The chain had not turned in many years when I pushed the bike up into the truck. I didn't think it was salvageable. I have never had to replace a chain on any bike because it was too rusty. I looked around to buy a new chain but what a pain in the butt. I had to find out the chain size.. 420 I guess and also the length. Then I would have to cut it and press the new link on - or fit the master link.
OR I could just go out in the garage, soak the rusty snake and then hammer on it for an hour. Hey, why not save a buck and keep the original chain alive just for kicks.
Well I WISH I had some good pictures of the chain before I started on it. While it was on the bike it felt rock solid and super tight. It was obviously tight because the links weren't pivoting thus not aligned straight. I oiled it a bunch and rolled it and it just made a bunch of nasty noise and you could see that links were seized up and in a zig zag. I can actually zoom in on an old picture to give you an idea.
Notice how not straight the chain is against the straight red line.
