Cambelts and Shim Service

[Skip]

Hello,

My friends 1995 M600 is in need of a belt and shim service and he is reluctant to pay a dealer to do the job. Is it possible for the reasonably compentant home mechanic to do it? Any pitfalls to watch out for?

Cheers! :hail:

[manwithredbike]

Hello,

My friends 1995 M600 is in need of a belt and shim service and he is reluctant to pay a dealer to do the job. Is it possible for the reasonably compentant home mechanic to do it? Any pitfalls to watch out for?

Cheers! :hail:

i haven't shimmed a ducati but i done the belts on mine last weekend. although i'm reasonably competent, it was still a fairly straightforward job. go to the ducatisuite.com site (think its being moved at the moment but you should still get a link to it), there's some useful tips there.
important bits are - to (obviously) line up the timing marks before putting the new belts on, adjust the tensioners carefully to allow the required slack in each belt and make sure the tension pulleys are tightened properly. then re-check after a run.
use a new set of allen bits - especially the 6mm one for the tensioner pulley bolts, you want this to be a nice snug fit or theres a risk of rounding the heads. main thing is -- don't panic or rush it. good luck!

[Pugi]

Just did my belts and it's the first time I've done anything on the bike. Use Haynes and Ducatisuite and you should be ok. Haven't got around to the shims yet. I will check clearances and if they're ok everything is just fine, if they need adjustment I'll take it in to someone who knows what he's doing. had to drill a tensioner bolt off and will probably have to drill some off the enxt time too since I got the same crappy type of bolts to replace. :twak:
Replacing with stainless know seems obvious.

[Skip]

ducatisuite.com looks awesome! Cheers for that!

I think he is going to have a go himself, he is good at doing car cambelts so it cant be that much harder!

[Pugi]

I think he is going to have a go himself, he is good at doing car cambelts so it cant be that much harder!

It isn't. If you want to be 100% sure, take a picture of the sprocket positions with a camera. Easy in this day & age even though tooth width makes it pretty obvious if you get it wrong.

[Duncan]

Just get a few bent bits of metal and lock the pulleys in place or mark their position against the casting with dobs of paint then it goes back the way it came off with no need to retime the cams.

[Duncan]

Shimming...............

Easy to do but take your time, measure all the clearances and write them down.


On air cooled engines, if you use good oil and ride regularly then they rarely go out. I have only done 1 shim in 50,000 miles on my M900 and I check them now every 12,000 miles because they dont alter a lot on my bike.

Next select ones to be adjusted. The rocker has to be slid across and this needs to be done OFF top dead centre. (see Ducati suite) Remove the shim for measuring. In most cases its metal off the shim and you will need a 0-1" (0-25mm) micrometer to measure the thickness in the base. Now either buy new shims of the right size or if you are handy, grind / linish / oilstone them to come to the required size to bring you into tolerance.

Just take your time and be careful not to drop the clip that holds the rocker arm in place and make you sure you are on compression stroke when measuring the clearances or they will all measure tight on you.

[lcjohnny]

On ducatisuite he uses plastic forceps to hold the valve stem whilst getting to the closer shim.:eyepopping:

Is that necessary:confused: And if so where do you get them?

I scoured the net last night and the only place selling plastic forceps was in China - they were happy to sell a crate of 10,000 :dizzy: :flamed:

Jon

[gremlin]

Just did my belts and it's the first time I've done anything on the bike. Use Haynes and Ducatisuite and you should be ok. Haven't got around to the shims yet. I will check clearances and if they're ok everything is just fine, if they need adjustment I'll take it in to someone who knows what he's doing. had to drill a tensioner bolt off and will probably have to drill some off the enxt time too since I got the same crappy type of bolts to replace. :twak:
Replacing with stainless know seems obvious.

i had the same problem with the sarahs bike, no need to drill out, pop into somewhere like machine mart and buy yourself some "irwin stud extractor sockets" they are £18.00 a set , but the 13mm one fits exactly onto the tensioner bolt heads and works a dream. all 4 out in seconds. its one of the few times i have bought a "gimicky" tool and have been really amazed at how good it is.....
Mr Gremlin