[Ducati] 50% Less Maintenance.............

Wed Apr 18 10:45:40 EDT 2007

Even though the P # is the same the material may be different. Also it may 
be possible that Ducati is feeling a little more secure in the recent 
reliability factor.

Peace...Ron"Desmohead"Betts 95 900 SP
I've learned that I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy it!

>From: Ducati5555 at aol.com
>Reply-To: Ducati Owners Group <ducati at ducati.net>
>To: ducati at ducati.net
>Subject: Re: [Ducati] 50% Less Maintenance.............
>Date: Tue, 17 Apr 2007 23:05:07 EDT
>
>I was also curious about the claims for less maintenance and began to do
>some investigation to see if/what has changed to substantiate that claim.   
>I
>thought I would investigate the 1098 since it is the new kid on the  block. 
>  I
>went to the Ducati website and pulled up the parts list for the  1098.  I
>thought I would focus just on the valve train, since I have an  interest in 
>that
>part of the bike, and the valve adjustment is the most  laborious of all 
>the
>maintenance.
>
>I found the half rings (retainers)  and opener shims to be the same  exact
>part number as the ones used on the older 4V bikes.  The closer shim  part 
># was
>similar but off by one number.  So since the half rings are the  same and 
>the
>opener shim is the same then one can conclude that 7 mm dia   valve stems 
>are
>used.  A few months ago I ordered 3 different size  1098 closer shims from
>Italy.  After I received them, I inspected them  and found the ID (inner
>diameter profile) to be the same as the old 4V shims,  but the outer 
>diameter profile
>was  a bit different.   The   start of the chamfer on the outside of the 
>shim
>was moved down on the smaller  sizes.  I have talked to some dealers about
>this and they said the extra  clearance is so the cam adjacent to the valve 
>will
>not interfere as it rotates  around.  Apparently there is not much room as
>the head has become really  narrow.
>
>So there is really no change in the basic design of the closer shim
>retention mechanism as compared to the 916/996/998/999 design (excluding 
>the  later R
>versions of course).   But, I have inspected many  a closer shim and can 
>say
>that the new 1098 closer shims are the  best (in terms of quality) I have 
>seen
>from Ducati.  By good quality I  mean the finish and tight tolerance of the
>bore through the  shim.   I didn't get a chance to measure the hardness of 
>the
>shim.
>
>How does all this relate to maintenance intervals?  Well first of  all 
>there
>are a few areas of wear that cause the valves to need  adjustment.  The 
>first
>area is the where the body of  the valve seats inside the head.  As this
>junction wears in the  valve moves upward and can change the clearances.  
>Another
>area is the  cam/rocker/shim/valve stem surfaces.  Any wear in these areas 
>will
>  also alter the clearances.  And lastly, and I think most importantly,  is
>the valve groove-retainer-closer shim  junction.  The tighter the  retainer 
>can
>hold the closer shim on the valve stem, the less wear will  occur.  If the
>closer shim is loose, it will bang around and the wear will  be seen in the 
>valve
>clearance increasing.  That is why the MBP retainers  work better than the
>half rings, cause they tend to fixate the closer shim to  the valve stem.
>
>So, all that being said, what has changed in the new design.  Well it  is
>possible that the tolerances on all the parts have been reduced to minimize 
>  the
>movement of the shim on the valve stem.  Also, I have noticed the older
>Ducati shims to wear out where the half ring makes contact with the groove 
>in  the
>closer shim.  A harder shim will reduce the deformation in this  area.  It 
>is
>possible that the shims are harder.  Maybe the half rings  are also harder, 
>as
>I have seen  them flatten out over  time.    All this is speculation but
>could be partly the reason  ducati increased the maintenance intervals.
>
>As someone has previously mentioned,  many of us have found that after  an
>initial break in period, the valves tend to bed in and it seems the need 
>for
>adjustments decreases over time.  I think Ducati has responded to the  
>gripes
>about the high maintenance of their bikes and extended the intervals  based 
>on
>the same info some of us owners have seen.
>
>So it may be one or both reasons why the intervals were increased.   One
>thing that is important is that not all the parts fit exactly the same in  
>every
>bike.  Because there are tolerances on all the parts, you will get  some 
>parts
>that fit really tight and so wear is a minimum and some bikes where  the 
>parts
>are on the other end of the tolerance and the parts wear out much  quicker.
>Throw in how the bike is operated (track bike versus street bike)  and you 
>can
>have two bikes respond much differently in their need for valve  
>adjustments.
>
> >From all this information I think increasing the valve adjustment  
>intervals
>from 6,000 miles was justified for bikes operated on the street.   I
>personally go 10,000  miles on my ST4 between valve adjustments now that  
>it is well
>broken in.
>
>Mike
>94 M944
>97,98 916
>99 ST4
>
>
>
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