Chain oiler install

[AZJW]

For a lot of reasons,  being cheap as the main one, I installed a manual chain oiler on my T7.  Multi day camping trips revealed I really dislike chain maintenance, especially when parked in the dirt.  There are a ton of auto oilers that will do this job and just as many reasons why I went with the simplest manual version.  It took longer to find my tools than it took to do this install,  which didn't require drilling any holes in my T7, except for a easily replaced piece of plastic.  

 

Here's the parts you'll need if you decide to go this route:

Chain oiler.  

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M6x30 bolt & flange nut

3/16" drill bit 

Drill out the supplied bracket to accept the M6 bolt.

I removed the bolt that secures the coolant tank and replaced it with the M6x30 and secured the bracket for the oiler reservoir.  The reservoir hangs out a bit when viewed from above, but is behind the fairing and doesn't interfere with my leg, seated or standing. 

 

 

Remove the countershaft cover and remove the plastic spacer ( Guide, Inlet as per oem parts list) and drill a 3/16" hole in the desired location for the oil feed tube. I tried a location aft of the countershaft, but settled on placing it centered, directly above the chain,  just ahead of the countershaft for better coverage. The 3/16" hole will appear to be too small,  but you want a press fit so the tube doesn't move.  I used a utility knife on the opening to get the oil tube started in the hole. 

 

 

 

The instructions recommend placing the reservoir on the handlebars and the oil tube against the rear sprocket,  but that's a lot of extra exposure to rocks and brush that I didn't want to deal with.  Also,the rear sprocket location makes a mess of the rear wheel, which is another reason I put it up front. I've got over 600 miles of testing so far( about 200 in the dirt on rocky stuff) and nothing has moved. The lower engine case and skid plate get some oil drips, but the chain looks lubed to prevent rust and the rear wheel doesn't get trashed like it did with flung off, sprayed on chain lube.  I've been using 80W transmission oil and it seems to do the job. 

 

There are a bunch of arguments for/against these things and just as many opinions on which oil weight, spray lube, WD -40 etc to use, but this thread isn't for those discussions.   It's simply a how-to install an inexpensive chain oiler that eliminates taking spray lube, extra stands etc for chain maintenance when on a multi day trip. Ymmv.

 

 

 

[thepointchris]

To me it looks like a solid solution - and for that money, how can you be wrong?

 

[Hibobb]

13 hours ago, AZJW said:

 

 

 

 

Your bike looks so very clean right now.... I don't know how well you will emotionally handle the oily mess (wink).

[williestreet]

I think the reason most systems drop the oil at the rear before the sprocket is the oil lands on the inside of the chain. Centrifugal force and the sprocket contact force the oil to travel across the thickness of the chain and it is more likely to spread evenly and stay on the chain.  Also oil spreads to the sprocket and then gets transferred to other links.

 

I like your clean install, but I think dropping oil on the outside just before the chain turns 180 degrees is not an ideal location.  I would think dropping it on the outside and the rapid 180 degree turn would fling the oil off before it ever has a chance to travel across the thickness of the chain.

 

It is a nice clean install. Let us know how it works out long term.  

[Ray Ride4life]

I have the OSCO and also on top of the front sprocket.
Reason is the short piece of hose from the oiler to the sprocket, the less there is the less that can brake which also applies for hoses.
You have to pull a plunger to start and when you do that just before a stop (gas station, campsite or back home) and go nice and slow the last few hundred metres it works just fine.

[williestreet]

Thanks for the info.

Sounds reasonable and a slightly different method than the Scott oiler and some others.  

 

[AZJW]

Well.... @Hibobbwas right, my OCD tendencies have got the better of me. Oil drips from one of my bikes has never been tolerated ( never owned a Harley and only wear their Tshirt cause' it was free) so while this chain oiler is great for trips, local around town and parking in my garage daily, not so much.  Tired of cardboard diapers under the T7 but, drips on our brand new driveway pavers was the last straw.  It'll be on the shelf until the next multi day trip, then I'll slap it back on, which will eliminate chain maintenance on the road.

[Hibobb]

@AZJW I take no glory in being correct with my guess. I am with you on the importance of oiling a chain. No spray wax or WD40 and wipe-off for me. 90W oil and live with the mess is what I do. That said.... if yamaha came out with a Tenere 700 A/T (Adventure/Touring) with a shaft drive, it would be my first choice.

 

Before I am banished from the site for blasphemy, I know it would add weight, cost, and effect geometry in the corners. Chain dives are superior in many ways, but I would gladly trade that all away for a tried and proven shaft drive "For my style of riding these days".

 

Yamaha had one on my old 1978 XS750E and I  loved it. Change 6oz of oil every 10,000 miles, that was it!

[Colddog]

I also have a 79 xs750, the shaft drive is great, less jacking than my old '83 GS850L.  I was hoping for a mt-09 powered T9 with shaft drive.  Happy with the T7 though, but one can dream!

