Cleaning chain with WD40? Bad or Ok?

[rvtech24]

ONE of my buddies contacted RK and did his own research, what follows was posted on another forum i'm on....


OK, So I am agitated by people stating that WD-40 with "eat through" or cause o-rings found on our motorcycle chains to "swell" and "deteriorate".

I have never been able to find a single document that exposed the potential damage to o-rings. I decided to take it upon myself to do a little searching to see if there is any type of evidence to support these claims. Here is what I found.

I contacted RK Chain using their "Live Chat" function on their web page:

Jon: Can you tell me the type of rubber used in the o-ring seals of your chains? Is it Buna, Nitrile, Butyl? Thanks, JonFZ1

You are next in queue.We will be with you in just a moment.
Technician Travis: Good morning
Technician Travis: Yes you are correct. Its called Nitrile Butadiene
Technician Travis: Is there anything else I can help you with?
Jon: Thanks for the fast response. You've answered my question perfectly.
Technician Travis: Excellent. If you have any other questions please feel free to contact us.

OK so Nitrile Butadiene is also called Buna-N and is a extremely common rubber used in various applications. Let's look at the compatability of this material with various materials. Luckily there is a excellent resource called eFunda that is a engineering fundamentals site that has an o-ring material comparison for compatabilty with various materials on a scale of 4.

(4) Good, both for static and dynamic seals
(3) Fair, usually OK for static seals
(2) Sometimes OK for static seals; not OK for dynamic seals
(1) Poor
(0) No Data

Let's break the WD-40 down: (Source Wikipedia since WD-40 MSDS site down)
* 50%: Stoddard solvent (mineral spirits, somewhat similar to, but not the same as, kerosene)
* 25%: Liquefied petroleum gas (presumably as a propellant, carbon dioxide is used now to reduce considerable flammability)
* 15+%: Mineral oil (light lubricating oil)
* 10-%: Inert ingredients




Since there is poor evidence that I can find to show lack of compatibility of with WD-40, I have to believe that there is no negative effect of using WD-40 on a motorcycle chain equipped with o-rings.


This was copied from another site.

 

[redkat05]

wow, talk about research! Good job bro. I respect that research, however, there will be those of us, myself included, that will continually rely on what feels comfortable. For me, thats the kerosene + chain lube method.

Maybe make that explanation a sticky
Posted via Mobile Device

 

[rvtech24]

I'm just saying that WD40 is not harmful as a chain cleaner.

I clean my chain with kerosene every time I replace my tires, which is about every 3000 miles, last weekend I installed the 12th set.

Like I stated earlier, I clean it with wd40 after every ride and lube it with 50wt oil.

A friend of mine is a suzuki tech, he checks my chain every month to see if it is within specs.

I dont drag race, or abuse my bike.

I'm almost 60 years old and been ridin bikes for 45 years, so I do know a little about chains, and yes I will have it replaced when it is streched to its limits.