I was cleaning the bike and saw this. It is an 08 S2R1000 with approx 46,000 miles. What in the hell am I going to do with this?
(http://i770.photobucket.com/albums/xx341/992desmo/Brokemount-1.jpg?t=1312938313)
Needs to be looked at
Could be welded but the crack needs to be seen to.
Ugh
I thought about welding, but the crack goes toward the front also. It would be pretty large area to be welded. I do not have the large chunk that is missing in the pic either. [thumbsdown]
That's usually due to loose or broken motor mount bolts, or a hard crash.
Check the other 3 mounts for cracks.
What year and model?
id hate to say a new case but...... its not pretty.
i assume you dont have the missing part?
The roads around here (Texas) have big bumps at the joints of some of the bridges. They seem to be getting worse because of the heat. Recently I hit a couple pretty hard and jarred the bike real bad. I'm guessing this is what caused it. I cleaned this area of the engine recently (before hitting the bumps) and it was not broken.
It is an 08 S2R1000, I did not see the missing piece anywhere on the bike.
A good craftsman can fix that. Should be a lot of dudes around TX with the skill to fix it. Engine will have to come out and it won't be cheap but probably a lot less than new cases. Looks like you found a flawed casting there. I'd contact Ducati about it, probably won't yield anything but can't hurt.
I recently had an aluminum car head successfully welded that was badly cracked. I will talk to that Guy to see if he can repair it. Are the engine cases a similar material as an aluminum head?
Does the break extend across both engine case halves? If it does it is a bigger problem to fix via welding. You don't want both engine halves welded together. I just checked ebay for used cases for your engine and found nothing.
Where in TX do you live?
I live about 70 miles east of Dallas. I do not know if both cases are cracked yet, it freaked me out when I saw it and didnt look at it anymore. I will check it out more closely this evening.
I saw some complete engines on Ebay but most of them had cracked mounts also.
QuoteI do not know if both cases are cracked yet, it freaked me out when I saw it and didnt look at it anymore. I will check it out more closely this evening.
I'm the same when something bad happens to my bike. I'm so upset that I have to walk away and come back another day and then I can examine the problem with a rational mind.
I live 60 mi. SE of Houston. I was thinking if you lived nearby I could take a look at your break with you.
I appreciate that, it almost feels like there has been a death in the Family.
I called my guy and said he does not have a mig for aluminum. I dont know what type welder he uses on the heads. He didnt see the engine, I just described to him on the phone.
So is mig the best welder for type of repair? Is it possible to replace the missing metal with the weld?
I would do it differently. I'd fill in the whole area with flowed aluminum using a torch. They have aluminum sticks which will flow and join the existing metal.
Then redrill the bolt mount hole.
The problem with the cast case is porosity. They have changed their casting methods to remove the air better, but they debuted that on the 848. If you weld a piece to cover and join that, you may still be stuck with a weakness somewhere. Filling it in and redrilling it means all new metal.
Talk to a local hotrod or racing shop.
They should be able to point you toward a welder/fabricator that can fix it.
You need a tig to weld aluminum (properly). A mig works ok for steel. That's all I got. [laugh]
Quote from: bikepilot on August 10, 2011, 12:33:41 PM
You need a tig to weld aluminum (properly). A mig works ok for steel. That's all I got. [laugh]
You can mig aluminum but I don't think you can do it as well with this type of casting. Hell, you can use an oxy torch with aluminum depending on the type of weld.
Hence the (properly) parenthetical [cheeky] If you try and weld aluminum without flooding the working metal with an innert gas it'll be nasty - aluminum oxidizes really quickly and makes for a miserable weld.
Quote from: lilmonster on August 10, 2011, 11:41:35 AM
I appreciate that, it almost feels like there has been a death in the Family.
I called my guy and said he does not have a mig for aluminum. I dont know what type welder he uses on the heads. He didnt see the engine, I just described to him on the phone.
So is mig the best welder for type of repair? Is it possible to replace the missing metal with the weld?
Some random thoughts:
What kind of process does he use on the aluminum heads? I think TIG is best for this kind of aluminum repair but then MIG will probably work, since it deposits more metal faster if he has to fill in the missing area where the broken piece is missing. MIG surrounds the weld with inert gas similar to TIG and you CAN weld aluminum with MIG. Both MIG and TIG "flow" the filler and the base metal and the finished weld should be void free. You have to be careful 'welding' aluminum with an OA torch since many of the available aluminum rods are a low melting point and low strength alloy and are not much more than aluminum solder. Aluminum can be OA welded with the right filler and flux, but it takes significant skill. Your welder may be thinking there is too much metal to replace to do it efficiently with TIG. The missing metal can be replaced with the weld, but it will take some time and skill. Get it too hot and your case will melt too much, which can be a problem welding aluminum since it does not glow red when hot like steel and it melts very suddenly.
He really needs to see the bike, or at least the case. I'm pretty sure that if he can repair damaged aluminum heads he can fix this. Or, like Speeddog says, find someone who works on race cars.
He owns/operates a machine shop that builds race engines. I need to let him look at it and go from there.
Quote from: lilmonster on August 10, 2011, 02:24:42 PM
He owns/operates a machine shop that builds race engines. I need to let him look at it and go from there.
If he can't do it in house, he should know someone who can.