Loosen rusty chain

[GTs58]

YES it will! Watch this. Not the best, but "best value for the dollar." Evaporust is HIGH $$$$$$ STUFF

I've seen that vid before and I didn't see any rust removed by any of those penetrating chemicals that time or this time.

Rust removal..............Watch the vid......... https://thecabe.com/forum/threads/rust-removal-methods-explained.139986/

 

[Rivnut]

The guy with the chain is trying to break free the rust that's keeping his chain "stuck stiff." The ATF and acetone will do that. The only reason I brought it up is because this is the method I used to loosen the rust that had frozen the chain on my 1935 Elgin. We should have him reply again. Does he want to loosen the rust so the chain is now longer "stuck stiff" or does he want to remove the rust so the chain looks good but is still "stuck stiff" ? Maybe both? In either case we should let him decide.

 

[Rivnut]

Here's another video worth watching. Talk about an inexpensive way to remove rust, this is it. Buy molasses at your local farm feed store for about $3 / gallon and dilute it to a 1:9 solution of molasses to water. Comes out to about $.33 / gallon. WARNING it will eat into pot metal. I set a power seat frame for one of my Rivieras into this kind of solution and one of my connecting nuts was eaten away some. But as far as I know there is no pot metal on a bike frame or other hard metal parts. I've never tried it on chrome because there are easier ways to handle that.

 

[Balloonoob]

It's been a little over a week and a couple blisters later and the chain is loosened up a bit. I switched to wd40 a few days back. Meant to pick up some rustoleum but never did. Appearance is not a priority. Just getting it loose enough to use. I think there is 55 large links and a master link. I'm thrilled that this chain i got for free seems like it will work at some point. Since appearance is less than important i took a wire wheel lightly to each side of the chain (probably should have done this earlier) wiggled it as best I could with both hands and gloves this time and put it back in the wd40 bag and added some oil....hey it's a chain right? Perhaps i should have waited on the oil. I got the green paint off the bars with the same wire wheel attachment but I just scraped at it by hand vs using a drill. There was no chrome hiding out. I like the way it turned out. I'm actually trying to add rust and a patina look to one of these fenders. Not sure how one rusted nicely over the years and one looks like paint was scraped off revealing chrome underneath. I may just need to grind these down to bare steel and rust them up from there. Eventually I will find a rusty frame i like to put this stuff on.

 

[all riders]

If you have time, it hard to beat kerosene--it's cheap, cheap enough to totally cover the chain in the bottom of a bucket. Obviously it will lube the joints and will also soften the rust. Once it starts to make progress on the function of the chain, you can add in lengths of small chain, or bird shot , or old, small nuts and bolts. get them all swirling in the bottom, the added items will "beat" the rust off of the chain

 

[Balloonoob]

Well this thread took a chain in direction. I sprayed a clear coat over the bars. I'll get a better picture of them later but they seem darker and a little glossy and I like em. I did end up scraping the fenders down to bare metal. I got these for free at the Denver swap and they had matching spray paint. They were not rusting the same before I took off the paint and they are not rusting the same after. The pics show the first and second spray down with rusty 3000. (vinegar hydrogen peroxide and salt mix) the one on the right rusted instantly. The one on the left is taking longer and seemed to wipe off easily. Is the left one stainless steel? If I keep at it eventually they will "match" better right?

 

[Balloonoob]

I kinda like the contrasting look of the chrome stem and rusty bars.

 

[Rivnut]

Stick a magnet on them. Magnets don't stick to stainless.

 

[Balloonoob]

Stick a magnet on them. Magnets don't stick to stainless.

Ok. I'll try that. It's pretty obvious that they are different. One is super rusty now. The other barely rusted at all.

 

[GTs58]

Stick a magnet on them. Magnets don't stick to stainless.

That's not 100% true. There are many different grades of stainless steel and some are magnetic. I can stick a magnet on all my Schwinn Corvette fenders and I have a SS set off a Fair Lady that had slight rust on the underside of the front fender.