Hitchcocks Forum

Hi,
I'd like to remove my headlamp casquette for painting. As far as I can tell everything has been removed or disconnected - using parts diagrams as the keys (Royal Enfield Electra X Service Manual, Royal Enfield Electra X Parts Manual, Pete Snidals's Service Manual). In a perfect world the the casquette would slide up and off.
How do you remove it? I'm afraid to 'tap' it any harder for fear I'll break it.
TIA Matt

So both forks have been unscrewed and removed, the allen head bolt that screws in from the back of the casquette under the handlebar bracket has been loosened and the top steering stem bolt has been removed?



At that point, you'd need to have tied the bottom yoke up to the headstock or it would fall out, raining ball bearings all over your workshop floor (this could stil happen, put a clean sheet down under it). I suppose the casquette could have bound against the steering stem with alloy corrosion, at which point I'd expect a whack on the end of the stem with a rubber mallet would see the afore-mentioned rain of bottom yoke/ball bearings.



Best pic I could find. This was me assembling mine. The forks are out. If you were to loosen the back bolt (at an angle in the round hole between the studs) and remove the top nut. The bottom yoke would fall to the floor. At that point, there would be nothing at all connecting the casquette to the rest of the bike, it would probably fall to the floor too.







In order to cause slightly less ball bearing chaos, I tie my bottom yoke up using string through the tunnel in the frame the tank attaches to. Then I only have to deal with the top set of ball bearings. (this pic is with the frame upside down). There isn't much you can do to prevent the top ones running amok when you remove the casquette though.







So to answer the question, you may have forgotten to remove something. If you haven't, a whack on the steering stem should see it all fall to bits if you don't have the other hand ready to catch stuff.

It occurrs to me, because it's not immediately obvious, that you may not realise the forks are threaded at the top and screwed into the casquette. They need to be unscrewed to remove it. You need a 13mm hex key (or a spare footpeg bar and a spanner, as here). They unscrew clockwise as you look down onto them. There is an o-ring on top of the stanchion which I find is invariably damaged on removal and needs replacing.

Thats brilliant explaination it going to help me as well.. Do i need hex key to dismantle the forks or remove forks legs?
Im aware the forks legs are threaded on top thanks again

Make sure you have a nut on the top of the hexagonal footrest bar because if it slips from your fingers it drops inside the forks! As Stinkwheel says, remember it's clockwise which feels counterintuitive.

You can dismantle the forks without removing the stanchions from the casquette. To remove the forks from the casquette you'll almost certainly need a large hex key of some sort (remember the head on an M8 bolt is also 13mm, I've used a long bolt with two nuts locked onto it to do the same job) unless you have a very stong grip.