<-=- Club Bevel Heaven -=->

1965 Ducati 250
Basket Case/Cafe Project

Hey Guys,
New to Bevel Drive Ducatis so I know I will have lots of questions. I will start with just four. I also posted this in the specific engine forum but I thought some of these questions could also be answered by twin owners.
1. Does anyone have a spare Sleeve Coupling for the bevel drive shaft that they want to sell or know of a source for one?
2. Does the tool for removing the rocker shafts just thread in to the shafts and allow you to pull them out?
3. When removing the cam, does the tool for holding the cam engage the base of the cam lobe and just mechanically hold it? Seems a bit rough but I guess it's worked for all these years. Does everyone buy the special tool or is there a shop built alternative?
4. In the absence of a factory shop manual, do the Haynes manuals that I see come up on E-Bay have a comprehensive engine section? Teardown, Inspection, Specs, Re-assembly?

Thanks in advance for any help.

Hi cafe250,

1. Bevel sleeve: try Andy Nienhagen, http://www.desmo-ducati.de/. Andy speaks English, btw. (The tubes do tend to leak. An old racer's tip is to seal the bottom with a smear of silicone - believe me, it works.)

2. Rocker shaft tool: yeh, this can work - the shafts aren't normally in tight. If not, just make up a draw bolt (ask if you don't know what I'm talking about). Or even more simple, you can try just screwing in a bolt until it bottoms and then giving it a sharp pull with a set of pliers!

3. Yes. However, in truth, Ducati came up with far more individual tools than are really needed. You just need one, namely something to lock the clutch centre to the clutch basket. With this you can undo (and later tighten) all the engine nuts in one go. I had one made up - a simple ring of steel, plus a long handle, with tangs on the inside to match the grooves in the hub and tangs on the outside to match the cut-outs in the basket. Send me a private message if you want a photo.

4. I'm fairly sure there is only a Haynes for the widecase bikes. But there
aren't that many diffferences in practice. Otherwise, there's a Clymer and also Ducati's own manual, copies of which can be found on eBay. None of these is particularly comprehensive - well, not by today's standards, anyways.

HTH

Craig