[kauai1800]

Aloha Guys,

I got my hands on a Enfield disc brake conversion kit (with wheel) and it looks straightforward enough, but the damn thing came with no instructions at all.

So my first question is does anyone have a PDF file of the instructions for this kit they could PM me?

I've read this thread:
http://www.enfieldmotorcycles.com/forum/index.php/topic,237.0.html
so I know I have to saw off the tab on the L front fork - and it mentions disconnection of the hydraulic line to route it through the front end. I think I can cram those round hydraulic connectors through the holes in the casquette. 

But there's a couple fiddly bits including a 19mm bolt/washers that I'd like to know exactly where they go before I drive off into the sunset. I need to understand how the speedo will be hooked up as well.

The thread I show above is the only detailed thread I could find about this conversion, and ironically the poster never came back with a review of the brakes. I can only hope it improves braking.
Anyone else done this and can tell me what to expect?

[Bill Harris]

kauai1800,

Call  CMW for installation help (1-800-358-0938). 

Cheers,
Bill

[olhogrider]

the poster never came back with a review of the brakes.

That's not a good sign. Good luck. Mine came with a disc. No help at all. I have heard that when properly setup the stock drum is very good.

[bob bezin]

the po of my 2000 classic installed one and it is well worth the effort. sooo much better than the drum

[Ice]

 IMHO even if they work only half as good as the disc brakes on the UCE machines it will be money very well spent.

 The decrease in stopping distance of disc brakes = increase in safety margin not to mention  a much better "feel" of the braking process.

[GreenRE]

They work , and much better. They are a b**** to install, especially hardware is shoddy and does not align well. You will need all kinds of spacers to center the wheel. Do not forget that the fender stays play a crucial role in aligning/adjusting the caliper.

[kauai1800]

The transformation is underway...
Unfortunately, but predictably, dude doing the tire/bearing swap was AWOL when I showed up at 4:55 sat. to pick it up. So my bike is up on a jack out in the driveway looking a bit ghetto at the moment. I did saw off the tab on the fork and tried to suss out what bits go where, but I can't figure out what the giant nylock nut is for, so I'm waiting for those instructions before proceeding further. I see the spacers you're referring to and yeah I can imagine getting it all square is challenging. But I am pretty new to riding and learned using lots of front brake. I can get the bike to stop ok, but in a real emergency quick stop situation I think the disc will help me.
Meanwhile I installed a new cover for my distributor (old one = rusty) and put in cool red domes into the accent lights.
If anyone has those instructions as a file I'd love to see em...

[GreenRE]

Well, to begin with, you will need to respoke the wheel with the new hub. Next: add the disk. Next: balance the wheel. Next: install wheel in fork, and get in centered. Get hardened steel washers of various thickness. It will help you with wheel and brakes. Brake calipers are free floating, which means there is no spring action to retract after you are done applying brakes. Ideally there should be no contact between disc and pad, but minimal is OK. It will grind itself and bed. Once done, get them hot by hard braking.

[kauai1800]

Thanks GreenRE. The kit I got included a new front wheel with disc already to go. One thing I wanna be sure about is moving the bearing from old wheel to the new one. Bearings came out pretty easy and look fine - no reason they can't be reinstalled in the new hub right? We packed em with new grease and they seem ok. Bearings always kinda freak me out.
Also I gotta remove rt throttle grip to swap levers. I'll look in Snidal about how to do that....
Happy Memorial Day everyone!

[t120rbullet]

One thing I wanna be sure about is moving the bearing from old wheel to the new one. Bearings came out pretty easy and look fine - no reason they can't be reinstalled in the new hub right? We packed em with new grease and they seem ok. Bearings always kinda freak me out.

I personally wouldn't put Indian bearing in if they were new.
Those bearings are cheep and easy to find, put some new good ones in it and sleep better.
CJ

[GreenRE]

Thanks GreenRE. The kit I got included a new front wheel with disc already to go. One thing I wanna be sure about is moving the bearing from old wheel to the new one. Bearings came out pretty easy and look fine - no reason they can't be reinstalled in the new hub right? We packed em with new grease and they seem ok. Bearings always kinda freak me out.
Also I gotta remove rt throttle grip to swap levers. I'll look in Snidal about how to do that....
Happy Memorial Day everyone!

Nice. Where did you get this front end form, and for how much ?

