Getting the GT roadworthy again

motoFiend said:

Glad you were hurt too bad. Also looks like the bike made it out without too much damage. What are your plans for her now?

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Thanks motoFiend.

'Plans are to get her back on the road. I now have all of the parts and have started, some new, some sourced from the interwebs.

First up were the foot controls.

old


new with new torque wrench


old


new (used)


Handlebars


Bars on, Termis off


New Termis awaiting installation. I need to straighten the black brackets that attach the cans to the bike.

Metman said:

Wow, Coconut. Sorry to hear about this. Glad you were able to walk away and are, for the most part, okay. Yes, please keep us posted what the plans are for your bike.

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Thanks Metman.

With new banged-up cans off I had free access to the rear shocks, rear shocks are waaaayy overdue for service. Two ratchet straps to two roof trusses to the rescue. Yesterday I dropped them off at a local authorized Ohlins shop, 'should have them back in a week or two.





With the cans and shocks off, it's nice to be able to get in to some nooks and crannies for cleaning. Chain cleaning should be a little easier this go around.


A while back I bought some used bar end mirrors to try to piece together a spare. Between those I bought and parts from my banged up mirrors I was able to piece together a pair of Franken-mirror replacements


With Sport 1000 mirrors, it turns out the bolts holding the two main pieces bend, and or pieces that locate the rubber pieces crack. Liquid wrench if my new friend.


Voila, two usable mirrors! On a side note, these bar-end mirrors are still available from Ducati ($129/ea).


That's it for now. Next up is adding heated grips. I've decided to mount the switch on an aluminum flatt bar mounted between the two bolts holding the clocks.

egomexico said:

Glad to know you are OK.

It seems that your bike will turn out to be even better than it was before.

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Thank you Egomexico. I like to think both the GT and I will be even better than before, at least my brain and thought processes should be!

While working towards getting the GT back on the road, I eliminated another excuse for not doing more of my own moto work, quality torque wrenches. I've learned with motos, particular with Ducatis, logic, practicality and economy don't always align. Because I couldn't ride the GT these past two months, I had a little too much time to internet and read up on things and digi-shop... I went gonzo and picked up some new digital gizmos. I may not be able to turn a wrench as well as others nor be as mechanically inclined, but I enjoy thinking like I can.

For my mid-higher torque stuff (13-135 Nm)


For the lower end stuff (1.5-27 Nm)

Metman said:

Coconut- Hope the recovery for both you and the bike are going well, and getting better each day. Was curious, how are the forks and swing arm ?

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Thanks Metman.

Aside from the minor dings and scratches, the forks seem fine. It appears the bending of the bar-end mirror and handlebar took the brunt of the front end hit and dissipated the impact energy. I'll find out for sure once I can get back on the road. I presume the repair shop (dealer) checked the forks when they prepared my repair estimate, no fork nor triple items were mentioned.

The swing arm didn't get away as clean as the forks. The Termis and hard side cases took the brunt of the rear impact, but the force flexed the exhaust bracket enough to contact the swing arm and gouge some of the paint on the left side.



On the right side there's a nick near where shock attaches to the swingarm



With the shocks and cans off, I did cycle the swingarm up and down and tried to push/pull the top and bottom of the wheel to see if there's any side to side play and thankfully it moved up and down smoothly with no play. Aside from aesthetics, the swingarm seems fine and thankfully it was not mentioned in my second repair estimate where I specifically asked for safety only items required.

Speaking of shocks, these beauties returned from there spa week and are freshened up and ready for install! (steering damper isn't for the the GT)



This evening I started working on a flat strip to mount the rocker switch for the heated grips just below the gauge.



If all goes well this week, I may be able to finish up this coming weekend!

Riderjeff said:

Wow, Coconut! I've been off the forum for a while, glad to hear you're OK! Let me know if you've got the big black triangles straightened out or not, I might be able to hook you up with a clean undamaged set.

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Thanks Jeff!

I wasn't able to correct the exhaust holders, they are too stiff and I don't have the proper tools. Test fitting, trying to bend, test fitting again got old real quick. I ended up ordering a new set from MotoCorsa and coincidentally got word they arrived this afternoon.

backside complete!

I picked up my new L and R exhaust holders from my local dealer this morning and this evening 'was able to sort out the back half of the GT.

First up was removing the db killers



I now have two sets of Termi db killers, if anyone's been looking for a set, the ones that came with the GT when we bought it will be hitting eBay in the near future (as soon as I can find which box I packed them in).

The left side started out a pain in the arse and didn't want to line up. After a few rounds of taking a round file to widen the holder-to-termi bolt holes, test fitting, widening more, test fitting again, I opened a fresh bottle of beer and stared at the new and old cans side by side... The end of the old can had been flared open a tad allowing it to slide a bit further on to the header. I flared open the new can's end with the big crescent wrench, was able to slide the cans on just enough further for the two holder bolts to screw in, success!

I removed the left can again for the umpteenth time to reinstall the rear shock. Wanting the torque value for the shock bolts I burned an hour looking for my shop manual CD, 'couldn't find it, thankfully I found a pdf online here on ducati.ms .



With lessons learned from the left side, the right side took 1/10 the time the left did.



This seemed like a good stopping point for the evening. Up next is finishing the heated grips install. If all goes well I have a shot at a shakedown ride tomorrow afternoon!

Operation GT-Operational complete.

To take advantage of what could be the last nicer weekend weather of 2018 and squeeze in a test ride, I finished the hand controls (grips) and figured out a solution for adjusting the steering stops. The crash bent the little tabs back and unadjusted the top triple can come in contact with the front of the tank.

The right side stop bolt was relatively easy, getting purchase on the 4mm bolt on the left side seems next to impossible without cutting down an allen key. I bought a single 4mm allen key from my new favorite local hardware store to shorten, then got the idea of instead screwing out/increasing the bolt length, I’ll adjust the steering stop by adding a lockwasher and switching to a thicker nut.
Before

After


I decided to push back the heated grips install. I sorted my switch install, but I’m still unsure of the actual wiring and tapping of the power source. A friend and fellow Ducati fan enjoys wiring and electrics, I’ll get his help on the power piece later this winter.



With the mechanicals done, I updated my registration sticker and underseat stuff, added leftover non-ethanol gas from my last trackday of the season and it was time for a test ride...

Here she is: