# How to remove a vintage master link



## Jennifer Parker

This is is how to remove a vintage master link that is the older spring steel type. They have no clips holding the plate on. They are held on by the pins being slightly wider than the cover plate's holes. The plate fits into the grooves in the pins and locks it into position. I also discuss how to find your master link if you have a super crusty chain as I did. 

[video=youtube_share;-9voIF29ZrA]http://youtu.be/-9voIF29ZrA[/video]

i also hope I did this right to upload it.


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## bike

*I  Like It!*

more people need to put in the effort to make a vid!
not me of course...


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## ThegoodThebad&Therusty

A little birdie told me the unsinkable Jennifer Parker even had to do this twice due to an unfortunate technological incident resulting in the loss of the entire content of the first production.

I hate it when that happens 

Way to hang with it ...

pap
.


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## Jennifer Parker

*And three set adjustments for lighting!*

I actually haven't posted the entire content of the earlier failure. That would have been a whole lot longer. I figure it's better to break it up into tiny bites for the ADHD folks like me. I had the phone propped up in a koosie on top of a small metal coffee can to get the right height clearance. And the loud click and sudden brightness was a super bright led lamp with two flat panels of lights that are stupidly amounts of adjustable. 

If you haven't seen the pictures of my before and after chain cleaning efforts I have them for two of the chains. My murray, and mom's western flyer. My chain pictures will be first. Then mom's. Trust me, hers was a miracle moment. 

My my chain was so crusty I couldn't find the master link, and I spent almost a week trying. The first picture is the chain "repair" tool that's supposed to mash one of the pins out so you can take it off the frame. I was careful, and slow, and backed it off several times to check my alignment. I barely got the pin on the chai to shift when the driver pin on the tool snapped off. The second shot is me going old school and propping the chain on a wood block, taking an old ice pick and rubber mallet, and tapping the pin out. 

Tapping... Yeah... Okay; so a real short, hard swing as the light touch wasn't working. Please not the nasty color the chain has in the first two pictures. The chain was a black sedis sport chain, and I don't know why. It's period, though. That's why the finish is a little uneven in the third picture.  I pushed the pin I whacked out with a small c-clamp. I put the pin into the threaded arm's footwell and slowly shoved it back I. There. I spent five minutes ensuring the thing was going in straight. I flipped the chain when I was as close as could get so I could make it even with the rest. 

Ill have to finish this tomorrow. I'm so tired.


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## Jennifer Parker

*Chain off one of my western flyers...*

This is the chain on one of the western flyers. It's more a chain shaped object in the first picture. I took another picture after the first degreaser and detergent round of scrubbing. This one has some rust visible. Most of what's still on it was hardened lube and crud. The last shot is after three cleaning rounds with lots of scrubbing with a brass bristle brush. I lubricated it so it would be nice and pretty. The master link is visible in the second and third picture. The plate style like this is easier to find on heavily crusty chains so you can concentrate on soaking that part when soaking it to get it off he bike easier. It open the same as the one in the video I made.

I also soaked it in an oxalic acid bath after all the degreasing to get the rust. Way at do you think of my finished product?


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## RJWess

Jennifer Parker said:


> This is the chain on one of the western flyers. It's more a chain shaped object in the first picture. I took another picture after the first degreaser and detergent round of scrubbing. This one has some rust visible. Most of what's still on it was hardened lube and crud. The last shot is after three cleaning rounds with lots of scrubbing with a brass bristle brush. I lubricated it so it would be nice and pretty. The master link is visible in the second and third picture. The plate style like this is easier to find on heavily crusty chains so you can concentrate on soaking that part when soaking it to get it off he bike easier. It open the same as the one in the video I made.
> 
> I also soaked it in an oxalic acid bath after all the degreasing to get the rust. Way at do you think of my finished product?




You can spend about ten minutes a get these results. No scrubbing with wire brushes and multiple chemicals. Just a bucket, Goof Off, and towel.


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## Jennifer Parker

I've tried goof off, and it didn't work very well for me. It may be good for chains that are less crusty then mine were.


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## DJ Bill

Here's my chains which were bought here or off project bikes.....First step was to soak in dollar store degreasers.....I was surprised at how much the chains loosened up after just the degreaser for an afternoon in the warm sun. Here the4 chains are drying after degreasing in the coffee can full of the degreaser I show here. I didn't get a before shot for some reason but trust me, they were typical rust and grease encrusted stiff chains. 




After degreasing, soaking in new Evaporust...The chain on top was black and cruddy before, like yours,but once the grease was cleaned off the chain was almost new looking. You can see a few rusted spots where the grease did not protect it, and this was what I was attempting to clean off. The rollers are also stuck somewhat but freed up after derusting, unlike some of my worse chains..




