[clenart50]

I recently started a thread asking some prelim valve questions. The answers were very helpful. I spent a fun evening taking everything apart, getting ready for tomorrow.

For anyone getting ready for their own winter work, here's a quick summary of what i did:
1. drain oil
2. drain coolant
3. remove gas tank/seat/rear fairing (migz123's thread was helpful. tip: removal of fuel delivery/return fittings was easy with a flat screwdriver prying off the plastic ring; be sure to put some rags down so catch the few cc's of gas that spill. i left some in the tank, as others recommend doing, to verify o-ring competence after changing out the fuel filter. just flip the tank to keep it from spilling.
4. remove oil breather box, horn
5. remove cooler/fan after removing the air scoops (PITA to pull the cooler from the manifold hoses. beware: pulling off the cooler from the manifold connection hoses results in big spillage of coolant; i bet someone else has discovered this before me!)
6. remove belt covers
7. remove valve covers

here's my questions:
1. any easy way to remove the fuel lines without removing the breather box?

i did like LT said and just pulled them out of the way. i don't like putting too much stress on them and am worried about access with my torque wrench when the job is done.

2. this is TDC for the cam on the left, correct?

3. To correctly maintain the timing, when i replace the belts i need to make certain the two cams are aligned as they are in the picture above?

thanks in advance, boys. i appreciate all the help i've been getting.

to anyone on the fence about doing their own valves, i suggest you DO IT! (Of course, my failure is waiting to happen and i may be singing quite a different tune soon...) taking off the valve covers and finally seeing the desmo valve train was just cool.

 

[DMCTRUBY]

I watched the mechanic do mine, he did not need to remove the fuel line at the point in your pic. On my 05 model he was able to work without taking it off.

 

[redliner]

Hey I'm thinking of doing the same thing(belt replacement and valve clearance check) on my 1098 duc. Some questions.... why did you drain the oil? I thought that after you put the horizontal cyclinder at TDC and mark up all the cam pulleys to keep your timing right you can pull off the belts and then check the clearances. Question, after pulling off the belts depending which cylinder your working on and acheiving TDC for that cylinder ,what happens if the cam pulleys rotate. How then do you measure the clearances? Do you rotate the cams to the lowest pt on the lobe to measure the clearance. The cam pulleys are free to rotate without the belts on right? I guess what I'm trying to say is do you keep everything completely still when measuring valve clearances when the belts are off, or is it ok to rotate the cams?

 

[ZDM]

It seems to me that once you understand how to do a belt R/R, it is a relatively easy maintenance procedure. To be honest Ducati does make it rather simple to preform these tasks of belt R & R and valve adjustments. It's all there in front of you, compared to the Jap bikes which seem nightmarish to even get to the engine.