Ducati Monster Forum

Hey guys,

I just got a quote from my local dealership for a belt replacement and valve adjust on a 2004 Ducati 620.  They quoted my 575 for everything (tax included).  This is just the belts and valves (I did the oil and other fluids myself).  Is this a reasonable cost?  I considered doing the belts myself, but seeing as they need to be removed for the valve adjustment, why not kill two birds with one stone?   

Where are you located? There are several very good techs here on the board that can do as good of a job as your local dealer and will most likely cost a considerable amount less.

I'm in the North Dallas area.

I'm in NE Ohio and need the same service. I have the belts in hand but don't know what the hell I'm doing. I'd like to get the valves checked before I follow the instructions of rebelting. Recommendations welcome, but I'd REALLY like to go somewhere where I can watch what's being done so I can learn more about my machine.

Isn't AMS fairly close by? I seem to have heard they have a pretty good reputation, but your local board might be able to direct you to a good, cheaper mechanic.

WTF do I know? I'm from Utah. 

<thread jack>

Anyone ever been to Utah on purpose? Lol

<end thread jack>

Figure the belts plus markup maybe $100.

Takes me better part of a day to do valves (battling dementia the whole way),
but I doubt a  tech could do two bikes (including tear down and reassembly) in a day,
unless maybe zero adjustments were required.

The price is probably competitive with many dealers I'd bet.

Shim kit is ~$300 so with whatever tools you need you could DIY and easily break even *if* you don't make the beast with two backs up your bike.

Get a DVD from Chris at sponsor California Cycleworks and a manual from DesmoTimes and read here.

It's a tedious & fun (see the hole in my garage wall) job and you'll bond with your bike.
If you don't make the beast with two backs it up.

Key words

Huh?

Go to your profile and turn off the net nanny.

AMS cost me ~ $600 on my '97 M900.  You could try former Duc mechanic (I believe he was at the Alvarado location) Stuart Rust:  817-899-6261.  Possibly Randy McCarter, but I am not sure he performs this service, 817-706-8870. 

A shim kit would be real nice, but you really dont need it. but its defintely a helper.

sometimes you can swap shims from other valves, and most of the time you can just order the ones you need/ swap at your local dealer for a flat fee. but if you are on a budget you do not need the shim kit.

Normally, your openers get tighter and closers get looser. So one end of the shims for each openner and closer will be useless to you unless you are on the small side of both. And even then the more you ride your bike, the more your shims stay and the less it will need adjustment.

the shim kit is really useful if you have more than 1 monster, or friends with monsters.

Or if you live far away from a dealer and want to make sure that you can get the job done the same day you start it.  It's nice to have if you can afford it.

That's about what I paid at a dealership in 'Sconsin. Seems right in there price-wise. I'm too chicken to do belts and valves myself.

this guy maybe

(http://www.bikerhotline.com/pr/2009/09lichterbuffchip/assets/images/Rollie_Free.gif)

or even her?

(http://www.ultimatemotorcycling.com/files/Leslie-Bonneville-Salt-Flat.jpg)
or this guy?
(http://images.allmoviephoto.com/2005_The_World%27s_Fastest_Indian/2005_the_worlds_fastest_indian_006.jpg)

Thank you so friggin much for showing me that. Although the beast with two backs makes me chuckle it makes things hard to decipher sometimes :) Sorry to threadjack, carry on.

I just got a quote for my 695 at around $800 to do my valves, belts and TPS!  Kind of crazy...

 No offense but you have obviuosly never seen a really good tech to a service on a 2V Monster. There is not a lot of tear down on a naked bike.
 We have a very good independent tech in the New England area (Eric at Clubhouse Motorsports) for anyone who may need any work done. He is a good friend of DP and I consider him a friend as well and the ONLY person I let work on my bikes other than me unless it's a warranty item and it has to go to the dealer.
 I would be willing to bet he could do at least two complete 2V services in a day if he had to.

This reminds me that I have to check my valves again. I did it once, and just like the guy says on the video from cycle works its not that easy, but its not really that hard either. For the valves anyway. The Belts are way easy. Like for a major maintenance item, those have got to be one of the easiest things to do. It's actually harder to get the belt covers off the bike, out out from behind the frame (without scratching the paint, that's why my painted belt covers will need to be repainted) than to change the belts themselves.

well .... I guess I stand corrected - the only tech I have ever seen adjust valves - (except Chris in his video) - is me, and I totally suck

My point was  to illistrate the likely labor time a shop may charge

Bingo.  All of the labor rates I have seen lately (Nissan, LExus, and Ducati) are north of $100/hr.  i have even seen $125/hr. 

Theres a shop out here that charged $80 an hour and their service far exceeds that of any shop i know of.

worth the 80 mile travel it takes vs 5 miles to the local "shop".

she got some booty!!!!
(http://www.ultimatemotorcycling.com/files/Leslie-Bonneville-Salt-Flat.jpg)

Now that cracked me up.    But I've always been of the mind that, What's the worst I could do?   make the beast with two backs it up?   Just have to do it again.  Maybe fix some sh!t, too.

Actually you could improperly mount your belt and send a valve through a piston destroying your motor. I guess that falls under fix someall the shit though haha,

I learned to do my belts and valves with the Desmo Times/LT Snyder book.  If you are of decent mechanical skills you can probably learn to do it yourself.  Granted, an oopsie can be a major problem, so you HAVE to triple check what you're doing.

JM