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Hallo,
I'm looking for some advice about a Ducati Beveltwin crankshaft (860 GT). After replacing the big-end, is it possible to align the crankshaft once it's fully pressed together or schould the crankshaft better be aligned when the crankpin is on one side NOT yet fully pressed in one part of the crankshaft?
Greetings,
Frank from Belgium

Frank,
It sounds as if you have the equipmnet and knowledge to have taken the crankshaft apart. And I assume you know all of the tolerances for the crank.
A workshhop manual makes it sound as if you can make adjustments after it is pressed together. I have no personal experience with this technique.
If you go to the left side of the main page of this web site to "Technical info" then to the Manuals Index. Find the 860-900GTS workshop manual and go to page 76. In the broken Italian translation it indicates that you can, after pressing it together, " insert the crankshaft between to centers of a lathe, and by means of a big hammer, tap on, until reaching a maximum miscentering 0.02 mm on the main bearing seats".
I hope you know what that means.
There is some other info on the crankshaft that might be of help to you there too.
Most of us with our home shops would have to send this job out to a specialist to have the work done.

Hope this helps,
Dean

The crankshaft is trued exactly as it says in the manual. A large lead or brass hammer is used to shift the crank halves on the crankpin. Most any shop with two stroke experience can handle the operation. It seems kind of brutal but you are usually only moving the flywheels a few thou. As a side note, You should always use the proper tool to lock the alternator and/or the clutch hub depending which side you are tightening to avoid pulling the crank out of alignment.

Thanks for the information. I have already some experience with smaller Ducati crankshafts (from my 125 Aurea and 160 Monza jr). After pressing these crankshafts together, it was no problem to align these crankshafts with some force and a copper hammer of 1100 grammes. But the crankshaft of my 860 is much larger (the 36 mm crankpin is pressed in each crankshaft half for at least almost 3 cm!) and with the same hammer and a lot of force, the crankshaft halfs don't move at all.
Before I use a much bigger hammer and a lot more violence on such a crucial part like a crankschaft, I wanted advice of people with experience.
Thank you,
Frank

Some gentle heat around the crankpin bore can ease things a bit also.