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[mart]

1995 500 Indian Bullet: what is the best way to fit the g/box mainshaft bearing please? fit the bearing to the shft first or fit the bearing to the case first? thanks in advance

[Mark M]

Fit bearing to case first. Put it in the oven (get it as clean as you can first or there will be a lot of smoke!) and cook it at 250* for about 20 minutes. Put the bearing (wrapped in plastic to prevent rust) in the freezer the night before. With the case hot and the bearing cold it should just drop in but use the layshaft sleeve as a mandrel to guide it in, apart from anything else, you'll need it to keep your hands away from the hot case.

REgards, Mark

[mart]

thanks Mark- forgot to say the case is still in the frame so I assume I could warm it with a blow torch? (after removing carb and tank) i have some Nomex oven gloves which are perfect for handling hot engine cases etc.

[Mark M]

Of course you can. I suggested oven because I normally do bearing replacement when the box or engine are apart. I use an oven for even heating and time saving, once the component is in the oven I can just leave it while I do something else. Just make sure you heat the area evenly, gentle to start, play the torch all around then build up heat steadily. Once it seems hot enough a gentle tap from the outside to see if the bearing moves, if not keep heating. Once it's out get the torch back on to bring up to temp again before attempting to fit the new bearing as the alloy case will cool quickly.

REgards, Mark

[mart]

can the gearbox case be removed from the frame without removing the engine? ta

[vince]

Hi, The gearbox can be removed separately but is a bit fiddly realigning the bolts on assembly. if you need to heat gearbox in the frame, try pouring boiling water over it to get temperature up then apply blowlamp. Vince

[Mark M]

Boiling water may be a bit messy! A hot air paint stripper gun is a good tool to get some warmth in to start with. Advantage to getting the case out is that you can do the phosphor bronze layshaft bush at the same time, if your mainshaft bearing is worn out the bush will probably be not far behind.

REgards, Mark

[mart]

thanks for the good advice. I think Ill ltake the case out- itll be much easier in the long run. Im only replacing the bearing as it came out with the shaft. the bearing was very tight on the shaft

[Mark M]

Mart, that's a bit of a worry, it might suggest the bearing has been spinning in the case in which case the housing will have become oversized and your new bearing may not be tight enough to resist turning as well. If I was you I'd go ahead as planned and see how tight the fit on the new one is once it's all cooled down. If it is a bit loose then Loctite Bearing Fit will solve the problem. This is not unknown on Enfields of all varieties, the gearbox is quite poorly designed and weak in this area. It's usually more of a problem on the higher powered models, Bearing Fit gets a lot of use on interceptor boxes for instance, guess how I know!

REgards, Mark

[martyn15]

thanks for the info- ive fitted the bearing no problems and assembled the 'box'- but the high gear pinion and high gear kickstart pinion dont mesh fully. please have a look at this pic- the gearbox cover fits on OK and the kick start mech. engages OK. (Ive changed my username from mart to martyn15)


https://ibb.co/gjdxk6

as always many thnanks