[Dougie]

I’ll be banging a scottoiler on mine when I get round to it. Dual injector. Took it from my old blade. You’ll never adjust a chain again, at least not for years. When it’s adjusted correctly,  there’s no extra mess plus it cleans itself. Not sticky like sprays. Not looked for a vacuum tap yet but guessing there one at the inlet. 

[Boondocker]

On 4/13/2022 at 6:36 AM, AZJW said:

Well.... @Hibobbwas right, my OCD tendencies have got the better of me. Oil drips from one of my bikes has never been tolerated ( never owned a Harley and only wear their Tshirt cause' it was free) so while this chain oiler is great for trips, local around town and parking in my garage daily, not so much.  Tired of cardboard diapers under the T7 but, drips on our brand new driveway pavers was the last straw.  It'll be on the shelf until the next multi day trip, then I'll slap it back on, which will eliminate chain maintenance on the road.

 Thanks @AZJW for the feedback. I like the concept of a manual oiler, especially when travelling. In your write-up, I didn't see a trigger mechanism, so I'm wondering if this device is more like a constant oiler as opposed to one that you turn on/off. Something like a petcock that you could open at the start of a ride to drip oil until the chain is sufficiently lubed (experiment to determine how long that takes), then close the supply valve. Residual oil in the feed tube would drip out but that would be okay while riding. You just wouldn't want to do your lube event at the end of a ride (to home) where you might risk soiling your pavers. I hate when that happens.

[AZJW]

@Boondocker Admittedly I went cheap as the more mainstream chain oilers cost $100-200, which is more than I'm willing to spend to prevent having to hand apply lube.  My oiler is supposedly a metered distribution,  based on a 1/4 turn for each application.   Even when it was working as advertised it still put some occassional drips on the skidplate, but the current mess it's making isn't worth the trouble to me. I know others have had success with this model, but unless I'm going on a multi day trip, I'll keep hand applying it.

[Wintersdark]

42 minutes ago, Dougie said:

I’ll be banging a scottoiler on mine when I get round to it. Dual injector. Took it from my old blade. You’ll never adjust a chain again, at least not for years. When it’s adjusted correctly,  there’s no extra mess plus it cleans itself. Not sticky like sprays. Not looked for a vacuum tap yet but guessing there one at the inlet. 

I use Tutoro's on my bikes.  No vacuum tap, no power required, only runs when the bike is in motion, as it's got a vibration activated valve so you don't need to worry about over-oiling or forgetting to use it.  Very simple setup and installation, works every bit as well, and quite a bit cheaper.  Also, no danger of electrical or vacuum failures if things go sideways - it's a system wholly independent of the bike.  But for all that, scottoilers are good kit for sure.  

 

And yeah, once you get them tuned in there's no mess or dripping.  My chains are always clean, rust free and lubricated, even when I'm out riding in salty brine day after day.  It's really nice to have a system that not only keeps the chain lubricated but clean.  Chain guard keeps the minor fling off the bike (I don't care how oily the underside of my chain guard is) so the worst that happens is my rear rim tends to be dirty, but... Eh, that happens riding anyways. 

 

Really though I feel their value depends REALLY heavily on how much riding you do day to day.  If it's just occassional bigger trips, generally cleaning/lubing before/after is fine, or random hobby riding where you just do it every few weeks or whatever.  And of course if you've got a convenient place to do it (garage, etc). 

 

Personally, though, I had to clean/lube my chain daily over the winter, and at least once a week in the summer.  It just became too much of a pain in the ass.  I love auto oilers personally, but for sure they aren't for everyone.  I do think that you definitely either want an automatic one or not bother, though.  

[Wintersdark]

I'd not considered a front sprocket oiling.   It's an interesting idea.

 

That looks to have advantages regarding neatness of installation, however, oiling the outside of the chain is going to result in MUCH less oil penetration across the whole chain: it's going to primarily remain on the outside surfaces (what doesn't get flung off, anyways).  If you could apply the oil to the front sprocket, however, capillary action would work in the same way it does in the rear, lubricating both sides of the chain and all the mating surfaces of the sprocket. Side note: you don't need to oil both sides of a sprocket - testing has showed that single sided oiling will still distribute oil across the whole chain equally well.  What's important is that you're not dripping oil onto the chain, rather you're constantly pulling oil onto a surface in continuous contact to maintain an oil film, which gets spread outwards.  Droplets will tend to just be splashed off when the chain is wizzing by, then centrifugal force tries to keep what remains on the outside. 

 

Still, if you could set it up to apply the oil to the side of the sprocket; maybe to the bumper (stock rubberized sprocket) on the open rearward side, that would probably work well.  Hmmm.  The open sprocket guard on the T7 may work for this.  Gonna go take a look at that right now.

 

Edit: 

 Current oiler mounting

 

 

Something like this could work. 

