Strange valve clearances.

[Gimpy]

DesmodueValveClearances 2 by ryron01, on Flickr

Check out the coolest valve shim calculator evar! Found at EMSduc.com

So I thought that valves loosened on the closer shims and tightened at the opener shim as time went on.  My bike seems to be doing the opposite.  Last check I had one opener that was a little tight.  A little sanding and I was on my way.  This time the closers seem to be loosening as well as the openers. The bike is a little past 18K miles Pretty low for a 2001.

The other weird thing is that none of the Ducati dealers in the bayarea had shims bigger than 3.75mm in stock.  One dealer went so far as to say that Ducati didn't make them that big and that I needed to bring my bike in for service if I needed shims that big. 

Nothing seems out of the ordinary to me so I just ordered some online. 

I'm not going to take the heads off to go digging or anything.  Just replace the out of spec shims, but does anyone want to chime in and make me feel better about this 

[Cloner]

Feel better.

When the bike is new and the valve seats are being "beaten" into the heads, and the parts wear at an accelerated rate (because they're new), and the half rings aren't yet beaten into shape, then those processes yield tighter openers and looser closers.  As the bike gets up in mileage and things start to actually wear, you can get things to wear loose on both sides.  My SS is closing on 40k miles and reached that point about where you are now (before 20k, anyway).

As to the shims being "too big", poppycock.  If the old girl is burning oil, then it might be time to pull the heads and check for worn valve guides, and if you can't get shims at all it might be time to press in new seats and replace the valves (or change to MBP collets which eat a bit more space than the factory half rings), but until then the dealership can't do anything to the valves that you can't do yourself.

Ride on.

[ducpainter]

What he said...

I'd add that you are probably getting better measurements as you get more experience and that can skew things too.

[EEL]

+ 1 all of the above.

[Speeddog]

The official parts catalogue for a 2001 M900 shows openers in 2-5mm thickness, and closers from 5-9.6mm.

Availability may be difficult on the extreme ends of those ranges, at least for 'walk-in' at a dealer.

EMS has openers in 2-6.3 and closers from 5.5-8.

[Gimpy]

What he said...

I'd add that you are probably getting better measurements as you get more experience and that can skew things too.

This was my first thought.  More of a "what the eff do I do to it last time"   

The official parts catalogue for a 2001 M900 shows openers in 2-5mm thickness, and closers from 5-9.6mm.

Yeah I thought fit was pretty suspect that the dealer said they didn't make them that big when I had a few bigger shims in my hand.  Just another reason to not give them my business. 

Thanks  I do feel better now

[Armor]

When you measure the opener clearance, the feeler gage should slide in easily.  You may be forcing a larger feeler gage between the opener and actually measuring some of the closer clearance.  Check your measurements.  Did you measure the closer thickness correctly (with a shim tool)?