personally I would use waterproof grease in the head bearings and wheel bearings as the whole machine is exposed to weather !
....my 2 cents.
Bob...........
 
I used marine bearing grease. Its thicker and doesn't run as easy.
In the all balls how to, they didn't pack the bearing very full. I packed mine just as i would a wheel bearing. Did i over grease?
 
In my opinion, there is no such thing as over greasing.
 
Yup - I would pack those bearings just as full as you can get that - and marine grease isn't a bad idea.
Nice work Mailman - your bike is going to be darned near perfect when you're done!

Pete
 
All right! Ace is the place!
I love working right across the street from Ace Hardware!
Got me a sack of 6mm zerk fittings and a tap/drill bit combo and also on a whim a length of 1 1/4" schedule 40 pvc pipe that I hoped would make a handy driver for getting the lower bearing onto the steering stem, but it measures out to be 1 3/8" which I think is going to be too big. Oh well , I'll figure out something.
IMG_4835.JPG
 
Well I thought I screwed the pooch. After reading other threads about people mixing up the races, installing the wrong races in the wrong places, and the importance of keeping the right race with the right bearing, I thought about what I'd done. Last Saturday I had unwrapped both bearings and took both races and threw them in a Baggie and popped them in the freezer. Oh crap!
I came home from work and dug them out of the freezer and compared them side by side. They look absolutely identical to me in every dimension. Crap crap crap!
Then I noticed the part number stamped on the bearings were unique to each one. And faith and begorah! The races were stamped with matching numbers. Whew! Dodged a bullit on that one.
 
you Might could take a block of wood and place the bearing race on it and then tap the wood to get it started in the hole then using say a 3/4"x3/4" stick tap the bearing race home.... alternate from side to side and front to back to get it even.... sense your freezing the races I doubt you'll have any trouble though...... just a thought for ya !
.....no...no bailing wire on this idea, unless you wann'a hang the stick up later ! LOL
Bob..........
 
The old ball races can be used as driving tools for the new lower bearing and race. One placed over the new bearing on the stem provides a wider surface for the driving pipe to mate with. That PVC just might work for you then. You will also need to use it for tapping the "grease saver" down all the way.

The bottom race is inset up into the neck. You can start it with a couple gentle taps on the race itself but then you'll need to stack one of the old ball races against it. That still won't get it all the way in and a second old ball race will need to be added to the ''stack" to complete the job.

The top race can be done with just a block of hardwood but you can add one of the old ball races if you like. The new top race, even after it's fully seated, will stick up above the neck about 1/8" or so. That's why a block of hardwood alone will work.
 
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Thanks! Fortunately I saved all my old parts.
(I've learned to never throw anything away)
So I still have the old races to work with.

I've got a long weekend coming up so hopefully I'll get the steering head , at least back together.

With time out of course to BBQ some hot dogs on the grill and have a frosty beer on Memorial Day!
 
Sounds good Bob - throw one on the barbie for me!

We just had our Victoria Day Weekend (Queen Victoria's birthday was May 24) and that date or the weekend closest to it is celebrated in many Commonwealth nations as the Queen's Birthday - always fun!

Cheers,

Pete
 
Regarding notching: Those races are very thin on one edge. If you happen to chip/crack one during installation then you will wish you had put in two notches. Mine took me 1 hour to do. I used a fine file 20mm wide and 5mm thick. I stuck the file down the head stock and worked from above with one hand on the handle pushing and the other hand below applying the force to keep the file edge against the headstock metal. The result was two 5mm wide notches approximately 1.5 - 2mm deep.

My file is a bit worn out so I think a nice new one would do the job in about 30 minutes - Good investment should anything go wrong ...
 
OK - but I am still unclear on two things:
1) where exactly do you put the notches;
2) what are they for?
 
More pictures please, and more descriptions of what goes where. I'll be doing this soon and I already have a couple of new 1/2 bearing sets from other bikes because of getting the ups and downs confused.

Scott
 
Yup - just did and NOW I get it RG. I have never been inside this part of my bike. I'm sure I will though....

Thanks all!

Pete
 
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