Working on kids 24" Kona Hula MTB, has a threadless headset. I removed the upper and lower cups so that I could get to the bearings, and they were quite nasty. The headset has loose bearings that are not in a retainer clip of any kind. Cleaned, repacked and reinstalled, however the steering feels quite crunchy still. I'm a bit of a headset n00b - but fairly mechanical otherwise. The bearings seemed like they were in fine shape, other than old grease - so wondering why the crunchy feel. Looking for ideas on what I maybe did wrong
... Did I not pack enough grease in the races? Did I put too much preload on the starnut? I don't have a cup press - so when I reinstalled the cups - I just whacked them on as evenly as I could with a deadblow and a block of wood - possible some slight mis-alignment in the cups?