Lube chain & leaky chaincase

That's what I do on my single.. after a while of trying to fettle an 85 year old chain case to hold oil I gave up and now do exactly as you describe. I don't do many miles and it seems to work ok. 

Perfectly reasonable and much less hassle. Modern chains last for ever if you spray them and keep road dirt off. Works for mine. I don't think there's a lot to choose between sprays but it might be best to avoid ones containing silicone as that won't do the clutch grip a lot of good.

A drip feed  opened by manifold depression  would be  better  ,you could even fit a Scottoiler that is entirely automatic  , but the clutch bearing  is going to need  some lube somehow.

If you actually use your bike hard, chain lube through the inspection hole isn't good enough. I tried it once before a fast ride from Edinburgh to Bristol. The primary chain was far too hot to touch and the chaincase was full of broken rollers. 

Same as Gordon.  A few years ago I ran mine with chain lube on the chain and not in the chaincase as an experiment.  The brand new chain was seriously slack after 200 miles and after 800 miles it was destroyed, but I do like to be on full chat.   I spoke to Andy the Chain Man and he wasn't in the least surprised that I'd wrecked the chain and said that chains are simply not designed for this sort of use (abuse) - very high speeds over the sprockets, all the lube gets melted and flung off and as Gordon says, excessive heat too.  I went back to using the chaincase as an oil bath and now hardly need to adjust the primary chain.

When I had my bike running in the '80s, somehow I got the primary case totally oil-tight. Once I got it running again, a mere 30 years later, I struggled with increasing difficulty to get it to seal.  The harder I tried, the more leaky it got.

Then I took a look at the outer pressing, and realised that my efforts had distorted it.  The angle of the pressing at top and bottom was far greater than at the ends.  So, I used a bench vice to bend it back, protecting the paint with paper.  Carefully reassembled, with some Hermetite smeared on the rubber seal, and it weeps just a little.  Just a token effort at leaking.  A couple of months after last checking, it took one or two tablespoons - I think thatt's pretty good, says I carefully touching wood.

Paul

My 99 cafe race took me to work and back for 30 years and the primary cases hardly ever stained a kerbside or driveway with drips. The sealing band was just coated with grease and the outer case nut screwed in until a single thread was showing.

Of possible interest here being that I always filled the cases with 10W30 or 20W30 until the oil was just kissing the bottom run of the chain.  85,000 miles later I was informed this was the wrong way and that I should have used the level/drain plug to get the volume correct.

My Atlas 750 was equally oil-tight until a woman knocked it over while reversing in a Tesco car park. The footrest snapped off and the outer distorted leaving an oil drip problem I just could not cure, without splodging Silicone all over the rubber band.

Eventually I went down the belt drive conversion road which solved both the annoying drip and heavy clutch issues.

Red rubber grease and a level  to just  allow the chain  to  kiss  and I just get  the odd drip after a run .  No need to top up for months. No rust on my lower frame either.

How to check chaincase level on 1955 500 dominator

The level is when oil stops coming out of the level hole , I usually put the bike on the side stand . After some use I find the level of oil creeps up because of leakage through the main bearing oil seal , so it’s drain some off rather than top it up . 

…in the primary. It’s an open chaincase so I have little choice.  A squirt of chain wax every trip seems to keep things in order…

J

Is that an o ring chain? , they have lubrication sealed inside , but they still could get very hot with no cooling and the clutch bearing is at risk with no oil vapour around