > > Sent: Tuesday, April 21, 2009 8:59:02 PM GMT -08:00 US/Canada Pacific > > Subject: [DSN_KLR650] Re: chain life > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > --- In DSN_KLR650@yahoogro ups.com , Jeff Khoury wrote: > > > > > > Good Morning, > > > > > > I've always used exactly what the manual recommends: 90wt. gear oil. > > > > > > I have an old hand pump oiler, and you can pick up Castrol Gear oil for under 6 bucks a quart. > > > > > > A little dab'll do ya on the inside surface of the o-rings so centrifugal force will work it down where it needs to be. > > > > > > I clean it once in a while with CLP. It's the WD-40 for us ex-military types. > > > > > > > I used to use 90wt, just as the manual recommends. I applied it at every opportunity, through a squeeze-bottle- operated Loobman chain oiler. The 90wt combined with road grit to make a very effective grinding paste that chewed up a chain and sprockets in under 5000 miles. > > > > How long do your chains last, and how much do you ride off pavement? Do you think the oil is getting past the o-rings to where it can supplant the factory-supplied lubricant? > > > > > > > > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[roncriswell@sbcglobal.net]

Politics, religion, Jennifer and ...... loud pipes. Now there is some substance. Anybody got a photo of Jennifer? Criswell

On Apr 22, 2009, at 10:34 AM, Michael Hagen wrote: > > > If we could only get an Best Oil Thread and a Chain/WD40 Thread > going at the same time! > > Just kidding ): > > Mike > A14 Somewhat apart in Crestline, Ca. > > Mikey - Hoping "Hoping" would Work! > ...."The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of > other people's money." > MARGARET THATCHER > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[roncriswell@sbcglobal.net]

I went 18,000 on my first chain with very little care and adjustment ..... using WD 40 mostly but not fanatically. I have tried other high tech stuff and low tech ..... WD does just fine by me. Criswell (buy a good chain)

On Apr 22, 2009, at 10:53 AM, Jeff Khoury wrote: > > > My regimen is as follows: > > * Lube every 500 miles or so with 90wt gear oil per the manual. > Just a small bead of oil along the o-ring "inner" surface. A drop > or two along the chain surfaces to put a little lube on the > sprocket tooth faces. > > *After each day of trail riding (My trips are usually day trips on > fire roads, etc), or every 1500 miles of street riding, I clean the > chain with CLP and a toothbrush, just like people mention they've > been using WD-40. CLP is a little bit thicker than WD, but it > cleans well, and the military uses it to protect firearms in a salt- > water environment, so I figure it has that going for it. > > *I'm at 15,000 miles and have had to adjust my chain once, and > there's still plenty of length left. > > -Jeff Khoury > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Jud Jones" > To: "DSN KLR650" DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com> > Sent: Tuesday, April 21, 2009 8:59:02 PM GMT -08:00 US/Canada Pacific > Subject: [DSN_KLR650] Re: chain life > > --- In DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com , Jeff Khoury wrote: > > > > Good Morning, > > > > I've always used exactly what the manual recommends: 90wt. gear oil. > > > > I have an old hand pump oiler, and you can pick up Castrol Gear > oil for under 6 bucks a quart. > > > > A little dab'll do ya on the inside surface of the o-rings so > centrifugal force will work it down where it needs to be. > > > > I clean it once in a while with CLP. It's the WD-40 for us ex- > military types. > > > > I used to use 90wt, just as the manual recommends. I applied it at > every opportunity, through a squeeze-bottle-operated Loobman chain > oiler. The 90wt combined with road grit to make a very effective > grinding paste that chewed up a chain and sprockets in under 5000 > miles. > > How long do your chains last, and how much do you ride off > pavement? Do you think the oil is getting past the o-rings to where > it can supplant the factory-supplied lubricant? > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[revmaaatin]

--- In DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com, Rick McCauley wrote:

> > I purchased a DID chain, and JT sprockets to the sum of $200.00. > I don't want to do that any more than I have to. Lots of folks out there > make enough money not to worry about such things. I am not one of them. > > Rick > A17

