TOPIC:

twistandgo wrote:

....and she's now inside the house, sitting in the dining-room.

Thats a perfect place.
Especially for engine rebuilts.
It's an ease to drill a big hole in the table to drain the oil. And you can screw the engine on the wooden plate with some brakets. Perfect engine stand

Joachim

and I've hit my first snag...sigh.

Is the rotor bolt a standard one? i.e. anti-clockwise to loosen?

I've put the bike in gear, stood on the back brake and used a long-levered socket handle to try and loosen it...and nothing happens.

Does anyone have any handy hints on how to get it off?

It's a normal RH threated bolt.
Maybe someone has 'secured' it with some kind of Loctite stuff.
BTW as described in the workshop manual.
So what can you do?
First, be carefull not to twist off the head of the bolt. That may end up in a lot of troubble. It's not easy to remove a secured bolt out of the crankshaft

If you have something to warm up the bolt that may be helpfull. Best would be a workshop 'hair dryer' (sorry don't know the english word) A simple gas torch also is ok, But don't use a welding torch.
Warm up and carefully try to rewind the bolt. Let it cool down, and do it again... and again... and again.
If you have removed the bolt, remove the thick disk under it and screw back the bolt into the crankshaft completely. That is your base for the puller. If you don't do this, you will destroy your crankshaft!!! (maybe your puller come swith an extra short bolt to replace the original bolt, like the original Gilera puller does)
Next problem will be to get the flywheel off.
I think the previous owner has wrenched the bolt as hard as he could.
That ends up in a flywheel comming off very hard. I had this several times
Again it helps to wrech on the puller, then torque the bolt on the puller. And wait.... heat up the flywheel middle a bit with the 'hair dryer'. torque the bolt and so on. Be carefull when it comes off. Don't injure yourself.
Be carefull about the 3 discs behind the flywheel.
For remounting you should defintly use a torque wrench.
Hope you can understand what i'm meaning

Good luck Joachim

PS again a word i don't know in english.
Workshops use 'pneumatic wrenches'
If you can get hand on such a thing... Carefully use it with low pressure first. Usually bolts came off with the help of this little tools. But also heads come off sometimes. The bolt has only 10mm. So be carefull!!!

Hi Joachim - thanks for all of that advice! Fantastic stuff.

I'll give it a shot tomorrow (in my lovely warm 'workshop' )and let you know how it goes.

"pneumatic wrench" is correct, and we also call it an air-gun...I wish I had one.

Andrew.

An impact driver (sometimes called a 'rattle' gun) may help. You can hire electric ones from tool hire places. The next most useful 'tool' I ever acquired - after an anglegrinder - was a compressor and air impact driver.

As Joachim says though take it carefully. I've never had a problem with rotor bolts - gearbox sprockets are a different story but will take a lot more abuse without the chance of shearing anything.

Heat should denature any Loctite or similar used on the threads. I've had good success on stuck fasteners and with removing needle roller bearing cages by using heat followed by 'Shock and Unlock' freezing/penetrating spray to rapidly contract the stuck bolt before having another go.

If you can rig up some kind of rotor holding tool rather than relying on the back brake that can be better. In fact that's sometimes the only way to do it on a Morini but they have holes in the rotor to use a special tool with pegs in it.

You may need just more leverage with a 'breaker bar' for the socket (how long is your 'long' lever?) but as the name suggests it may shear the bolt.

As Joachim says, the chances are the rotor will be well stuck on the crankshaft. If it hasn't been off for years there may even be some corrosion. The rotor may well let go with a big bang and fly off. Some advocate giving the extractor bolt a (not too heavy) tap once very tight - opinions differ. In any case have something ready as a 'rotor catcher'. I used to find an old plastic bakers delivery tray strategically placed worked well.

72degrees wrote:

(sometimes called a 'rattle' gun)

oh what a nice word

...but they have holes in the rotor to use a special tool with pegs in it.

Gilera rotors also have two holes for such a special tool (refer to the workshop manual)
I have built such a tool soem years ago.
Maybe it's stil out in the hood of my car and can take some measurements.
You need 2 pieces of flat metall, welded together in a T-style.
Next you need 2 pieces of round steel (8 or 10mm?)to fit to the holes in the rotors bottom. At last you have to drill a big hole in the middle oft the T to stick through your spanner. That's all. Mine looks a bit different becase i made it just from that what i found under my workbench
Have you access to a welding machine and other tools?

For those who don't love their Gilera not very much there is another method. Just put a piece of wood between the rear swing arms and a spoke of the rear wheel

ciao Joachim