Do I need new bearings?
- Thread starter swee'pea99
- Start date
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swee'pea99
Legendary Member
Interesting. Maybe that's what I did.
But would the kind of damage in those bearings not need full rotation? In a headset the bearings only go through a fraction of a rotation in normal operation.
antnee
Guru
- Location
- Weston Super mud, North Somerset
1/2 I replaced some wheel bearings in the winter bike two years ago cause it was feeling a bit grindy But they were never as bad as that, In fact 31/2 tonne Heavy doors that I've serviced and replaced bearings in were never as bad as that. I reckon they were duff from the word go.Shot to hell. How surprised are you on a scale of one to 10?
Ajax Bay
Guru
- Location
- East Devon
race - bearings
Happy days.
If you'd 'overtightened' the headset the bar movement would have stiffened up. There's no way you'd have ridden it like that. You can experiment once you've replaced the headset.
OP
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swee'pea99
Legendary Member
It was almost completely seized by the end...riding home felt distinctly weird...sort of like the odd feeling you get when you move a gyroscope round in your hands. I don't recommend it.
- Location
- London
I'd replace the caged bearings in the new headset with decent loose bearings. It's not actually that difficult.
Ajax Bay
Guru
- Location
- East Devon
Why? For what benefit?
- Location
- London
It's my understanding from folks more techy than me that it's better, more bearings rather than the metal fixed frame. Has worked for me on some old threaded headsets which were slightly worn through mis-use. Movement and grease is good. As i said it's not really difficult to do for the user, the clips are there for the benefit of the manufacturer.
Mind you, i prefer loose bearings in general.
Johnsco
Old Fettler
- Location
- Leeds, West Yorkshire
[.......... it never occurred to me that you could get 'poor quality' bearings. I (perhaps naively) assumed that the human race had basically figured out how to make bearings, and they were all much of a muchness. Maybe that was wrong.
....... Which leads me to suspect that I have screwed up by not replacing like with like. They looked the right size - ie, same size as the old ones - but maybe it was a metric/imperial thing, or something like that]
I never fit bearings without dropping a mike on them first.
You can't tell just by looking at them.
Even a couple of tenths of a thou can make a lot of difference as to how the load is distributed and lead to damage to bearings and race.
Even if the diameter is correct, faults in heat treatment can lead to premature failure.
....... Which leads me to suspect that I have screwed up by not replacing like with like. They looked the right size - ie, same size as the old ones - but maybe it was a metric/imperial thing, or something like that]
I never fit bearings without dropping a mike on them first.
You can't tell just by looking at them.
Even a couple of tenths of a thou can make a lot of difference as to how the load is distributed and lead to damage to bearings and race.
Even if the diameter is correct, faults in heat treatment can lead to premature failure.
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swee'pea99
Legendary Member
Job's a good'un!
Thanks all!
Thanks all!
OP
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swee'pea99
Legendary Member
PS I didn't liberate the bearings. I know the cage is basically there for their benefit rather than mine, but they work for me too. (Eg you can loosen things up to re-lube without bearings dropping out all over the floor 
.)
.)
davidphilips
Veteran
- Location
- Onabike
Well done swee pee99, like the lugs on the frame did you ever think about pinstriping/painting them?
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZ8BRCGsRaU
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZ8BRCGsRaU
OP
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swee'pea99
Legendary Member
- Location
- London
Sorry, that puts me in mind of a fairground brothel.
