Originally Posted by
BlueDefndr
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?
Too much preload is likely the issue. You only want the headset tight enough so that it doesn’t move forward and backward when you pull on the forks. This is often checked by putting the bike on the ground, pulling the brakes, and rocking the bike back and forth. But it should also be loose enough that the fork turns easily from side to side.
Another thing to check is the number of bearings used. When you pack loose bearings, there should be space for what looks like one more bearing but you really can’t fit it in.
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?
Wait! What?! If you are packing the bearings you
do not need to remove the cups! Just remove the bearings. The cups don’t need to come out unless you are installing a new headset. Don’t make more work for yourself.
You can install a headset the way you have but you are correct that you may not have the cups square. If you rotate the fork and you feel it bind in one (or more spots) while being free in others, you may have cups that are misaligned.