just changed my belts on the 999s for the first time , not an easy job but it was made worse but a little tool i bought off the net, a cam lock tool it holds the vertical inlet cam in place but to be honest it was a total pain in the ass as it held the cam 1/2 a notch to open making it very hard to get the belt onto be honest i should have chucked it when it would not fit in between the cams as you can see in the bottom picture I spent 2 hours pissing about with it then decided that i could do it without the dam thing and the belt went on just like that with the timing still in place It only cost $6.00 but it almost made me give up and take it to a garage so beware of tools that are meant to help but don't
Awesome. Tempted to do mine this year to save on cash but I need the valves checking too so hmm. Did you replace the belt tensioner nuts too or re-use? Ive heard that because they are loc-nuts? its best to only use them once or twice. As im considering checking my belts & re-tightening if required I was worried that the adjustment may smeg them up or is that a load of toffee? Congrats on your hard work. Oh and looking at the Cam tool it doesnt look like it fits the Cam and different bikes have different teeth profiles. Might be that it doesnt fit the testastretta so dont chuck it.
I was goingto replace the nuts i wanted to use nylock but dont know if they are up to the job will have to ask The bike is still onthe bench so no hurry to finish as i was going to paint the wheels wile it was on the bench
Tried using one of those cam tool on my SS but got the same result - locked slightly out of position... Found as you did it was easier to fiddle the belts on by hand? A pair of longnose pliers in the pulley nut slots made things easier as regards holding the pulley in place tho.
On my bike, 03 800 SSie, in the rear (back 1/2) of the belt covers (V & H) there is a small machine screw that you can remove and install a longer screw into a cutout in the pulley and it locks the cam pulley in the correct place, then it's a doddle to fit the belts without them moving.
Just to check as its your first time doing the belts, you did tension the idlers in the correct direction, ie anticlock. They will tension clockwise too, but the teeth tend to touch on the two runs.
I must admit thar i was shitting myself doing the job, i watched a dvd on utube about 4 times, it was made a bit over complex with the marking of the belts and counting the teeth and re marking the new belts ,which i did but after trying to get the belts on the paint had rubbed off so i had to do it by eye but i knew that as long as the crank did not move and the cams did not move all would be ok and it was as soon as the belts were on i checked evrything, what i did notice was that the cams were about 1/2 a notch out due to the streching of the old belt andthats why it was so hard to get the new belt on
Using a tool like the one purchased is going to hold your cams in the as is position. So if your timing was a tad off anyway, its still going to be a tad off. I degree mine in. But the Ducati holding tool locates on the offset slots on the cams, then the pulleys are slackened to allow belt fitment and tensioning then tightened.
