Hi all, firstly if this topic has already been covered please let me know as I do realise there is endless information out there on how to adjust the valve clearances on the Testastretta engine, however my thread is more about the aforementioned workshop tool. The background is over the last year I have noticed the valve gear noise seems to have become more noticeable on my 2017 1200S so I decided to the bite the bullet this winter and check/adjust the clearances. I read through the Ducati workshop manual on the topic and noted it does not show the pre-load tool being used? There are some excellent YouTube videos showing said tool being used. I decided that I needed one to make the job ‘easier’, so I ordered what I think is a German made copy of the said tool. On checking the clearances I found all 16 within the service tolerance but 14 of them were all heading for the side of upper end of the tolerance meaning loose, so I decided to adjust all 14. This is where I stalled as it meant using the said tool which would not fit over the closing rocker arms, the ID of the tubing is about 9 mm, whereas it needs to be around 12 mm. In addition the centres were not quite right. As for the locking tool this would only just about work on the exhaust rockers but not on the inlet as the cylinder head casting is asymmetrical around the spark plug, see pic 2. I was assured the tool was a copy of the Ducati part but something is not correct because from what I can see Ducati have changed the design of the casting on the head at some point meaning one locking tool can never work. I ended modifying the tool by sliding some aluminium tubing over the forks on the pre-load tool but it was still a struggle due to the incorrect centres, in the end I abandoned the tool and opted for doing 1 valve at a time using: · 1 short piece of 15 mm OD central heating copper pipe to use on the rocker arm. · 1 x 6 mm hex key to wedge between 1 inlet and 1 exhaust rocker to hold them open, a plastic wedge would probably be safer. · 1 magnet · 1 magnetic pick · Tweezers · Grease · Magnetic Light The above low cost solution works a treat once you get the hang of it. As for the clearances they are all now as follows: · All Closers 2 to 3 thou · Inlet Openers 3 to 4 thou · Ex Openers 4 to 5 thou Good enough for me. Can anyone shed any light on this preload tool when used on later models?
