Front rotor bolts

[ChrisK]

Yeah it makes perfect sense now. Works just like a punch just on a bit larger scale with some twisting. Cool, don't know why I've never seen one.

[ducatiz]

i have the exact one in the pic and it's about 12 years old.  you will never wear it out and you'll find more uses for it than you'll ever imagine.  i've disassembled a dozen bikes with mine.  indispensible.

[SpikeC]

 I have had rounded Allen heads that I was able to remove with that tool, one thing that helps is to use a top quality Allen socket and grind a small hollow in the end. This makes cutting edges that can use the part of the screw head that has not been compromised, down at the bottom where the other bit has cammed out. You can't see it, butt at the bottom of the recess in the screw head there is still flat spots!

[krista]

+1 to hand-held hammer manual type impact.

They'll work on your rounded bolts. The impact sets come with a flat tip insert. Oh, I broke mine on the torx screws that came on my 2005 S2R 800. I didn't have a nice dremel and its tiny cutting wheels, I used the full-on cut off disk to cut the slot, so the flat blade insert didn't properly wedge into the slot. Even with the broken blade, it was able to remove the rotor bolt.

BTW, you know those silly tiny little 4mm allen flat head screws holding in the left side cover? Oh, now THOSE get stuck, not just stubborn like rotor bolts. I broke off, as in two pieces a Snap-On impact 4mm allen tool on those once. It was twisting the hex key (less than 1" long). Ended up drilling though the cone-shaped portion of the head. Once head gone, the bolt came right out, easy-peasy.

Chris K but not ChrisK

[ducatiz]

BTW, you know those silly tiny little 4mm allen flat head screws holding in the left side cover? Oh, now THOSE get stuck, not just stubborn like rotor bolts. I broke off, as in two pieces a Snap-On impact 4mm allen tool on those once. It was twisting the hex key (less than 1" long). Ended up drilling though the cone-shaped portion of the head. Once head gone, the bolt came right out, easy-peasy.

You probably use something on your own work.. Grease or bolt antiseize.  Everything.

[krista]

Yeah, I always use grease. Unless it's Ti hardware, then copper based antiseize. I hate Ti more than carbon fiber. The only place for Ti is on the track and in aerospace.

[ellingly]

Yeah, I always use grease. Unless it's Ti hardware, then copper based antiseize. I hate Ti more than carbon fiber. The only place for Ti is on the track and in aerospace.

And at least in aerospace, if the bolt threads aren't lubed they're loctited and torque settings are done to suit.

Personally I blue loctite them for a bit of safety just in case. The green wick-in loctite Ducati use in the factory is too strong for the application in the wheel IMHO. Definitely need head and a bit of a slap to get them out. Note that the shock from an hammer type impact driver helps loosen the loctite anyway. Meant to heat and shock anything loctited; heat helps but on it's own you need a bit of a shock too.

It probably helps I have a massive bottle of blue loctite anyway. Indispensible with a few of the other bikes we have in the shed, e.g. the woman's RGV250 seems to vibrate every other bolt off it at a race meeting if stuff isn't loctited in.

Oh and as for not wearing out one of those hammer impact setups - I had an expensive one and I did manage to ruin it smashing it to undo some old Honda engine cases. They're indispensible for old jap bikes with Phillips heads for all of the engine screws.

I replaced my rotor with M8x25 button heads. Not stainless, though, I went for bright zinc plated; mostly cause that's what I use on a lot of other projects anyway. Need a good quality allen key to get them in and out though, otherwise you risk ruining the socket (button heads => smaller allen key/socket to get them undone).

[ChrisK]

Just a report back, picked one up at Ace Hardware and used a dremel to grind a slot in the head... worked like a charm. Thanks guys!

[krista]

And at least in aerospace, if the bolt threads aren't lubed they're loctited and torque settings are done to suit.

Right. Bikes aren't aerospace. Please don't ever tell a Ducati owner to use loctite of any color; it is doing them a serious disservice.

[krista]

Just a report back, picked one up at Ace Hardware and used a dremel to grind a slot in the head... worked like a charm. Thanks guys!

Nice!! That's the way it's supposed to be

[SpikeC]

Just a report back, picked one up at Ace Hardware and used a dremel to grind a slot in the head... worked like a charm. Thanks guys!

Congrats!

[Ddan]

Right. Bikes aren't aerospace. Please don't ever tell a Ducati owner to use loctite of any color; it is doing them a serious disservice.

I use either Loctite or antisieze on pretty much every bolt, depending on the application,  with no problems.

[ellingly]

I use either Loctite or antisieze on pretty much every bolt, depending on the application,  with no problems.

Just gotta think about what any form of lubrication does to the tightening torque. Plenty of tables out there to let you calculate it though. Biggest danger is always a lubed bolt with a dry torque setting into an aluminium case. Ducati are at least good and tell you what grease or thread locking compound should be used on each bolt in the workshop manual... including the front rotor bolts .

[krista]

Remember: motorcycles (including Ducatis) are not equal to aerospace. Some folks like to think a little too hard. That's ok, just don't go preaching it needlessly onto others.

When looking at OEM or Haynes maintenance books, I've found the numbers are perfectly in line with SAE steel into aluminum torque tables. And I'm pretty sure someone knew that the screws would be lubricated coming out of the engine cases!    So I grease everything that would otherwise be dry and use 60 in-lb for 5mm, 72 in-lb for 6mm, 15 ft-lb for 8mm, 32 ft-lb for 10mm. This has only worked for me since the last time I pulled rotor bolt threads on one of my own Ducatis sometime around 1997 because some damn fool (me) used blue loctite because "that's what someone on the internet said I should do".

Special case torque vales are pinch bolts without enough support or things like the rear eccentric pinch bolts, clutch hub, etc, and then I go look again.

[ellingly]

Remember: motorcycles (including Ducatis) are not equal to aerospace. Some folks like to think a little too hard. That's ok, just don't go preaching it needlessly onto others.

When looking at OEM or Haynes maintenance books, I've found the numbers are perfectly in line with SAE steel into aluminum torque tables. And I'm pretty sure someone knew that the screws would be lubricated coming out of the engine cases!    So I grease everything that would otherwise be dry and use 60 in-lb for 5mm, 72 in-lb for 6mm, 15 ft-lb for 8mm, 32 ft-lb for 10mm. This has only worked for me since the last time I pulled rotor bolt threads on one of my own Ducatis sometime around 1997 because some damn fool (me) used blue loctite because "that's what someone on the internet said I should do".

Special case torque vales are pinch bolts without enough support or things like the rear eccentric pinch bolts, clutch hub, etc, and then I go look again.

And that's also a fair point. I'm not having a go, I just do it slightly differently. In any case, Ducati specify Loctite 243 for the rotor bolts - and then promptly use something stronger which is why they are such a pregnant dog to get out from the factory .

(Which leads me to another point: "Do as I say, not as I do" seems to apply when it comes to Ducati technical writing, just to help make the waters oh so much muddier)