Clutch Push Rod Anti Rotation Pin - Necessary Or Not?

Ducatis didn't have anti rotation pins for years but occasionally there were problems with the pushrod spinning with the clutch damaging the seal in the slave. Around 2010 they started fitting the pins, with a slave cylinder with a slot in it to match.
Is it really necessary? Possibly not, but definitely a good idea, just in case.

 

I've got a few clutch push rods for sale, some with pins some without.

 

Within the last 6 weeks I have had two slave cylinders fecked and a whole bunch of hassle due to the pushrod spinning on my MY03 999. For that particular bike it is absolutely necessary - although it had lasted for nearly 16 years and 11k miles without it. The spinning push rod span up the slave cylinder piston and destroyed the slave seals as well as generate a bunch of very fine alloy swarf in the fluid. The clutch failures were progressive then complete and on one occasion I was stuck at the side of the road awaiting a push. Pulling away from a stop with a big v twin and no clutch is not possible so a route from A to B required careful planning and a lot of luck. There were two other near break downs and nearly £300 in bits before a definitive diagnosis was made for the repair. The full kit (part no 69925111A @ £145) includes the most recent iteration of the slave (19540031C) plus the anti spin bits which are the 334mm push rod with a hole through it (11721122A), pins and pin locking bush) fits 748/996/998/999 and a host of other bikes with the 334mm push rod. I think there is another kit for the shorter 320mm(?) push rod bikes
I have a spare pin if you need it but unless you have the plastic pin locking bush and latest slave it is pretty pointless.

Have not had this issue on my MY02 748 with the same design slave, pushrod and clutch in over 40k miles

 

No mention of the cause of push rod spin - a knackered thrust bearing in the clutch pressure plate. That needs to be at the top of the check list.