To get the cams out of the ST2 you will need to remove the cam pulley which needs special tools to remove the nut and hold the cam wheel and the nut should be replaced every time it is removed.
Just to resurrect this old thread - as I did a search but didn’t find an obvious answer. Am I right in thinking that there are 2 ways to check for flakey rockers? 1) Check the oil after a change. Easy but not conclusive 2) Take the whole flippin’ engine apart, and dig in behind the belts and cams to inspect the rockers visually. Conclusive. Are there any red flag symptoms in terms of how the engine runs if there’s a problem? Thanks!
Anything in the engine oil is certainly not conclusive, it could be shards of a gear pinion or various other possibles. To inspect the rockers you don't need to take "the whole flippin' engine apart'. On a 4 valve engine accessing the rockers for inspection is pretty easy. You will need to remove the belts, inlet rockers and camshafts. It is very easy but you will need to buy or improvise a tool for pulling the rocker shafts. Refitting a closer can be a bit tricky though, although if it is OK you don't need to remove it. 2 valve engines need the rockers removing. They come out easily using the same tool to pull the shafts as on the 4V engine but a special tool is needed to keep the spring compressed when refitting the closers.
If the belts are off then it's no big ordeal to pull the cams to inspect the rockers on a 4V head. I've just removed and sent off a closer and an opener from my 996 to Newmans Cams for refurb. I wouldn't have seen the wear if I hadn't pulled the cams. You need to pull out the belt-side opener shaft about 10mm to allow the rocker to move off the shim to allow the cam lobes to move past, but that's all, for inspection. I just use a 55mm M5 bolt, nut and penny washer, together with a 35mm length of 22mm PVC pipe to draw out the shafts. Easy enough but wish I'd picked up some 5mm wing nuts, which would make it even easier. When it came to removing the closer that needed attention, I had some trouble removing the shim. In the end I had to heat it and gently tap it, which I didn't like doing, knowing the valve was sitting on the piston. I'm not looking forward to fighting the spring refitting the closer rocker though. It's my first closer. Openers are dead easy
Great advice - thank you! Pete W - hope you get it all back together ok. Out of interest how many miles on your bike?
I can't help thinking it's their cockup with poor quality products and they should be at a lower price for the consumer.
Got my rockers back from Newman last week and they were/are perfect, so another thumbs up for them. For Ducati..not so much. Getting the closer spring back under the boss was a pig of a job with the head still on, on the bike. Took me about 5 hours on Saturday and ended up bolting bits of old ally against the head to lever against. Relieved I only had one bad closer.
quite so, and if you'd had some failures "within a reasonable timeframe and mileage etc" in America (for example) most were so tooled-up litigation-wise that you would have got everything replaced under warranty, just as it should have been over here. One of the stipulations here I think (hazy memory) was that you had to have owned bike from new for starters.
