Dead Rubber Help

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John Freeman
Cucciolo - the Lil Pup
Posts: 2
Joined: Sat Feb 04, 2012 7:41 am

Dead Rubber Help

Post by John Freeman »

Don't throw away those old, cracked, distorted transducers yet. They appear they can be repaired. I have tested my repaired boots over my heater floor register for 15 minutes and they are holding up and still look like new. [ No wonder they give it up when they are located only 4 inches from my Darmah's cylinder head]. I used a auto repair product with a heat protective enamel over the top. It sounds easy, but with common sense and some time, you will be surprised. The product is availabe in auto paint/refinishing supply shops. It is a Canadian company Dominian Product. It goes by the name oF Sure Seal--Plastic Surgery. I used the semi-rigid. [ It comes in different forms: ridgid, semi-ridgid,flexible,and epoxy]. I had a very nice result with this product on a badly cracked,distorted,dead dash on a '80's Mercedes. It's been repaird for 6 months without distortion in heat and cold contractions. [ Fiberglass tape over large cracks and SEM paint over top of restroation for right color]. I'm on the bike resoration now. The only alternative to dead transducers was to replace with Japanese covers off old wiring harnesses. There is one size that will work well,fitting around the transducer.. I actually found two types of flexible plastic covers that would work. They are my backups just in case and they were free. The semi-ridgid is a twopart mix w/about five minutes working time. From tubes, mix by hand thoroughly what you want. Beforehand, clean ,sand off old glaze of surface. Don't try to do it all at once, allow certain areas to mend/set up before moving on. Open up cracks w/razor ----force in material. Cracks on lips probaly need partially groving out. At about 5 minutes, you can still form/push rubber and material. After one minute,DONT MONKEY WITH IT, setup strength will be lost. Sanding can be done in or after 30 minutes. I also do the weak inside--forming into cracks and corners. Duplicolor's Engine Enamel [500 degree,satin] seems to work well over repair. This stuff works! I'm sorry I threw away my cracked pillon rubbers. Cost of the 2-part is about $25.00. Careful. some paints seem to react with material when wet,causing some degredation of material surface. Duplicolor's seems benign.
John Freeman
Cucciolo - the Lil Pup
Posts: 2
Joined: Sat Feb 04, 2012 7:41 am

Re: Dead Rubber Help

Post by John Freeman »

I had to go with Sure Seal's Flexible Plastic Surgery over the Semi-ridgid set up repairs in the upper half of the boot. The upperhalf of boot needs more memory and plyability, especially in the lip. Best results came after a week of on/off trial. The semi-ridgid works well bonding,and filling end to end, voids, holes,missing rubber. Sand off all oxided rubber,grove all cracks in lip so the semi can be forced into the porous rubber within 2 minutes---estimate number of cracks to do within 2 minutes--don't play too much with packing after 2 minutes or you'll have a wierd, mushy waste. Let set-come back later to sand or filedown to the surface form. Repairs are there, but with not alot of pliability. This is where the "flexible", in thin layers, comes in. Sand lightly to surface form. Paint: 2 coats of elastomeric [ SEM'sColor Coat -blk. works]. Over this, I used Duplicolor's 500 degree Engine Enamel. Only time will tell how well they hold up. Each of my boots were trash with all their cracks, holes, missing rubber, and distortion. I'm passing along this experience to share and to encourage all of us duck owners to maybe try and help retard rubber self-destruction. Rubber is not forever. Thanks to Steve, hopefully we can turn to repo rubber in Ducati's weak areas of cushrubber[ inner ring], battery base, holddown strap, and passenger pillon rubbers.Some rubber holds up, but these four rubbers suck--needing replacement probably every 5 years. I want to try and preserve my investment as long as possible. I'll use use elastomeric paint even over new rubber--wipping off what does not absorb. You Pureists can go by the manual and use Vasaline. Dominion Sure Seal ,Ltd. products are on-line or in your local autobody repair paint shop. I used their Plastic Surgery #4008[Flexible], and #4013[Semi-rigid]. My bike has to survive in my no-control climate control garage.
Spagjet
Mach 3
Posts: 79
Joined: Wed Jan 08, 2014 9:07 pm

Re: Dead Rubber Help

Post by Spagjet »

the best thing I ever found to fix cracks in rubber Ducati bits is 'o' ring cement. It costs about $10-15 for a little bottle and works unbelievably well. You have to keep it in the fridge and let it warm up to room temperature before using it. Don't get it on your fingers, it's about a thousand times stronger than superglue.
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