Lower inner and outer races cleaned up a treat.... I will attempt to remove them myself but may take them to a dealer if it proves too much of an arse of a job. Spookily, the headstock adjuster tube was beautifully greased and slid out just fine. Dunno what the bike was exposed to in the past that caused such nasty corrosion in the lower bearing...somebody poured saline solution down the headstock??
You definitely need to get those off. As said by others can be a pillock. When putting new on I always heat the ring as andy says they are interference fit. Looks to me like the bike has had a lot of jet wash cleans.
Those foaming cleaners often contain salts and solvents. For the same reason as you put salt in your dishwasher.
I got the inner race off the stem and also the outer races out of the eccentric tube. Wasn’t such a pain, just needed to rummage about for a suitable ally drift to gently tap them out/off.
Yeah...like I’d notice the difference to my riding! Nah...I’ll stick with the billy basic shit that comes on my base level machine...
Why don't manufacturers fit grease nipples to swing arm , suspension links and headstock bearings ? Ooops silly me - it would cost a few pence more in manufacturing and do their dealers out of a lot of work.
Well I never thought the response would be so negative to what I thought was a common sense observation , I have a little trials type bike called a Hodaka Wombat (don't laugh ) from 1974 and it has grease nipples all over it and after purchase I greased all points and deliberately over greased them astoundingly I wiped the surplus grease off simple even for a Caterpillar lover.
Successfully installed inner and outer races on my steering stem and steering tube today. Didn’t have to use Ducati official tools as managed to improvise with the following: Put outer races and steering yoke in the freezer Put lower inner race and steering tube in the oven at 150degC Installed hot inner race on freezing stem with help of an Airbus A340 Wing to Pylon Pin (~$5000) and an old 916 rear wheel conical spacer Installed freezing outer races into scorchio steering tube with help of a Rolls Royce RB211 Engine attachment bolt, an old 916 rear wheel nut and washer. Job jobbed!