What Jennifer did was try to clean the chain on the bike, so she could find the masterlink...That is a hard way to clean a chain, once it is off the bike it is a ton easier. But, catch 22, you can't find that master without cleaning it. I have access to air tools, and might have been tempted to use a soft air powered wire brush to preclean, till I found the link. A brass brush by hand might be an option too.

The question I have, on skiptooth chains, are the rollers supposed to be able to turn in all cases, and will they loosen up once on a bike if you get them to the point you could move them with a needle nose pliers but not with your fingers?? I can get the side plates to shine like new with Evaporust but the rollers remain black.


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## Jennifer Parker

The evaporust is awesome, but my budget is too tight for it. I said cleaning the chain on the bike if you can't find the master link. The other two where I could find them were just soaked where the master link was so I could get it open. I don't have a person to wield a screw driver while I'm trying to pop off a still stuck, crusty master link. I do all the major cleaning once they're off the bike.


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## Obi-Wan Schwinnobi

My chain splitter broke the exact same way... Piece of Chinese crap!


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## Jennifer Parker

Obi-Wan Schwinnobi said:


> My chain splitter broke the exact same way... Piece of Chinese crap!




Yeah, and my bikes may be considered non-collectible, department store bikes, but they're certainly tougher than the ones made now.


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## 2jakes

Obi-Wan Schwinnobi said:


> My chain splitter broke the exact same way... Piece of Chinese crap!




Same here until...


 hasn't broken yet ...


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## 2jakes

*Jennifer*

.


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## TammyN

Jennifer Parker said:


> This is is how to remove a vintage master link that is the older spring steel type. They have no clips holding the plate on. They are held on by the pins being slightly wider than the cover plate's holes. The plate fits into the grooves in the pins and locks it into position. I also discuss how to find your master link if you have a super crusty chain as I did.
> 
> [video=youtube_share;-9voIF29ZrA]http://youtu.be/-9voIF29ZrA[/video]
> 
> i also hope I did this right to upload it.




Thanks for posting this! I'm going to be removing a skip-tooth chain soon, and I'm worried about screwing it up. I hope it has a master link because I'm pretty sure a chain took won't work.


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## 2jakes

TammyN said:


> Thanks for posting this! I'm going to be removing a skip-tooth chain soon, and I'm worried about screwing it up. I hope it has a master link because I'm pretty sure a chain took won't work.
> 
> 
> This is my skip-tooth chain :
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Master link removed from the chain:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This is what's stamped on the side that has the 2 pins.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This is the shape of the Master Link on the right which comes off.
> the other links have a curve .


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## TammyN

Jake, those are great photos, thanks for sharing, As soon as the temperature gets above freezing I'll go out to the garage and take a closer look at my chIn.


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## Jennifer Parker

TammyN said:


> Thanks for posting this! I'm going to be removing a skip-tooth chain soon, and I'm worried about screwing it up. I hope it has a master link because I'm pretty sure a chain took won't work.




You're welcome! That's why I posted it, because of how frustrating it is to see it, and can't get it to come off.


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## jkent

I know it's not biodegradable but this does work really good on chains........ GASOLINE! 
I have a small bucket with a lid and a tumbler I put the gas in and tumble the chain. You'd be amazed at the results. I have not taken any pictures of any of the chains I have done but, it does work good. 
I use gas first.
Tumble with gas second
then use a copper wire brush
Then back in gas 
Then a degreaser
Then into evaporust.
And the chin comes out looking like new.
The whole process probably takes about an hour per chain.


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## Jennifer Parker

jkent said:


> I know it's not biodegradable but this does work really good on chains........ GASOLINE!
> I have a small bucket with a lid and a tumbler I put the gas in and tumble the chain. You'd be amazed at the results. I have not taken any pictures of any of the chains I have done but, it does work good.
> I use gas first.
> Tumble with gas second
> then use a copper wire brush
> Then back in gas
> Then a degreaser
> Then into evaporust.
> And the chin comes out looking like new.
> The whole process probably takes about an hour per chain.




I've used gasoline and naphtha before. If you take the lid off, and leave it outside the stuff will evaporate out. Gotta cover it if it rains or put it under a porch or awning otherwise.


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## TammyN

I haven't tried it, but have heard that a solution of 1 part Molasses to 9 parts water works like Evaporust, but more slowly. I don't know what ingredient is responsible for that, possibly the glucose which is a reducing sugar. The color of the used solution might give a clue. Molasses ferments to citric acid, which is a metal chelator and would pull rust off of steel. That might explain why it's supposedly more effective when left to sit for a few days. (Probably smells bad if you keep it around too long.) Citric acid is cheap in the form of unflavored Kool-Aid. If spring ever gets here I plan to gather up some small pieces of rusty scrap metal and experiment with some cheap alternatives to Evaporust. I like non-toxic stuff that can be rinsed down the drain without fear of the pipes exploding. Evaporust is great but too expensive to fill a large tub for soaking big stuff.


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## scrubbinrims

I have an extra chain breaker that interrogates one link at a time, skip tooth or regular that I would sell reasonably so you could use the butter knife for...I don't know...spreading butter.
You would have to shoot the video again however.
Chris


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## Jennifer Parker

TammyN said:


> I haven't tried it, but have heard that a solution of 1 part Molasses to 9 parts water works like Evaporust, but more slowly. I don't know what ingredient is responsible for that, possibly the glucose which is a reducing sugar. The color of the used solution might give a clue. Molasses ferments to citric acid, which is a metal chelator and would pull rust off of steel. That might explain why it's supposedly more effective when left to sit for a few days. (Probably smells bad if you keep it around too long.) Citric acid is cheap in the form of unflavored Kool-Aid. If spring ever gets here I plan to gather up some small pieces of rusty scrap metal and experiment with some cheap alternatives to Evaporust. I like non-toxic stuff that can be rinsed down the drain without fear of the pipes exploding. Evaporust is great but too expensive to fill a large tub for soaking big stuff.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk




sulpher and phosphate. The mollases has phosphate in it, and mollases that doesn't say unsulphered works better. It takes weeks, though.


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## Jennifer Parker

scrubbinrims said:


> I have an extra chain breaker that interrogates one link at a time, skip tooth or regular that I would sell reasonably so you could use the butter knife for...I don't know...spreading butter.
> You would have to shoot the video again however.
> Chris



I'll take it! Pics please, and price.


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## 2jakes

*Bicycle Chain Cleaner*



TammyN said:


> I haven't tried it, but have heard that a solution of 1 part Molasses to 9 parts water works like Evaporust, but more slowly. I don't know what ingredient is responsible for that, possibly the glucose which is a reducing sugar. The color of the used solution might give a clue. Molasses ferments to citric acid, which is a metal chelator and would pull rust off of steel. That might explain why it's supposedly more effective when left to sit for a few days. (Probably smells bad if you keep it around too long.) Citric acid is cheap in the form of unflavored Kool-Aid. If spring ever gets here I
> plan to gather up some small pieces of rusty scrap metal and experiment with some cheap alternatives to Evaporust. I like non-toxic stuff that can be rinsed down the drain without fear of the pipes exploding. Evaporust is great but too expensive to fill a large tub for soaking big stuff.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk




*Bike chain kit:*




Comes with 2 bottles of cleanser, good for 4 applications.



. 


 I will probably still remove the chain from the bike & do a thorough cleaning.
 I see this more as a secondary way to maintain the chain clean.


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## scrubbinrims

*back on the chain gang*

JP,
Here is the chain breaker I spoke of, works great with any chain and one pin at a time.
Not structured for 1/2 pitch standard as the modern chainbreakers.
The chuck is missing (handle), but it twists without or replace with a modern chuck, nail, etc...
Chris


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## Jennifer Parker

scrubbinrims said:


> JP,
> Here is the chain breaker I spoke of, works great with any chain and one pin at a time.
> Not structured for 1/2 pitch standard as the modern chainbreakers.
> The chuck is missing (handle), but it twists without or replace with a modern chuck, nail, etc...
> Chris
> View attachment 135696View attachment 135697



Are the arms on it spring loaded, or do they lock in somehow? It will fit all the chain sizes which is awesome.


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## scrubbinrims

It is spring loaded...you squeeze the chuck and the straight pole together to open the jaws as they clamp at rest.
Best 10 dollars you will spend.
Chris


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## TammyN

2jakes said:


> *Bike chain kit:*
> 
> 
> 
> Comes with 2 bottles of cleanser, good for 4 applications.
> 
> 
> 
> .
> 
> 
> I will probably still remove the chain from the bike & do a thorough cleaning.
> I see this more as a secondary way to maintain the chain clean.




I have one of these! It's great for maintaining my daily riders. I haven't tried it on a really crusty chain. I go through three changes of liquid each time on chains that are cleaned about every 200 miles.


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## Jennifer Parker

scrubbinrims said:


> It is spring loaded...you squeeze the chuck and the straight pole together to open the jaws as they clamp at rest.
> Best 10 dollars you will spend.
> Chris



Absolutely! I'm going to buy it! I found a picture of the same style one.


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