[Ice]

I personally wouldn't put Indian bearing in if they were new.
Those bearings are cheep and easy to find, put some new good ones in it and sleep better.
CJ

Big +1

New bearings are cheap peace of mind.

[kauai1800]

I saw the wheel is done and ready.
But based on what you guys are saying I'll  put in new bearings if I can find em. 17x49x12 (6203) -ya?.
Thanks!

[kauai1800]

Well I got the instructions (thanks CMW!!) and now I'm wrassling with putting the bits on right. Looks like this kit is missing a couple of spacers that span the gap between the caliper and the bracket. That's what had me utterly baffled until I see them mentioned in the instructions. They must be about 1/2" and made to fit the #8 bolt. They have to be able to share the torque from the caliper with the bolts that run through them. Need to be thick and strong metal for sure. We'll see what I can find.

Got new SBK bearings (ironically made in Argentina..lol) installed too.

Someone asked where I got this kit...it came from a dude from Craigslist on Oahu. He had bought it from eBay but never put it on...everything is new in box. I paid $415 with shipping. It had a new laced wheel included so that seemed like a good deal to me. Plus I paid $65 at my local shop to have the front tire swapped over and new bearings installed - twice    - cuz I put the old ones in before reading the wisdom posted above. Bike rolls in neutral noticeably better with new bearing installed...kinda funny. Maybe should do the rear sometime as well...

[kauai1800]

Update:

Front disc brake is installed, bled and just back from a 15 mile test ride. Everything seems good. The brake is working pretty well - definitely more stopping power than the drum (which I had rebuilt and was working pretty good - did not do the Hitchcock mod though). I can see the pads need to wear in and I might need to re-bleed the line. I'm gonna put 100 miles on it and see if it needs to be tweaked. My tech guy said you can add shims behind the pads to make the lever firmer. We agreed that we should let it bed in first. I rode the bike down there and he was pretty impressed having only seen the wheel/disc before.

Here's a couple photos of the mod. You can see how I had to chop one of the fork stays down (as per directions), while the other mounts to the bracket. You can't see the spacers too well, but I used 1/2" thick steel collar rings from Ace that seems to work well and allowed me to center the rotor. Seems strong - and blue locktite useage was pervasive... 
 
The bike looks better with the drum - but my quick stops are already way shorter and I think once I've tweaked everything it'll be much improved over the drum's performance. The "look" of the bike from the right side is pretty much unchanged...but below I show the 'ugly' L side..

I'll update again once I have a few more miles down the road....

[olhogrider]

Looks great! If you need a stiffer lever, braided steel hydraulic line is a big plus. The fluid pushes the pads where rubber lines expand and waste some of the pressure.

[tugdiver]

      INSTRUCTIONS
   FRONT DISC BRAKE CONVERSION KIT  #Z90547

1.   The front disc brake conversion kit requires a bit of mechanical knowledge; we recommend you have a service manual to assist with this conversion. You will also be required to lace your own wheel or have a qualified mechanic do this for you. The caliper and master cylinder are filled prior to shipment, you should not have to bleed the system after completion but it won’t hurt to do so.
2.   You will have to remove and keep together the speedo drive assembly, the one axle nut, bearings (if not damaged from the removal out of the old hub, we recommend the purchase of new wheel bearings), and the spindle. All the other components will not be used on the conversion.
3.   You will now need to remove the rim band from the drum brake system. With the new hub, spokes and nipples start lacing the rim band to the new hub. IF YOU HAVE NEVER LACED A WHEEL, WE RECOMMEND THAT YOU BRING IT TO A QUALIFIED MECHANIC TO HAVE THIS DONE!
4.   With the wheel laced you will install the bearings and the spindle. First install one bearing on the spindle (install bearing on the short end first) this will be the disc side of the hub. With the bearing on the spindle install the assembly into the hub (disc side). The bearing will have to be driven in far enough that it allows room for the seal. The seal will only seat half the depth of itself. Now install the bearing on the speedo drive side (RH), this will be driven in to a depth of about 1/2". If this is not seated far enough you will not be able to install the speedo drive assembly (the spacer will keep the speedo drive assembly to high for it to lock into the two slots on the hub). Next place the straight spacer on the speedo drive. Place the speedo drive assembly on and rotate it until you feel it lock into the slots and install the axle nut. On the disc side, place the stepped spacer on the spindle and check to see if the spacer covers the threads on the spindle (smaller diameter of spacer goes towards the bearing). If the spacer does not cover all the threads, use the large shims to space the wheel spacer so it covers the threads.
 







 
 



5.   Now install the hub adapter plate to the hub (this is for the rotor to attach to the hub) with the six hex flange bolts (M8 x 25), use blue LOCTITE on the six adapter plate bolts!
6.   Next install the rotor to the adapter plate with the six button head bolts keeping the etching on the rotor facing outwards. Use blue LOCTITE on the button head bolts!

 

 
7.   Install the wheel on the bike (rotor goes on the LH side) and locate the standoff for the drum brake face plate located on the LH fork lower. With the wheel mounted (DO NOT SPIN THE WHEEL) you will need to check the clearance of the adapter plate flanged hex bolts and the drum brake plate standoff. You will need to file some of the standoff away to get the correct clearance. Be sure to give yourself about 1/8” of actual clearance.” BE WARE THAT IF YOU FILE THE WHOLE STANDOFF YOU MAY EXPIRENCE SOME OIL SEAPAGE”.
             

8.   Now install the caliper bracket on the fork lower, you will notice the short section that angles out. This is the top and it will point towards the motor. You will need to replace the stud that the brake cable stays to and replace it with the short stud to install the caliper bracket. Use the two acorn nuts and the supplied two internal teeth lock washers.
       

9.   With the two black spacers and two M8 x 35 flange bolts mount the caliper to the bracket. Here you will need to pay close attention on the alignment of the caliper to rotor. If there is noticeable binding it may be necessary to file the standoffs that the caliper bracket is mounted to. This may not be parallel to the rotor (may be at a slight angle to the rotor). File it little by little to ensure you don’t over file the standoffs. 
             
             
10.   Once you have the caliper fitted (Parallel to the rotor) you will need to space the caliper with the shims provided (four .05mm, four 1.0mm) for the caliper and rotor alignment. The wheel should spin with minimal drag of the pads, if there is significant drag after squeezing the brake a few times you will need to shim it more.
11.   Now you will need to mount the master cylinder to the handle bar. Be sure that you route the brake line under the triple tree and secured via cable loops supplied in the kit. The two cable loops will mount to the lower pinch bolts of the triple tree on the back side. Be sure to inspect the brake line for possible hazards, being pinched or contact with moving parts. Use the supplied jumper harness to wire the front brake light in.
12.   Now you will need to line up the LH center fender stay to the caliper bracket. Mark the fender stay 1/2" below the top hole on the caliper bracket and mark the fender stay where the hole is to be drilled. This is for mounting the fender stay due to the caliper bracket is in its original place.
13.   Mount the fender stay with the M8 x 16 bolt and nut supplied in the kit to the caliper bracket.





 
Caliper bracket:  x 1                                                   Brake switch jumper harness:  x 1
Caliper brkt bolt: x 2                                                  Caliper shim, .05mm:  x 4
RH wheel spacer:  x 1                                                Internal lock washer:  x 3
LH wheel spacer:  X 1                                                Caliper shim, .10mm:  x 4
Wire loop:  x 2                                                            Caliper spacer/bracket:  x 2
Fender stay bolt:  X 1                                                 Wheel spoke long:  x 20
Caliper bracket stud:  x 1                                          Wheel seal:  x 1
Hub adapter plate bolt:  X 6                                      Wheel spoke short:  x 20
Wheel shim, .05mm:  x 4                                          Fender stay nut:  x 1
Rotor bolt:  x 6

                 

Note: Be sure to check and double check all fasteners and hardware for tightness and fitment and function. Turn the handle bars fully to both RH and LH and watch for the brake line to ensure it does not get pinched or caught in moving parts. Also check the brake line for proper slack, the brake line should have a small amount of slack when front suspension is extended.

Take the bike for a test ride, after test ride check the rotor for any discoloration. This would indicate that the caliper and rotor may not be aligned correctly or the caliper is hanging up. Check the alignment of caliper and rotor, check the caliper and slide pins for binding, if its binding you may need to add more shims or take out a shim.


 







Note: Use approved and accepted shop practices and all applicable safety gear and practices when installing these products on your motorcycle. These instructions assume a certain level of mechanical competency, such as the ability to use hand and power tools as well as basic mechanical experience. If you lack the tools or experience to install these accessories after a review of the instructions, please consult a professional or your Royal Enfield dealer. Classic Motorworks or Royal Enfield assumes no liability for installation or fitness for use of these products.