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Restore Rusted Chains

O

Organicfarmer1972

Member
I purchased and old coastal sprigger and today started trying to find out why the wheels won"t turn. It seems every chain is rusted solid from neglect.

Since there are several and probably expensive, how can I restore them to be usable instead of buying new ones ? The most important one is the large chains inside the chamber. There are two on each side with a bar welded between to move the sprigs along. Much too big to get near a grinder or brush.

Any help is appreciated.
 
try a wire wheel on an angle grinder.They work real good and soke them down in every oil imaginable every time you get a chance.might get lucky
 
I've been using electrolysis to derust an old mower. Might work on a chain. Depends if you get electrical contact between the links.
 
Sprigging is something that is not in our country. As I understand it, it is planting coastal bermuda (grass) in the Texas area. I would assume that a 'sprigger' is a machine that is used to do that, and transplanting is planting bunches of a sprig, or rooted plant, into new soil, as being different than planting it from seed.
 
I've had luck with soaking the chains in diesel for several days, then working the chains by hand until they free up. After freeing them up, I would soak them in oil before putting them back on the equipment. It always worked for me. You can probably buy replacement chain, but it's not cheap, though it'll save you a lot of work.
 
I have not tried it but wonder if the electrolysis method would work well on sprocket chains? followed by soaking in lube of course.
 
The way I clean old link chains is tie them to a truck/tractor and drag down a gravel road, then paint or lubricate.
 
This is what I do as well. I don't paint or coat them afterwards though. Had one a few years ago that I got in a pile of scrap. It was so rusted that it was a big solid glob. Hooked it to another chain so that all of it was on the road. About 10 or 20 miles an hour for about 2 miles and it looked like it had been sand blasted and brand new.
 
The chain on my planter was like that when I bought it. I used soak/work by hand/soak method. It works but you must be patient. Local feed store used to carry the chains and master links - until I needed one, apparently not much requested anymore. Also used this method on an old loggin chain and tire chains found buried in the barn.
 
You can mix up a mess of diesel fuel, acetone and ATF. The acetone will eat a lot of the crap out... but you're still going to have to pound every link if the chain is really stuck. Personally... I'd just replace the chain. Especially if you intend to use the machine much.
Even if you get the chain free the damage is already done.
Life will be very limited.

Rod
 
Good chain might be hard to get or be very pricy.

If they are not too far gone, I would put them in a cement mixer.
I've heard with leather scraps works.

Maybe small rocks with diesel fuel in the mixer.
 
I'd be careful with what you do as it's very difficult to clean out a chain.

I soak in Diesel, move the chain by hand (hammer in a vice if really frozen) to free it up. Once I get it mostly freed up I run it on the implement spraying with WD40 or a Diesel/ATF mix to free it up more.

Then more soaking hand moving and cleaning in Diesel to really free it up and get as much of the rust our as I can. The more grit you can get out the better as it's like sandpaper in the individual links.

Then in to AFT to make sure it's as lubricated as much as possible. I finish with a heaver oil - coat and work in as best as possible.

Life will be short but hopefully will work for a while.
 
I presume that you're talking roller chain
so if there's rust in the rollers it's inside as
well as outside, so cleaning it isn't going to
help the inside, and some rollers will stick.
It is'nt going to last very long and will cause
excess wear on sprokets. Better off to replace.
 
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