[hpwaco]

The hardest, most difficult, frustrating part of installing gaiters on my 14GT was removing the front axle pinch bolt!!  I finally got it out using a 1/2" drive 6mm socket and 14" breaker bar!  Once it was out I saw remains RED thread locker on the bolt!  Then the axle could not be "tapped" out because the bottom of the fork leg had been "pinched" so tightly.   I used a hammer and cold chisel to spread bottom slot enough for the axle to be tapped out.  After all that, the fork tubes almost fell out when all clamps were loosened and the gaiters went on w/o incident (even though the package - from the dealer - was labeled for new triumph Bonneville).

I would suggest that if you have never had your front wheel off that you at least màke sure that you can remove the pinch bolt before you have to do it under adverse conditions.

Cheers

[Good Vibes]

The pinch bolt at the bottom of the right hand fork on my bike is an allen keyed circular headed bolt.  So having read of your difficulties, I wanted to check removal on my bike.  With the correct sized allen key in the bolt and using the hole in the handle of an 8inch crescent spanner threaded over the allen key shaft for leverage, the bolt came undone by hand quite easily.  I only loosened it for about one turn that was enough to see that it would come out easily and so tightened it up again.

There is probably some inconsistency in factory assembly for parts done by hand.  Maybe I was lucky and you were unlucky.  Hope everything else works OK for you.

 

[Arizoni]

I may be wrong but I think the Royal Enfields get shipped without the front wheel attached to the fork.

If this is true for the CGT, it was the dealer who assembled the bike that used the red locktite.
I have no idea what the thinking was for using red (permanent) locktite.
Maybe the mechanic was having a brain fart?

[mevocgt]

Sometimes dealer setup guys are mechanic wannabees....

[GSS]

Yes. Dealer issue indeed. The REs are boxed and shipped with the front wheel off.

GSS

[medra42]

I've found some interesting things about the way my CGT was put together, the least of which has been Locktite in inconvenient places.

To be fair, I've found equally interesting, through fewer in volume, things on my T100.

[Ice]

Sometimes dealer setup guys are mechanic wannabees....

 And they almost never "get the memo" on appropriate lock-tite selection, preparation and usage.