Valve and belt service question?

[Duki09]

Has anyone here have or had a Ducati Monster with over 10,000 miles which with the exception of oil/filter changes that their bike still runs in top condition without the valves being checked or serviced or belt change?

Assuming you road it just for street riding and not racing.

What is everyone's experience here who followed the regular 7,500 mile valve and belt service?  Did you find the valves and belts were in need of being serviced or changed after 7,500 miles or could you have waited longer?

For those who did have their valves serviced at least once, did you find that you still needed to continue getting them adjusted/shimmed after so many miles or did you find you needed to get them serviced less often?


I am not asking what Ducati says, what the warranty says, what the Ducati Corse race team says, what mechanics making money servicing Ducatis say, but what regular street riders have experienced with their Monsters.

[gage]

my valves needed adjustment at the recomended intervals.

Belt change is more of a precaution as the damage caused by a belt breaking is catastrophic.

[ducpainter]

My experience is that properly adjusted valves provide a smoother running engine as long as closers are adjusted to 'old school' (0 closer gap on 2V) tolerances.

I also have found that the valves stay in tolerance longer as miles pile up, but do need adjusting periodically.

[Ducatl]

I haven't gone over on belts but I've gone 8 on valves before, bike ran fine and everything looked normal when I did them.

[Speeddog]

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[Ddan]

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[Langanobob]

I have a couple of data points for you on belts, although not on Monsters.

A friend has a 1982 500cc Pantah.  Not sure of the miles but he doesn't ride it very much.  The belts have been changed exactly twice in 27 years.

And I bought a used '87 Cagiva Elefant (650cc Pantah motor) with about 14,000 miles on it.  I changed belts at about 24,000 miles and found out the original owner had never changed them.   The belts looked just fine at 24,000 miles but I don't think you can always tell much by appearance.  They could've been ready to break in another 10 miles.

It seems like all, or nearly all, of the belt failures I've read about on various Ducati forums have been due to over tightening and resultant tensioner bearing failure and not excessive miles or time.

[victor441]

I have a couple of data points for you on belts, although not on Monsters.

snip

thanks, good to know, recently bought a 2003 Monster with only 2K on it, will change the belts eventually but won't worry too much in the meantime [moto]

[corey]

my bike has about 5500 miles on it... i mentioned to the dealer that the belts need replaced every two years (bike is about 4 years old now) and their tech guy called me crazy. ducati service says 12,000 miles, no time constraints. that being said, i wouldnt trust 25 year old belts with 5000 miles on them... regardless, my belts will be changed when my goes in for the 6k service. it's cheap insurance against a nasty kaboom.

[Howie]

my bike has about 5500 miles on it... i mentioned to the dealer that the belts need replaced every two years (bike is about 4 years old now) and their tech guy called me crazy. ducati service says 12,000 miles, no time constraints. that being said, i wouldnt trust 25 year old belts with 5000 miles on them... regardless, my belts will be changed when my goes in for the 6k service. it's cheap insurance against a nasty kaboom.

Ask your dealer to fetch the factory service manual, go to the routine maintenance schedule and read footnote 1.  Then ask him who is crazy.

[Langanobob]

thanks, good to know, recently bought a 2003 Monster with only 2K on it, will change the belts eventually but won't worry too much in the meantime [moto]

Please keep in mind that my two data points are just that, two points and a long way from being statistically valid.  I posted them because the OP requested it.  I'm not suggesting that anyone extend the Ducati factory recommendation.

In other words, if you bend your valves, don't come looking for me.   

[corey]

Ask your dealer to fetch the factory service manual, go to the routine maintenance schedule and read footnote 1.  Then ask him who is crazy.

i just might. like i said, i'm having them replaced regardless of what HE thinks.
also having said that, my belts look to be in very good shape upon visual inspection.

[victor441]

Please keep in mind that my two data points are just that, two points and a long way from being statistically valid.  I posted them because the OP requested it.  I'm not suggesting that anyone extend the Ducati factory recommendation.

In other words, if you bend your valves, don't come looking for me.   

understood, I just was not so sure how important the two year change was, sounds as though I'll probably be OK until I get around to changing them....but if I lose on this gamble any bent valves will indeed be my fault....as much as I've been riding the bike I'll have it up to 12K in no time anyway

[Langanobob]

^

It seems to me that replacing the belt tensioner bearings along with the belts is as important, or even more important than replacing the belts.  If properly adjusted the belts last a long time but bearings will likely seem to be in good shape at the first belt change, but by the time they get too many more miles they can fail and take out the belt.    I don't know why Ducati doesn't recommend changing them, maybe owner resistance to even more maintenance cost.  But if you do your own maintenance the cost of the bearings isn't much. 

[junior varsity]

Valves should be checked especially when bike is 'young'. I've read numerous examples of people who need shims more frequently with newer motors getting miles, than later in the motor's life. I am not sure I've worded it correctly for what I intend to communicate, but maybe it will make sense to you.

That being said, learning how to do it yourself really isn't all that hard (valve gap.) I had Stuart Rust show me on a pair of scrap heads, and I was like "i'll be damned. all that mystique... really much ado about nothing"