Removing and restoring a chain...

I bought a project bike (emphasis on the word project...) and it may or may not have the original 14 year-old chain on it...

I don't have a chain breaker.  Is there a way I get can it off with basic hand tools?

Also, what can I do to restore it in a way that I can at least see if it's still within spec in terms of stretching?

I was going to just soak it in mineral spirits and then some sort of oil...

You can most likely just loosen up the chain adjusters to all the way loose and then that will give you enough slack to get the chain off without have to break it.

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ORIGINAL: SpecR

I bought a project bike (emphasis on the word project...) and it may or may not have the original 14 year-old chain on it...

I don't have a chain breaker.  Is there a way I get can it off with basic hand tools?

Also, what can I do to restore it in a way that I can at least see if it's still within spec in terms of stretching?

I was going to just soak it in mineral spirits and then some sort of oil...

The second poster is right about using the slack adjusters to loosen it up.

If it's a 14 year old chain or it has bound up links, you should replace it and the sprockets no matter what cleaning yields. You can try to get more life out of it, but I wouldn't.

How do you the chain off without breaking it if it's looped through the swingarm?...

Garrr, I spent about an hour with a punch and hammer, and an angle grinder trying to get one link undone (damn the lack of a master link), and that thing just wouldn't come off, even when I ground through the link itself...  but I ran out of daylight, and coudn't see what I was doing through my safety glasses (tinted)...

How do you cut a chain down to length (cutting through something besides a masterlink's rivets), anyway?

Also, is the sprocket hub supposed to be a little loose?  It's got a little bit of slack in it. 

Or do I need to tighten it somewhere?

I finally got it off...once I cut all the way through the side plate, it came off pretty easy. 

It seems like this is an endless chain (factory installed...).

It's going to be a bitch to get the other one off without buggering up the neighboring links, though.

Edit:  Actually, I got it off, but I REALLY had to whack it...  harder than I could have possibly done when it was on the bike.

Also, it turns out that it's a DID 50VA chain, so I guess it's not the factory one?  (unless that IS the factory chain)

Thats the fun part out of the way, now you have to put the new one on.

Actually it came pretty clean, and it seems to be quite flexible after I lubed it up...  so I'm going to see how far it's streched later, when I get my rear stand...

A new chain is cheap insurance against a chain wrapped around the leg, or loosing drive.  I would not even mess with it.  Just by a new chain.  You should also not use a c clip masterlink with the new chain.  you should buy a rivet link.  doesnt look like you have a chain tool, so beg,borrow, or pay to have somene do it for you.  critical parts are no place to go cheap. 

It turns out that the sprocket is actually an aftermarket 45-tooth 530 from Sprocket Specialities...  and it looks to be in good shape.

I think the front sprocket is stock size, but I have two of them anyway...