My Monster 1200 is 5 this year so will need the belts changed. I want to do this myself but have never worked on a belt driven engine before so would like to see it done before I attempt doing mine. So is there anyone near north Somerset about to do a belt change on their bike so I can come over and see how it's done. Or is there anyone who has done it be willing to give me a hand/advice when the time comes to do mine? Any help or advice would be most appreciated.
I guess you will be wanting to measure belt tension by frequency rather than clearance over the tensioner roller or 45° belt twist? In which case I would recommend the Gates Carbon Drive app for your phone.
Thanks Bumpkin, I will look at the vids but I cannot ask questions or see things from different angles so I would still prefer to see one first hand. Thanks Wally, I don't have a workshop manual, I can't find one to download for the 1200. Thanks Billywiztheelder, I don't know what method is the best for me at the moment as I don't know enough about the belt change process.
This will help if you go down the belt-frequency route, as the bit to 'twang' wasn't obvious to me. 4-valve head on LHS obvs!
Please do own research to confirm.... but ....the tensions should be set with the relevant cylinder on TDC firing ....so there is no influence from the helper springs on the cam pulleys .... Also if using exact fit belts the tension is lower. With the marks on the driving pulley lined up ...the horiz cyl is on Tdc firing .....
As you are north Somerset ....I'm wondering if you could ask Ritchie at Louigi Moto if he would replace them for you ..... Don't know if he would agree to this .. But worth asking .... the rest of the service you could do yourself ? .....trailer or van it maybe ...then you could arrange to wait for it is the bike must be cold .......
Thanks Gerr, I don't have a van or trailer and don't know anyone who does. The only way is for the dealer to lend me a bike to get home which is not always convenient, but I'd still rather do it myself if possible.
Don’t forget the distance between the crank pulley and the cam pulley/pulleys varies with temperature, as does the register length of the belt (kevlar has a negative coefficient of thermal expansion). Not a lot, but enough to affect tension. The linear difference in distance between the pulley centres between zero degrees and 20degrees is around 0.25 - 0.30 mm on a Ducati twin. So, - obviously, you should only ever work on the timing tension on an engine at ambient temperature, but a basic rule of thumb is if its winter / cold in the garage, work at the bottom of the tension spec range and if its summer / hot work up near the top of spec range.
