Chain Rattle on Generator

[jimmoore13]

I'm old and slow sometimes. For years, I've lived with chain rattle when my generator's running. I lock my genny to a tree as an inhibition to it growing legs. Unfortunately, a chain around the handle rattles a lot while it's running...adding at least 10 dB to the racket.

Now, in my 6th season with this genny, it dawned on me that I don't need to put up with this nonsense. I went on Amazon and purchased a sheet of peel-and-stick neoprene foam.

My install was simple. I cut one strip, about 2" wide, to go around the upright portion of the handle where the chain goes. This piece was "too long," so I just overlapped the extra on the neoprene sheet. Then I cut a space for the handle in the middle of the sheet, and I applied the neoprene over the top and down the "chain-side" of the genny...on the side opposite the engine access panel.

I prepped the surface of my well worn genny with alcohol wipes, and the neoprene seems to hold very well. I don't know how it will hold up in the rain, but we shall see.

It ain't perty, but it does the job, and I never take my genny to the Pebble Beach Concours for generators anyway. The chain rattle is gone entirely!

Photos below. Ignore the filenames....they got reversed as I uploaded them to my computer.

[jimmoore13]

P.S. Yup, a universal key (bolt cutter) would make short work of that chain, but then again, that key makes a rather conspicuous bulge in one's pocket. I may lose it one day, but I tend to think that the perps will go for the Hondas and Yamahas I see all the time that aren't locked up at all.

[nayther]

I put my chain inside a bicycle innertube makes a great rubber sleeve