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Not allSilent Chain Created Equal ... FYI

Ox

Snowest's Axe Murderer
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Just going through spare parts here. I have upgraded to 15 wide chains on both of our Zx Summits many years ago and one of these two 13w chains may be original from one of them. (I know that I blew the original in one of them the first season doo to ratcheting)

So - I only keep the 13w's around as spares, and need to keep that top gear with the chain as the 13w won't fit the 15w top gear of course...

But if you look, one is built heavier than the other.

The top one say "LB S37 USA" and Google search popped up on SW Kitty Cat board that LB stands for Link Belt. I know they make dredging and such type equipment, never heard them in the chain business before. But via the name - it stands to reason that they at least started in the belting industry...

The bottom one says Morse.

The LB has .140 pins and the Morse has .160 pins.

The LB will make a tighter rad w/o binding, but I would hafta run a 4 tooth gear for that to be an issue, so ....

Unfortunately - I found that the 15w on my sled has the .140 pins. I don't recall for sure where I bought my 15w chains at. At first I thought it was Dennis Kirk, but a quick trip through their 2008 catalogue doesn't show any. So maybe I got them from Wahl or Team?

In the future, maybe I want to order my chain through my industrial supplier (Applied) and spec Morse?

DSCN1081_zpsd6rxoad9.jpg



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LoudHandle

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From the pic; my gut is saying the bottom (Morse) chain is HYVO not silent and is not designed to run with silent chain sprockets. It is a far superior chain to the Link Belt silent chain though. All automotive manufactures switched their timing chain to HYVO from Silent chain nearly three decades ago. FWIW
 

Ox

Snowest's Axe Murderer
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I don't have a Hyvo here to compare to, but it fits the 13w 21t sprocket just fine.
We run 19 t top gears tho.

I don't know if I can cough up a lower sprocket w/o taking one off a sled tho.

The pin spacing on the two chains is the same.
They both seems to have the same clearance to the sprocket width wise too.

???

I know that we put a Hyvo on my chums Polaris at one point.. but it's not here...

I know the hyvo's are considered better, but to upgrade the 13w Silent all I had'ta doo was buy the chain and an upper sprocket. Well, I had to releive the piss outta the sprocket face to get the nut in stock position. Not sure what y'all doo that don't have a full machine shop in your backyard doo?

The stock 13w lower is good enough - just flip it over for case clearance.

I think the 15w is heavier than the Hyvo, not saying that it is stronger tho.
Maybe the Morse 15w would be?


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Ox

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Searched the web for pics and cheat sheets for the HyVo and most all indicators show the HyVo chain to have wedge shaped pins, as opposed to std round pins in the Silent Chain.

Even a pic of Morse specific HyVo chain showing it that way.

Both chains in the pic have round pins.


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EDIT:

OK - so I broke down and pulled the lower gear off my sled just to check this out b/c it has been bothering me so much I guess.... It fits the bigger gear like a glove as well.

So - I still am saying that the Morse is a heavier version of the same Silent Chain.

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