888 problems
 

First up after cleaning all the crap off the swinging arm to remove it from the bike there appears to be a large fracture inline with the shaft chain side,it appears repairable.
I dont know if this is a common problem or extremly rare.
It may be wise to check your swinging arm when next replacing the chain set.
Im also replacing all the wheel bearings the rear wheels where tough but came out with only a bit of violence,front ones slightly different as it is not clear in the ducati manual if you drive the speedo drive and dust cover out with the bearing in one go or have to remove these seperately,?but how?
other problems incountered are siezed bolts holding the side stand support bracket these bolts where extremely hard and I had to helicoil one as all the threads where gone as the casing is ally.
the nuts holding the rear suspension are prone to seizing and where hard to get a socket on youll need a very thinwalled socket.
all the disc carriers bolts are seized and Im not sure wether its worth drilling these out as the wheel could be damaged.
head bearings where rusty and very notchy with no grease visible at all (Nelly says this is common) these where easy to knock out and replace.
Ducati no longer produce a gasket for the alternator casing and is replaced with a sealant let you know if it works.
Suspension due back from ProV Twins today so another peice of the jigsaw,will it be ready for the summer god only knows?
ian


:)

Ian

Dont worry about the alternator gasket..very few casing gaskets are available anymore..theyve all been replaced with the liquid gasket which is very good and easy to use.

Sorry to hear about your other 'mishaps'..let us know how you get on..

Cheers
Nat

Arrgh. Sorry to hear this tale of woe. Coppaslip time on reasembly me thinks.

Cripes!
 

Sorry to hear you're having so much trouble Ian!?! Shame it's such a lovely bike or you wouldn't be likely to feel guilty about changing it for something like a 999 eh ;)
I'm sure you'll have it sweet as a nut before long mate :cool:

If you're really stuck, I have just grabbed up a spare swingarm. I was only gount to use it as a space model to build up my new rear wheel assy onto the 25mm rear axle. Give ne a shout if you need it. Conversly, I know a s**t hot ally, well actully, any metal welder.

Rgds, Rob

Ian, sorry to hear about all the grief! It's funny but I had similar probs to the others this winter myself. My swingarm is ok, but all the linkages were pretty dry so I cleaned and re greased tham all. The rose joints on the swingarm likn where it connects to the swingarm were a little notchy but these seem ok after clean/ re grease. There's little grease nipples on them but no one seems to bother! Head bearings were the same. Disc bolts, don't ever even bother trying to remove these with a conventional allen key, it's impact driver with allen socket all day long. Ditto sidestand bracket.\
Best of luck! :D

Thanks for the sypathetic words chaps.
I think most of the problems are just due to age as the bike has an excellent service history but things like disc carriers etc dont get taken off very often and steel and ally dont mix well long term.
compared to the amount of time and money I had to spend on the Guzzi to bring it back from the dead this is nothing in comparison.
are there any words of wisdom on removing the front wheel bearing and speedo drive?
Rob fortunately I can weld ally myself but thanks for the offer.
RightSaidFred tried impact driver and snapped one allen key and stripped the hex in the bolt with the harder one.
I think drilling them out is the only route left.
ian

Not sure if you've tried this, but the best thing about steel and aluminium is that their thermal expansion coefficients are different. Basically they expand and contract differently when cooled or heated. Going through the process of heating and cooling can in most instances break the oxide binding between the two metals, and the bolts should come out more easily. However don't do the heating or the cooling rapidly or you could cause fractures in the metal. Hard to do in Australia as it's 30c outside, but it's probably cold enough outside in England to give you enough temperature range. Good luck...

Ian

This might be your lucky day ??!!


Nat
http://www.ukmonster.co.uk/monster/s...616#post105616

S--t missed it by the look of things U2Us down
thanks Natty.
have you still got the tergis.
ian:mad: