Just changed the front wheel The fork bottom pinch bolts should be tightened to 19nm according to the maintenance manual. If I do that the gap in the fork bottom closes which feels wrong and could cause the clamp to fatigue and break. What do other people do ?
Is the bike a S or base? Ohlins forks use a M8 screw (6mm Allen key), they’re done up to 19nm. Base model forks use a M6 screw (5mm Allen key) and they should be done to 10nm.
Exactly my fear. All other bikes I've owned always have a gap in the fork bottom like in the photo above. After looking at older photos of my 1299 before my wheel change there was a gap. Now when I tighten to the specified 19nm the gap closes and I worry it could fatigue the weak area of the clamp and eventually lead to a costly failure. Just feels wrong. Do others have a gap or no gap ? I know some people will just say torque to 19nm as the manual and don't worry about gap or no gap but if it breaks Ducati aren't going to accept responsibility for the failure due to an incorrect published torque setting.
Is it a S or base model? The torques are in my first post.... Not all download manuals are correct, many are "drafts" that got copied and they are quite often way out on the details..
Not sure if i do this correctly or not, but generally I grease axle and slide it all in, (hey this is begiining to sound like 50 shades...), I then make sure all bolt holes are clean and lubed, oh ye baby. A squirt of wd40 up the hole is keeps it all nice. I then pregressively tighten each bolt on non axle bolted side up. Then torque to 19Nm. I then put axle bolt on and tighten that up to torque. Then I do the same with the fork bottom ones on that side. I never worry too much about the gap.
Cheers Nelly re read your 1st post and my base model should be 10 degrees. Pretty bore the manual doesnt differentiate between S and base model and just says one value of 19nm. Where did you get this figure from, if you don't mind me asking. Don't doubt you, just would be good to have a correct source of info for the future. Good job my spideysense kicked in and had my doubts about it feeling wrong.
Im in the dealers tomorrow and I m going to tell him it's disgusting the official maintenance manual specifies 1 torque setting which is clearly not suitable for a base model without risking damage.
Just to be clear, it's 10Nm, not degrees. My info is straight off the factory manuals, but they are linked to my dealer account. The manuals I have access to aren't available for public consumption. The ones that get bled out on to 'net are usually drafts etc. and have inherently been riddled with errors. As a rule, the manual also quotes the thread/screw sizes, and the Ohlins is M8, yours is M6. Nominal torque for a M6 is 10Nm +/- 1nm. It's worth getting a list of thread sizes and the nominal ISO torque values as a reference. 9/10 they'll be good to use. Hi tensile screws have higher values. Rather than rely on the manual, a small amount of engineering reference and familiarise yourself with the different fasteners will go a long way to making life easier working on your own bike. For instance, the M8 screw uses a 6mm allen key, the M6 uses a 5mm. You don't even need to see the thread to know the screw size as you have the key in your hand....
At risk of yet another troll8mg (but he can gfh) I never use a torque wrench on te small stuff, just te right sized tool. So regular size Allen key for the head fitting. Always seems to have worked for me. Wheels are te only thing that I always get the wr nah out for
Alas that’s user error: last iPad update for using keyboard was great but I tend to drag down certain ‘keys’ naturally which drops in a number...
Cheers Nelly sound advice. Ignore my fat fingers, I meant to type 10nm god knows how that turned into degrees. Thanks again. Genuinely appreciate good advice, thank you.
