Tranny Trouble (696)

[gearhead]

i just don't know if it was on the old dmf or this new forum. and i was smiling because you also have a vfr. one of the greatest sportbikes ever created

I appologize Ron, but your rep precedes you.

He was able to make it back the 50 miles to the dealership, credit to him and the gobs of torque on the Duc.

 

what is the best thing to do if you are on the road  ?
Trying to bring the beast back home yourself or bite the bullet and call Desmo Club to pick you up ?

Exactly but the issue in my mind anyway worsened as it was an absolutley perfect day where I was going to meet a beautiful lady whom I just met for one, second the day was picture perfect with 78 degree temps and no wind, and finally I live in Bum  Fuk  Nowhere and Ill be damned if I am going to sit on the side of the road, alone no less, baking in the sun only to have a 300 pound goon sling my beautiful bike with wire cables on the back of a greasy tow truck after a 4 hr wait when the torquey Ducati was still begging to ride to meet my love who was a mere 20 minutes down the road.

[jdubbs32584]

I had a similar problem with my 695. I would downshift to 2nd and the gear lever would be stuck in the down position and I would be stuck in a gear.

Took the shop 3 months to diagnose. Turned out to be internal shimming problems and they even found a broken shim inside my shift drum....

There were other internal problems with the shifting mechanisms, too many to list, so my entire gearbox was basically rebuilt.

Good luck!

[Pikesonce]

I had this exact same problem on Tuesay night on my 696 with 700 miles. I got stuck in 2nd gear while downshifting coming up to a light. The shift lever would not move no matter what I did. The clutch worked, just wouldn't shift. While limping it home the half mile the tranny made a "whinning" noise like the gears were not meshed properly. Same noise you hear when some jackass doesn't set-up the gears in his rear end properly (often hear at drag strips across the country) I had it towed into the local dealer here in SD and had it back end of day Wednesday. I was told that the internal shift linkange was not adjusted correctly from the factory and the fork. Now the bike shifts better than it ever has.

Either this could be a potential problem for all 696's or we just happened to have one hung over italian building our bikes on a friday morning!

[Howie]

Same thing would occasionally happen on the older bikes.

[gearhead]

 My dealer gave me the service bulletin for what I hope is the problem but the instructions leave a little to be desired.
1 set to neutral
2 remove the generator cover
3 in neutral position, ensure that selector drum pin is in line with the notch on pawl (if necessary, align them as described in the workshop manual)

4 shift down the gears and turn the selector drum, keeping it fully home
 That is but a sample of whats in it. Now call me stupid but if the problem is the bike is stuck in gear how does one "set it to neutral"?

[bigiain]

My dealer gave me the service bulletin for what I hope is the problem but the instructions leave a little to be desired.
1 set to neutral
2 remove the generator cover
3 in neutral position, ensure that selector drum pin is in line with the notch on pawl (if necessary, align them as described in the workshop manual)

4 shift down the gears and turn the selector drum, keeping it fully home
 That is but a sample of whats in it. Now call me stupid but if the problem is the bike is stuck in gear how does one "set it to neutral"?

With the generator cover off, you've got access to the shift drum directly - you can turn it to neutral directly without using the shift lever/pawl mechanism.

big

[Hedgehog]

With the generator cover off, you've got access to the shift drum directly - you can turn it to neutral directly without using the shift lever/pawl mechanism.

You can also see if the pawl arm is broken/misaligned/caught on something/borked in some other way.

[gearhead]

 The sealant is a pregnant dog to break free off the cover though. I have been hitting it with a rubber mallet, tapping it with a hard wood block but it won't budge.

[Speeddog]

The sealant is a pregnant dog to break free off the cover though. I have been hitting it with a rubber mallet, tapping it with a hard wood block but it won't budge.

You need a puller to get that sidecover off.... not a big one, though.

[bigiain]

The sealant is a pregnant dog to break free off the cover though. I have been hitting it with a rubber mallet, tapping it with a hard wood block but it won't budge.

I've never looked closely at the 696 cases, but on my old '99 M750, that cover has a couple of dowels as well as the bolts, and there's a bearing inside the bolt-on plate in the middle of the cover - you need to pull that plate of and use a puller on the end of the crank to get it off. You won't budge it sideways until you've cleared the dowels and bearing end-ways.

big (damn, beaten!)

[Howie]

You need a puller.  A cheap steering wheel puller will do or you can even make one.  This link has a photo:

http://www.corsair-industries.com/parts/Ducati%20Tools/Ducati%20Alternator%20Cover%20Removal%20Tool/

You are under warranty, the dealer should be doing this for you free.  You do it and something goes wrong you bought it.

[bigiain]

You are under warranty, the dealer should be doing this for you free.  You do it and something goes wrong you bought it.

He said upthread "Oh ya, I forgot to add that I live 400 miles from the nearest dealer....lol."

I'd be popping the cover off myself to take a look too...

big

[gearhead]

 Here is the deal, and all should take note. The dealer is far far away for me. I am a motorcycle enthusiast who refuses to let the fact that there isn't a dealer in my town stop me from owning a Ducati. Now I believe the dealer will help me out in case of an "accident" as it was arranged before the sale. I consider myself a competent mechanic anyway, not the best but not the worst. Here is the other thing, Ducati won't pay to have a local Kawasaki mechanic, who I would say is world class, he won a Canada wide mechanic competition 2 years running, to do the work so whats the dif if I do it as far as warranty is concerned? Basically the 2 year warranty for me is worthless, I accepted this when I bought it, maybe just for very serious stuff. It will cost me 300+ just to get the bike there and back in fuel alone.
 I would like to thank everyone on here for their help, great info, keep it coming. Oh ya, the guy at the dealer told me they use Yamibond to seal the side case.

[Speeddog]

Given your location relative to the dealer, and your enthusiasm, go for it on the sidecover removal.

A small puller will allow you to get the sidecover off to see if anything's gone wrong with the mechanism in there.

Yamabond or the like is good for sealing the sidecover.

[gearhead]

 Well I managed today to make a nice puller at work and got the side cover off. What I found inside wasn't good though. I described the service bulletin earlier and yet this isn't the problem. I found 3 pieces of a broken spring. God knows where the other parts have ended up but I figure it's 20. I'm pissed as I already spent a ton of money getting the bike and now wonder whats going to happen now. Confidence is at an all time low. Ducati has a problem on it's hands with the 696 tranny for sure.