Ducati Sporting Club UK > Model Specific - Discussion, Technical Problems and Help > 998 / 996 / 916 / 748 > B*stard Well-nuts!

[antonye]

So getting them out isn't too hard when you have the right torx bit, but when they're so siezed that the torx bit snaps off in the bolt you know you're in trouble...

There was no way I was going to drill it out now (I should have done that earlier I guess, but hindsight is a wonderful thing...) especially with the hardener torx bit in the hole.

There was no room to cut through the bolt from behind the panel, so I ended up making three very cautious (and nervous!) cuts across the head with a junior hacksaw to take the head off and push the bolt through.

All sorted now and the black replacements look very smart against the red panel.

/vent

[Desmondo]

Is there anything you don't break?

[TP]

I reckon you'd probably need to take the yoke off to get that out.

[moto748]

I've had a replacement bottom-half fairing panel lying around for a few days, that I bought on Ebay. This afternoon I thought I'd have a go at fitting it.

I thought I was being dead smart by having a supply of spare M4 wellnuts to hand (Ebay again).

But oh no.

Couple of things I've learnt: first of all, the wellnuts I have (nominally for the screen) aren't the same. They're shouldered, and longer. The ones on the panel joint are "nut-shaped". Well, I thought, I could probably use them, if I put them on "backwards", ie, shoulder facing outwards.
But oh no, again. They seem to be a different thread. Looks like the original fairing panel fixings are a fine thread.

So out of 7 fixings, how many did I manage to remove successfully (ie, with wellnut intact, and without just stripping the rubber off)?




Three.


Question now is, what's the best method for removing the rest?
antonye's hacksaw method upthread sounds a bit scary.

I thought of using a Dremel with one of those tiny cutting discs on the inside of the panel, aiming to cut virtually flush with the panel. I had a bit of a go at gripping the wellnut insert with pliers and trying to unscrew the fixing, but no joy there. Didn't really expect that to work.


Anyone used the Dremel method successfully? Or any other ideas?


Come to that, do you really need to use a wellnut anyway? How about a stainless allen screw and Nyloc nut, with a couple of nylon washers under the nut on the inside. Wouldn't that be OK, as long as the screws weren't nipped up too tight? At least they'd be easy to remove again.

[Edited on 4-12-2004 by moto748]

[Chrisiball]

What material atre the bolts if there alloy a sharp pair of sidecutters will cut them with a good firm squeeze

[nelly]

It's not the quickest way, but the safest way I've found is to cut the rubber away from the back of the wellnut. Gripping with thin nose pliers also helps.
Once the rubber has been cut away you find the brass insert is smaller than the hole the well nut fits in and the screw falls away with the insert still on it.
It can be a ball ache, but i've found it to be te safest.............'specially with other peoples fairings
When you refi the screws, really gob them up with copaslip to save having to go thru' this all over again.

[moto748]

Thanks for that, nelly, I'll give it a try. But doesn't that bit about the insert being smaller than the hole just apply to the screen nuts? They didn't seem to show any sign of just "falling out" (several have the rubber already removed).

Maybe if I tapped them gently with a copper mallet...

I could try side cutters too, although I don't think the Ducati screws are ally.

[bolds]

Looks like your screen well nuts/screws have been replaced as they should be the same as the ones holding upper and lower fairings together

[moto748]

bolds> You're right; it's just me. I had the fairing and nose-cone right off this afternoon giving the bike a good clean (these filthy roads ), and they are indeed the same. What they're not the same as is the ones I bought off Ebay... which are completely useless.

More importantly, closer examination revealsl that the fairing panel I have is from an earlier year and no good for my bike.

OH well. Just off to Market Place to place an ad.... so if anyone needs a pretty mint lower RH fairing for a 748 etc, which is the "single vent" type, in yellow, I'm yer man...

[antonye]

Lol! You sound as bad as me - I bought the wrong panel (the later ventless one) off ebay and ended up selling it again to buy the right one!

Those well-nuts really are an arse, but they're not really the kind of thing that should be constantly taken off, so I can live with only doing it every couple of years.