[02Electra]

Hola Gents,

My '02 Electra's steering has been clunking since the last one year now. I don't want to take it to the mechanic and want to replace the races+balls myself.

How big a job is it? I am fairly mechanically minded, have the tools but lack experience with Enfield. Been reading Mr.Snidal and seems like a good afternoon's job.

Do post the potential pitfalls and your personal experiences while doing this replacement.

Motivate me!

[ace.cafe]

Not hard.
DIY is easily possible.
Get the races and the dust shields along with the ball bearings, because you  may destroy the dust shields when removing the races.

Just knock them out with a hammer and a drift.

[02Electra]

Cheers Tom

I have bought the entire races+bearing+cover kit.

Just trying to get more info before i open up the front end.

Regards.

[High On Octane]

If you have Snidal's manual and good mechanical abilities it will be a fairly easy job.  Time consuming because you have to tear the whole front end apart, but there is really nothing there too technical.  I knew nothing about Enfield's before I picked up my oldie and I've done all the work myself.  Including installing electronic ignition, advance springs, and head gaskets.  The head gaskets only took 2 hours to put everything back together.  You should be fine.  Good luck with it!   

Scottie

[ace.cafe]

Knock the races into the frame with a block of hard wood and a mallet.

[02Electra]

Alright here's the plan :

- Put a jack underneath the frame. Remove wheel, forks.

- remove the triple tree (stem). The "casquet" stays in place.

- swap races, balls, covers and refit.

Sounds like a plan?

Will that allen key bolt underneath the big steering stem nut need to come out too?

All your help is much appreciated. Thanks.

[ace.cafe]

There's an upper ball race pressed into the casquette, inside.

Typically, I strip everything off the casquette and heat it up to about 300*F in the oven, and then it's easy to get the race out.

Otherwise, you can leave that one in, if it looks good and you can do the other three.

[sparklow]

It is more work than doing the swingarm bushings but you can do it. Lots of dis-assembly and re-assembly work, but not rocket science. I try to save jobs like that for Winter projects!

[ERC]

You can also use a blind bearing puller on the casquette to pull the race out. Or as Ace says if it looks ok leave it in.  ERC