 

Edited April 20, 2022 by Wintersdark

[Ray Ride4life]

5 minutes ago, Wintersdark said:

it's going to primarily remain on the outside surfaces

That's the only part that needs oil.
Nowadays we all have O/X/Z/W or whatever ring chains. Lubricant is IN the rollers and stays there due to the sealing rings.
You just apply i little oil on the outside to reduce friction between the rollers and sprocket and it also has a bit of a cleaning effect plus it prevents the rubber to dry out too fast.
When the oil penetrates it means the seals are gone and the chain needs to be changed and when that happened before the chain is stretched to the limit you probably went nuts with a power washer.

[Wintersdark]

10 minutes ago, Ray Ride4life said:

That's the only part that needs oil.
Nowadays we all have O/X/Z/W or whatever ring chains. Lubricant is IN the rollers and stays there due to the sealing rings.
You just apply i little oil on the outside to reduce friction between the rollers and sprocket and it also has a bit of a cleaning effect plus it prevents the rubber to dry out too fast.
When the oil penetrates it means the seals are gone and the chain needs to be changed and when that happened before the chain is stretched to the limit you probably went nuts with a power washer.

You misunderstand.  I don't mean the total outer surfaces of the chain (and I totally agree with your reasoning here) I mean literally only the outermost parts.  I'm not talking about getting into orings to lubricate, I just mean to fully coat the chain.  When you apply oil to the sprocket, that oil spreads and forms a film *from that point on the sprocket outwards*, but not inwards.  You can see the exact point on my rear sprocket where oil is applied as the sprocket remains dry towards the axle, but gets a nice thin coat of oil outwards towards the chain, and the constant contact ensures it's a continuous coating where 100% of the applied oil works it's way outwards and gets onto the chain.  The spinning motion of the chain makes the oil move from the sprocket, onto the plates, across the plates, and to the outside edges where excess is flung off carrying with it any debris that the chain has captured.  If you drip oil down onto the chain and sprocket while it's spinning, a large portion of that oil will be splashed off the chain immediately, and much of what remains will just be on the outermost edges and not be carried inwards - not inwards inside the chain, inwards as in towards the sprocket.  Some will, as it'll be splashed all over the place, but you'll either have to make a fair bit of mess over-oiling, or you won't get adequate coverage over the chain.  

 

I mean, it'll be better than nothing for sure, but it's highly inefficient and as a result messy. Ironically, this would work best with a non-automatic oiler, or perhaps at low speed riding, applying some oil in a go while you're stopped so it can soak down through the chain and onto the sprocket, then be distributed outwards while riding.

 

[Ray Ride4life]

I just made a picture from my setup.
A made a pull ring out of zip ties for an easy pull.

 

And if you look closely you can see the little hose (oil line) on top of the sprocket.

 

In this way the hose can't be shorter and the shorter the hose the less can go wrong.
This setup is tested to the max, just pull the ring just before you get home or at the gas station or when you forget just slow down to somewhere around 20km/h pull and a couple hundred meters further you can continue with nice shiny rollers.

[kainic]

4 hours ago, Ray Ride4life said:

I just made a picture from my setup.
A made a pull ring out of zip ties for an easy pull.

 

And if you look closely you can see the little hose (oil line) on top of the sprocket.

 

In this way the hose can't be shorter and the shorter the hose the less can go wrong.
This setup is tested to the max, just pull the ring just before you get home or at the gas station or when you forget just slow down to somewhere around 20km/h pull and a couple hundred meters further you can continue with nice shiny rollers.

Do you just have the oil line sitting on top of the front sprocket?

[Ray Ride4life]

5 hours ago, kainic said:

Do you just have the oil line sitting on top of the front sprocket?

Yes, just hovering above it. Otherwise it gets caught when rolling backwards.

Edited April 21, 2022 by Ray Ride4life

[kainic]

On 4/20/2022 at 11:49 PM, Ray Ride4life said:

Yes, just hovering above it. Otherwise it gets caught when rolling backwards.

Just picked up a used OSCO oiler. Going to try this setup. How are you keeping just above the front, doesn't is droop down?

[Ray Ride4life]

25 minutes ago, kainic said:

Just picked up a used OSCO oiler. Going to try this setup. How are you keeping just above the front, doesn't is droop down?

In the box you'll find a metal clip to fix the hose, i bend that and fixed it in between the sprocket cover.
It's a bit fiddly but it works and without an exposed hose there is less chance to rip it on a trail.

[Moto X]

Wash bike and WD40 chain after wash.  Worked for me for 40 years.  Never had chain issues. 

[Lewie]

I always thought wd40 sort of creates the opposite effect 

I use it when I want to remove something sticky 

[Ray Ride4life]

The only thing good about WD40 is the marketing.

I only use it like @Lewieis to clean greasy bits.

[roygilbo]

On 6/5/2022 at 2:34 PM, kainic said:

Just picked up a used OSCO oiler. Going to try this setup. How are you keeping just above the front, doesn't is droop down?

Where did you find a used one?