OK, I'm fed up; the sidecover rubber hats/nuts

[spuggy]

Are a very strange idea. Once the thread gets a little corrosion on it, can be pretty tricky to get enough pressure on the rubber to stop it spinning.

Especially jamming your fat sausage fingers into a space that isn't really big enough, and you don't want to put enough pressure on the side cover ear to break the carbon.

How do you guys deal with these? Small long-nose mole grips as good as it gets?

I really don't want to drill the head out, but it took me almost an hour to get one screw out - and the top one next to the tank is resisting my advances. Pretty sure. Might have moved it a little. It's pretty chewed up on the rubber side/someone already saturated it with penetrating oil, so I'm certainly not the first...

Gee, I wish they'd just used a rubber locating jobby and a nyloc...

OK - vent over. But if there's a good way to deal with these that hasn't occurred to me, I'd love to hear it...

[Darren69]

I think that is the best option some long nose pliers, locking or normal type to grip the brass insert. I've replaced mine with stainless screws with some copper slip and have had no issues so far and I always try to not tighten them as much too.

They can be a pain as I had some on my old SS bodywork which had seized up and had hours of fun with those ones.

[Albie]

Buy new ones they become useless unless you lube them and dont overtighten them. Look up well nuts on ebay.

[spuggy]

Thanks guys!

I picked up a set of Rawl well nuts on Flea Bay. At first I was confused - as they didn't look anything like the ones on the bike. But I located pictures of the actual Ducati part (identical), and they didn't either.

Eventually it dawned that some PO had tightened them up far too tight, deforming the rubber beyond its ability to recover (or do anything useful), and also exposing threadd to the elements to get cruddy and cause problems...

Awkward little suckers to fit eh? Ended up lubing them, screwing in the bolt from the wrong side and pulling them through - once or twice all the way through, lol..

Replaced the corroded bolts with stainless button-heads, nipped them up until the rubber just deformed and the cover wasn't going anywhere - perfect...

[slob]

coppaslip is the key to being able to undo them again later

[Darren69]

Sounds like they shouldn't give you any more problems now.

[spuggy]

Originally Posted by slob

coppaslip is the key to being able to undo them again later

Yeh, I wish; ordered that at the same time as I ordered the bolts for another project. Had time to realize I ordered the wrong bolts (second I opened the packet, heh) and re-order - and still receive them in time.

But has the tube of coppaslip shown up? Nope. Especially ironic as things have shown up from the other end of the country in the same time - and this company is two counties over... A little galling (what? )

Actually, my preferred product these days is a "Marine Grade Anti-Seize Stainless Steel Lubricant";

MRO Solution 2400 Marine Grade Anti-Seize USA Made Product Available in 8 oz Brush-Top container Designed specifically for marine applications, Solution 2400 protects fasteners and assemblies from rust, corrosion and wear caused by fresh and salt water via direct contact and humidity. Excellent water resistance and water wash-out resistance and temperature resistant to 2400ºF.

(emphasis mine). I've used a ton of it - and will buy more when I use it up, because it seems to do what it says on the tin (actually a screw-top plastic bottle, but y'know).

Can't seem to get it in the UK - in the same way that you can't seem to get copper-based assembly/antiseize lubes in the US... Not fashionable or something. So coppaslip is the fall-back.

[Darren69]

I just bought a small tin, since I don't use a ton of it: -

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/UNIVERSAL...72.m2749.l2649

Took a couple of days to arrive.

[spuggy]

Originally Posted by Darren69

I just bought a small tin, since I don't use a ton of it: -

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/UNIVERSAL...72.m2749.l2649

Took a couple of days to arrive.

That's the seller I bought the "dialectic silicon grease" from; which also turned up very promptly. I also enjoy the labeling - reminds me of Alex Cox's Repo Man, where everything is generic white-label with "Beer" or "Food" on it.

Part of the issue with the tools company I bought the branded copaslip from; tracking shows that first they did nothing for 1-2 days, and then their courier sent it to Rugby... Presumably their hub/depot or whatever.

[spuggy]

Oh, and I have accidentally discovered a good way to deal with a seized well nut if you can reach the rubber portion.

Put the long-nose pliers/moles on the rubber portion close to the frame/panel lug, rather than on the portion with the brass insert. Turn the screw and tear up the rubber. As soon as it separates from the brass, it's easy to pull the remains through the hole and discard...

Of course, this'll happen eventually anyway with a really-bad one. But it can be much quicker to deliberately do it...

[slob]

Originally Posted by Darren69

I just bought a small tin, since I don't use a ton of it...

At home, I’ve been using the same 500g RockOil tin for nearly 30 years