Tutoro Automatic Chain Oiler - Africa Twin Installation

 

As the title indicates, I have finally got around to purchasing a chain oiler for the Africa Twin. I went with the Tutoro as it worked well on the BMW and was pretty simple to fit up. It is also very simple in it's operation with virtually no moving parts and zero intrusion into the bikes systems, unlike some other popular brands which need wiring in or need vacuum to operate. 

When I ordered the oiler I went for the "Patrol Kit'. This kit seemed to have the components that I needed and was a reasonable price at $90 Australian. Shipping was a bit eye watering, no doubt due to Covid induced freight bottlenecks, but if I wanted the oiler, well, I was just going to have to suck it up! 🙄

The advice from Tutoro was that there could be up to two weeks of "freight delays" but this little brown box turned up here on the other side of the world in just 6 days!!

Opening up the box and I could (sort of) see all of the components neatly laid out, as well as the quality control packing sheet. All looked in order!

I had ordered the extra 500ml bottle of oil as the kit only comes with a 250ml bottle. Tutoro are adamant that you can only use their oil (sure, sure) and until I can figure out what is going to work in the oiler as a substitute, I needed some extra to keep me going until that time - remember the sell a kidney freight costs - plus it seems stupid to freight little bottles of oil around the world!

My first order of business was to prep the bike and by that I mean clean the grotty chain. I have basically ignored the chain on this bike since I have owned it as it had been abused prior to my ownership and was on it's way out from Day 1.

This I did with some Maxima degreaser that I had been gifted. I would normally just use some kerosene in a squirt bottle but this stuff worked a treat. It also smelled nice and was apparently planet friendly.

Nice and clean...ish - hey, it's at it's stretch limit anyway, so y'know, who cares? The chain oiler is aimed at TLCing the new chain when it arrives. 😎

The included instruction manual is EXCELLENT and if you fcuk it up, well, maybe you should have someone buttering your toast in the mornings because you shouldn't be around sharp objects.... 🤨

Roger that Chief! Lets get this done!

Get started by drilling mounting holes for the delivery tube into the toe guard. Two would be enough.

I decided to mount the delivery tube on the inside of the toe guard as there was plenty of clearance from the chain and it might afford the tube some level of protection.

Next up, the oil reservoir. This can be a little tricky trying to find a place to mount it as it needs to be pretty much vertical - well, within 12 degrees of vertical. At least on an Adventure Bike there are plenty of bars and racks to screw things to! I settled on mounting to the inside of the pannier rack, at the rear - a position I hope will be safe from road debris and my soft pannier bags (when I mount them).

Routing the delivery hose by as safe-ish and (slightly) hidden a route was my desire but the supplied hose was short by about 5 centimetres! This meant that I couldn't hide it behind the pannier rack tube as I wished, so for the time being it looks like this. I will insert a short extension (one day) to tidy it up a bit more.

Here is the rest of the routing. remember, this is a utilitarian adventure bike. It is not a show bike. It is meant for using as the designer intended!

The next step was filling the reservoir and using the priming magnet to get the oil delivered to the sprocket. Simply done by opening the tap four turns and plonking the magnet on top to hold the needle valve open.

And there she goes!

Too early in the day for a beer.....(insert elevator music here to pass the time!)

And there we go!!

I used the "Tropical" weight oil as it is bloody hot here in Brisbane! Well, regularly above the 25 Celcius that they recommend for going up to the "Plus 25" oil.

From here it is simply a matter of following the instructions again, plus a bit of trial and error.

I seem to have the flow rate just right at almost exactly one turn open. This is dispensing just a very, very, VERY thin amount of oil onto the chain. You don't need very much at all, especially when it is being constantly applied. To put it into context, I expect the oil that I bought with this kit to last me a couple of years, as I still have well over half a bottle remaining from the oiler that was fitted to my BMW. Helping that is when off road I turn the supply off so as not to attract grit. Once on the sealed stuff again turning the flow back on effectively cleans the chain.

To complete the job, I had a new chain and sprockets fitted up today, along with the 24 000 kilometres service done (yep, sold another kidney!) and with this oiler I expect to get a lot more than 24 000km out of this chain. 

Mmmmmm.....gold chain.....

Cheers.