ALF Speedster Roller Chain/Sprocket suppliers?

I'm in the process of getting my 1918 ALF speedster ready for the Great Race. It's currently my backup plan (1932 Auburn Special is primary plan), but starting to look like the head on the Auburn might not be repaired in time. I would like to have a spare set of roller chains and sprockets for the final drive made up. Any thoughts on suppliers, and what kind of roller chain should I order? Thanks much.

Nn suggestion of suppliers, although there are probably many. A local bearing supplier here has many options available thru their catalogs.

If it were me, however, I would take this opportunity to optimize the drive ratio — if you're getting a spare set of sprockets and chain anyway, then you might want to choose a lower ratio set for better cruising speed etc. and keep the originals with you as spares.

Is that just regular #50 or #60 roller chain, or something odd that was made especially for them? As noted above, any parts supplier or bearing shop should have access to the normal sizes. Avoid the cheap Chinese chains as they don't last and often don't mix and match well with other connectors or half links. Take a sample of what you have to your local parts store and tell him you want good quality chain. Most places will stock the cheap versions as well as the top quality products. Something like ANSI comes to mind as one of the better ones. If you are in an agricultural area, any John Deere dealership would have good quality chain as well. If it's oddball, we could be looking at a totally different scenario though. Maybe one of the other ALF owners can chime in here.

Alf drive chain is huge and not readily available now. If someone knows of a source, please post. I am hanging on to several old Alf take-offs just to have enough chain to drive my rig.

Al

In addition to a new drive ratio, maybe you can have the sprockets made to match a readily available chain?

Some fairly large chain avalible at Mcmaster-Carr. Up to 1 inch wide rollers

http://www.mcmaster.com/#standard-roller-chain/=vjydsj

Do you know the chain specifications? Pitch (distance from center to center of the rollers) roller diameter & width between the plates?

A lot of machinery still uses huge chain. If your searching for "ALF chain" or "chain that fits an ALF" than you will have a tough time finding it. Remember that things such as chain are common proprietary items that were purchased by ALF from an outside vendor who specialized in the manufacture of that particular product. Which, to take advantage of economy of scale, was an off-the-shelf item common to other applications (trucks, machinery etc.) Thus rather than searching for "ALF chain" search for a chain with the specific pitch, roller width etc.

A couple of years ago the University of Maine Mechanical Engineering program needed large odd pitch drive chains for their steam Lombard Log hauler restoration. Since only an estimated 87 machines were made you can imagine how daunting that task seemed! However, armed with the correct dimensions they found a chain manufacturer who offered just that size. As it turned out it was from the same company that supplied the original chain in 1912!

I hope this is of some help. Good luck and keep us posted.

Best regards,

Terry Harper

You might find a standard chain listed in the Timken roller chain catalog: http://www.timken.com/en-us/products/Documents/Timken-Drives-Roller-Chain-Catalog.pdf

Good find Gary. The catalog has a lot of engineering and chain selection information.

If Diamond Chain is still in existence (Indianapolis, IN) they provided chain for several ALF's Rob

Still around. http://www.diamondchain.com/

Nobody has listed the original chain specs yet. I'd find it hard to believe that between all the SAE and metric sizes that there isn't something out there that would work.

Nobody has listed the original chain specs yet. I'd find it hard to believe that between all the SAE and metric sizes that there isn't something out there that would work.

You would think so wouldn't you? For the 6 cylinder ALF speedster we did the owner had to have new chain made. I remember him telling me how expensive it was. Unfortunately he has since passed so I can't ask him where he sourced it.

Well, it is a speedster and not a restoration. If that is the case and it were me, I'd cheat and replace the sprockets with something I could get a chain for. It sounds like that might be the cheaper route, and keeping multiple ratios and chains handy wouldn't be as big of a problem.

If someone was able to source useable chain from Diamond, that suggests to me that there is a mainstream size that will work. I can't see a foundry working in a bulk commodity that like taking the time to make a custom one-off.

Thanks, all, for the ideas.

Alf drive chain is huge and not readily available now. If someone knows of a source, please post. I am hanging on to several old Alf take-offs just to have enough chain to drive my rig.

Al

I've done a bit of research on this topic.  My ALF has ANSI #100 chain (1 1/4" pitch, ten feet long).  It currently has Diamond 100XLO chain, which is o-ring chain.  This seems to be the important part because o-ring chain is internally and permanently lubricated.  The old style chain appears to be more susceptible to wear from dirt and debris, and needs to be cleaned often.  The problem, of course, is that quality o-ring chain costs $$$$. However, it is readily available, as is the same type of chain by Morse.  But better than having the chain fly off on the road, I suppose.

If you haven't found a source yet try the Jeffery Manufacturing Co. of Columbus Ohio.

If it is a standard size industrial chain you should be able to buy it by the foot to any length, from industrial supply places (like McMaster Carr).

Keep in mind there are 2 types, high speed and low speed. You want high speed. Look at the rollers, low speed rollers are made of sheet metal wrapped around and have a seam. High speed rollers are made of tubes and no seam.

Or contact Gary Wales and see what he uses. He has built 5 or 6 ALF speedsters.