Hi Rick, You did not say, but I hope those sprockets were steel sprockets. I don't believe the aluminum (rear) are very serviceable for most of our long-term, KLR applications--my experience on other dirt oriented machines; they wear out very, very quickly. Much as been said here about the use of WD 40: many of us have gotten more than 15K some up to 20K smiles using a WD-40/similar cleaning procedure. What works for me--gleaned from the experience of many: I hit my chain after every ride, and at every gas stop while on an adventure ride using a WD or wallyworld equivalent. Now for what you did not ask. smile. Watch your front sprocket wear carefully--as it wears out ~3x faster than your rear sprocket--because it is 1/3 the teeth of a rear sprocket. That poor fellow has 3X as much action as the rear guy! As a personal technique: I keep a full set of C/S in my tank bag, 13,14, 15 for use with my 43rear. For pure grunt, I LOVE that 13 T--also knowing that I have limited my top speed to ~65mph/6Krpms. I rode that 13T for nearly 2500 miles last summer on the GDR. My first GDR was with a 14T and was constantly slipping the clutch to make it work. What a change the 13T makes--almost make the pig, a .... well, a well mannered 'dirt-pig'. Yes, Virginia, I love my pig. It is still a handful to pick up a heavily laden KLR, 13T or not! Most list wisdom-s suggest change all drive components together. shrug. If starting from scratch, by all means, change them all and start fresh. But they don't wear equally. If it were a race bike, I would agree with that 100% to change them all together, all the time. However, When you factor in the C/S wears 3X faster than the rear, it makes good sense and money sense to me to watch the wear patterns, and change The C/S early. My personal experience is that changing the sprockets before they are badly hooked, has very little (seat of the pants) difference or undue wear of the new front sprocket on a used chain. I change out sprockets often--due to riding conditions. Generally using up 4 or 5 C/S in the life of one chain. =20K WD treated smiles That said, I change the C/S earlier than most would as a way of preserving the chain. It works well for me. One/two/three additional time saving technique for changing C/S is the use of 1) the prevailing torque nut on the C/S (Eagle Mike Products) 2)Prevailing torque nuts on the chain adjusters 2a) or use a nyloc nut on the chain adjuster. 3) indexing the chain adjuster nut with a . and a double .. 180 degrees apart (punch it with a center-punch on the flat, 180degrees apart) when you finally got the chain correctly aligned. Generally the adjustment is 2 and 1/2 turns of the chain tension nut for each tooth change on the C/S. Crank off the tension exactly the same on both nuts ie 5 turns, drop the sprocket by one tooth, add 7 1/2 turns to the nut and it is nearly spot on every time for proper chain tension. The little index marks help you keep an accurate track of the number of actual turns of the nut and you will not have to search for the chain alignment. I did this 5 years ago--and doing this has saved many minutes on each sprocket change and much frustration. The key here is to make sure the chain alignment is absolutely correct before indexing the chain tension nuts. and, If you should ever have a question concerning chain tension--a little loose is better than a little to tight. To tight, and the C/S seal fails early, and the chain seeks the correct tension--shorting chain life. or worse. and one last thing for sprocket life--I have gone to flip-flopping the rear sprocket at each tire change. =5Ksmiles. Not sure how much longer the sprocket 'last' but I think it evens out the wear, and eliminates the 'hook' of extreme chain wear. Others on the list have been doing this also with good results. The C/S (post 95? models) does not flip well as it has a shoulder that is wider on one side than the other and changes the chain alignment, = chain wear. I think the pre 95's use a flat washer and is attached with two bolts. Others will have to comment on that--as I have a 98, 01--and the C/S changes around 95ish. revmaaatin.

[revmaaatin]

--- In DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com, "rockiedog2" wrote:

> > Right I agree that's a lot of money. KLR650.com has an oring chain/both sprockets/chain breaker set for 89 bucks. Might be Chinese sprockets or something, but cheap enough that I wouldnt care, personally. Probably run a long time... >

So Joe, Are you going to do a test report on your next trip? revmaaatin.

[Jud Jones]

--- In DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com, Rick McCauley wrote:

> > More is better theory. One of my favorites. > > If you sprayed the chain after a ride, the WD-40 has the chance to gum up nice and tacky. > If you spray it before the ride, wouldn't that wash it off what you sprayed on after the last ride? >

I've never noticed that it gums up at all. Most of it drips off, carrying grit with it. The residue may lubricate a little bit and protect against rust a little bit for a little while. Its main contribution to chain life comes because it noes not attract or catch dirt, and does not wash the grease out from behind the o-rings. There may well be products that will clean the chain as well, while leaving behind a residue that lubricates better than WD40. The Teflon spray lube sold by Lowe's seems very promising in this regard. Teflon is very slippery stuff, if only a guy could figure out a way to keep a layer of it between the sprocket and the chain rollers. However, there is no information at all to suggest it gives better chain life than WD40.

[rockiedog2]

--- In DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com, "revmaaatin" wrote:

> > --- In DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com, "rockiedog2" wrote: > > > > Right I agree that's a lot of money. KLR650.com has an oring chain/both sprockets/chain breaker set for 89 bucks. Might be Chinese sprockets or something, but cheap enough that I wouldnt care, personally. Probably run a long time... > > > > So Joe, > Are you going to do a test report on your next trip? > revmaaatin.

ahhh...at the risk of being hooted by the list I have to admit that my next trip is on a 1000 V Strom, but only cause it's 2up. But when I change out the chain I'm running now on my KLR I will give the cheapo one a try and report, if somebody hasn't already done it. And I won't grease or clean it Joe

[The Reverend]

The problem is that you don't know if you overheated the battery until it's too late. Trickle charger is good stuff. If yours is less than half an amp, throw it on there and wait until the battery is charged. Check the fluid every once in a while to ensure it's not evaporating. -----Original Message----- From: DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com [mailto:DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of nakedwaterskier On a new conventional battery, you have to add acid then charge it. I have a 4 amp car charger and I have a very low powered float charger. Will either one or both do the trick? I know 4 amps is too much but I was under the impression as long as you don't overheat the battery, you are fine. So how long should I charge with the 4 amp charger for 5 minutes? Then put on float charger for a few days?

[The Reverend]

Yeah, the consensus over the years by myself and others on other MC lists have been that with WD-40 you get approx 15K miles from a chain (street bikes, not anything for the dirt, so adjust down for ours), and if you do NOT lube the chain, you get approx 15K miles. It's a wear item, so I figure I replace it when it needs replacing. -----Original Message----- From: DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com [mailto:DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of roncriswell@... I went 18,000 on my first chain with very little care and adjustment ..... using WD 40 mostly but not fanatically. I have tried other high tech stuff and low tech ..... WD does just fine by me.