Stupid Question Ver 7.5... Skiptooth chains

[Mike G]

Alright guys, Mikey here is about to take his first venture into the skip tooth realm
Bought a rough looking Hawthorne figuring it'd be about my best chance of getting parts I want, ND hubs, drop center rims in pretty nice condition, truss fork, nice long spring lobdell/troxel (no marking and it turns out it's a girls seat, great!), lucky 7 seat post w/shim, and a pretty nice frame that's off to the blaster tomorrow... and of course a skip tooth chain... wait for it... here come the dumbness...

How the heck do you separate the master link on a skip tooth chain???
I went through the whole chain link by link and the only weird link I found was an oval link on the one side the other side looks just like the rest of the chain. The pins in the oval link appear to be in elongated holes, but beyond that I didn't want to screw it up.
LBS dude said I need a special tool, I didn't have the chain with me at that time, please tell me somebody besides Park make the tool if that's the case???
That's it for that part.

Anybody know of a semi regular source for ND hub rebuild parts, "D" model?

Thanks in advance...

 

[Toeslider]

Hard to say without looking at yours or one of mine, but "elongated holes" sounds like the type that you compress the two pins on the link together, and the side just pops off, then the rest of the link just slides off the rest of the chain.

 

[Mike G]

Hard to say without looking at yours or one of mine, but "elongated holes" sounds like the type that you compress the two pins on the link together, and the side just pops off, then the rest of the link just slides off the rest of the chain.

Would that be a normal master link set up on one of these skiptooth chains (obviously I'm sure it would be determined by manufacturer)? Just use a needle nose?

I did take a pic of it, I can post it tomorrow (still in the camera).

Thanks!

 

[Toeslider]

I think. I know some skip tooth chains need a special breaker to get them apart, but I believe I have at least a few that had a master link you could take apart.

 

[Mike G]

It's currently on a Wards Hawthorne frame, not that I know that that makes a difference. Here's a pic of it...

 

[B607]

Nothing strange about that link. First, get some lubrication on it, like PB blaster or something, until the chain is broken free around the link. Grab the chain in each hand on either side of the link and bend it toward you like you are trying to make an upside down U. While you have it bent slightly, pop the link off with your fingernail. Next, get a new LBS because that guy doesn't know anything. Gary

 

[whitefiretiger]

I loled a bit but from my experience most lbs employees don't know what skip tooth is; even at my lbs that has 1 or 2 on display (they have some cool vintage bikes hanging/ setting up high by the ceiling around the store) only the owner/manager (wherever he is) knows.

Had one lbs guy tell me I needed a new cog as somebody cut off every other tooth.

 

[Mike G]

I'll be gentle, he has actually been a help on other items and is more of a skate shop... but he will get a little ribbing As I was checking around though it would appear that this is the norm for these ST chains, Diamond's have the same set up.
Hadn't tried any side to side action, but looking at the thing that sure makes sense...
Of course it didn't seem to far gone of a thought that there would in fact, in some turn of the century, middle America bike shop, sitting at the bottom of a 100 year old collection of tools, exist some elusive Park tool for the job at hand... available for the price of a Titanium Schwinn DX with carbon fiber truss forks!
I figure worse case, I mess it up and keep a section on hand for some "on the spot brass knuckles", they really built stuff to last back in the day.