Cracked SD cyl head.

[wildash]

Hello everyone ,
Im a newbie here seeking some advice .
I have removed the cyl heads from my SD900 for service and found that the rear head has a crack going across the sealing surface to the exhaust valve seat . It looks rather dodgy to me however when i took the head to my Ducati man to see what could be done i was told that it was common for the rear heads to crack if torqued incorrectly and his advice is dont worry about the crack as the valve seat is unlikely to drop out , sounds strange to me surely the head should need repairing . Ive included a pic for you , thank you for any advise , regards
wildash .
http://xs.to/xs.php?f=melvin.JPG&h=xs205&d=06342

[Steved]

I remember back in the ‘80’s I also had this problem with my SD and told exactly the same thing that there wasn’t a risk, but fortunately, I was able to find another replacement head, to which I realise, could be a bit of an issue now.

Sorry I couldn’t have given you better advice, like after 15 years my darmah is still running fine with a cracked head.

Keep us informed as what you decide to do.

Steve

[linblad]

Mate since you are in Aussie ring Brook Henry at vee two in Perth the guy is a genius and will have all the right answers and then some.

[hunter]

I know this is a bit late in the day to post this reply but it may help others with the same problem. My 900GTS had the rear head cracked between the valve seat and the sealing area, the crack had also spread into the exhaust port and the result was a rear piston meltdown. I had the head welded to repair, I tried to use Lumiweld which looks good in the adverts, but is very hard to get the weld to take.