On Sunday my chain came off and ground a hole in my crankcase (see Gallery). My Hyper is 7 years old and I gather a new crankcase could cost nearly £2000. This is nearly half the value of the bike. Has anyone had a similar experience and were you able to get it repaired by TIG Welding? Anyone know where I could go to get the repair done, I'm based in Hertfordshire? Thanks in advance for any constructive advice, Cheers, Moses.
Hi, I feel for you, this happened on my 1990 900ss, which I manged to repair with with aluminium/epoxy resin with engine in the frame, that was 20 odd years ago, bike since done 60k miles since, repair still good. I cant see your picture in your gallery? not sure why, can you paste into this thread.
Ducati John has a pair of matched crankcases from a Hyper at his workshop (or he did 3 weeks ago). He recently sorted my casing as I had a bolt oval the hole in the casing it sat in. John made the oval hole larger and round again and sleeved the peg that sits in it. A brilliant job and saved me a lot of heartache.
Duncan at Bikers Realm (Welwyn Garden City) I also trust impeccably - he has serviced my bikes for the past 5 years. Worth a call and also not too far from you.
Thanks for this Pavey. How can I get in contact with "Ducati John" and where abouts is he based? Cheers, Moses
Far from us unfortunately - I used Shiply to get my bike sent up there then rode it back. The courier cost was £119 I seem to remember. Ducati John
Ducati John Obviously new cases will sort the problem but will be an expensive repair as the whole engine needs to be rebuilt, so whilst in there best to change other parts such as bearings, seals etc. and it all adds up, not to mention the amount of labour involved. You may be able to get it welded if it's not too bad, this would be significantly cheaper as the cases wouldn't need to be split along with all the malarkey involved. If it's repairable with epoxy etc. then that's even easier and may not require the engine out. Pictures of the damage would help.
Hard to see the damage to the case on the blurry pic but it doesn't look too bad. I'd pull the side cover off and see exactly how much is missing from the crankcase, if not too much and not cracked then look at some kind of repair; epoxy or weld, personally unless very minor I'd be welding it but you'll really need the engine out to do that. As and when it is repaired, get a case saver to prevent any further mishaps...
Looks like it only damaged the alternator case. This can be removed and replaced with the engine in the frame. I recommend that you buy a lottery ticket tonight!
Is there a gasket required between the cover and the case? I can't see one in the manual. Thanks for the feedback so far.
They use some kind of silicone it's called three bond TB1215 it's as it left the factory grey silicone.
Indeed, you appear to have been lucky as it seems the crankcase is OK. The cover is easily replaceable and could still be welded but you may be able to find one from a breaker/ebay etc. for not too much money. As above use threebond to seal it and definitely fit a case saver - the best £10 you could (should have done) spend.