Chain questions

[Rickyrebar]

What are the chains (brands) of choice among the members?
What are the features of these brands that make them stand out compared to other brands?
What tools are required for replacing a chain?
Does anyone have some discriptive photo's and / or directions for this process for a newbie?

[nateftbl]

free bump for the newbie!

[ReconRider25]

stock chain seems to work good.

DID 520 o-ring chain. the xrings are waste of money IMO....you need a chain breaker

[JD400exrider]

No complaints with the DID X ring. You can remove the stock chain with a grinder. Grind down one of the link pins and pop it apart. The after market chains will come with a master link.

[wilkin250r]

A solid bolt cutter will also work to remove the stock chain, but I recommend using a small grinder because you may need it for the replacement chain.

One obstacle you may run into is chain length. Count the links on your stock chain, I believe you should come up with 96. You may not be able to buy a 96-link chain, you may have to purchase a 102-link chain, and cut off 6 links. For this, you WILL need a grinder, because you don't want to actually cut the link. You grind off an end of one of the pins, and push it out to remove the excess links.

It's really not hard. Even if you have never worked on your quad before at all, I say you could still do the chain. There are only two important things to remember. The first is obvious, don't cut off too many links. The old carpenter's addage applies: Measure twice, cut once.

The second isn't so obvious. If you make a mistake and you have to pull your new chain off, do NOT re-use the master link clip. It looses about 50% of it's strength when you pull it off. You can buy the clips seperately real cheap. ALWAYS use a new clip when you install your chain.