Bearing Cap thing stuck on head tube

[CURTIS L LINDGREN]

Hmmmmmmmmmm.......makes you think , don't it ? Maybe when the OP figures it out he can inform us of the culprit

 

[AS-1]

This ain't rocket surgery.

 

[cyclingday]

As a general rule of thumb, the flat or closed side of the bearing retainer always faces the cone.
The open or exposed balls always go into the cup.
Keep some thin pieces of leather around for use as a gripping gasket between the nut and the tool/pliers.
The keyed washer is definitely the culprit here.
I usually spend some time with those little bastards to make sure they fit perfectly.
Chase the threads on all of the parts, and lubricate everything when you put it together.
NEVER screw anything together dry.
The next guy will thank you for it, when it’s his time to service the bicycle.

 

[Coot]

I know we're getting in the weeds here, but has anyone ever rebuilt one of these headsets with loose bearings? That seems like it might be a good way to avoid upside down cage bearings while also increasing bearing contact surface?

 

[RickCoMatic]

Before you present this wicked proposal to the Chief Engineer, you need to have all the research showing sizable gains in performance for doing so.
They'll want a few costs justified before taking-away caged bearings, of course.
Thank you for getting us in these weeds today.
I'm issuing you this little orange cup with white top.
Bearing contact surfaces.
Interesting.
And is the cure for avoiding incorrect bearing cage orientation.
Bring the orange cup below to the Duty Corpsman.
He'll take it from there.

 

[cyclingday]

I know we're getting in the weeds here, but has anyone ever rebuilt one of these headsets with loose bearings? That seems like it might be a good way to avoid upside down cage bearings while also increasing bearing contact surface?

Yes, it’s definitely a better way to go, but more of a pain during assembly.
I use the green Park bicycle grease, and it’s got a good consistency for holding the balls in place while screwing everything together.
I get the fork crown bearings seated nicely, then turn the assembly upside down, so that I can see that the bearings in the top cup don’t move or wander off.
Once it’s all together and adjusted properly, it’s as smooth as glass.
The only down side to loose balls in the headset, is if it’s allowed to get loose and sloppy down the road, you can lose ball bearings, that aren’t being retained.
So, my advise would be to keep the retainers just for assembly and poor maintenance issues.
All the high end performance bikes use loose balls throughout the assembly.
The Paramount headsets, are unreal?
Something like 32 balls per cup.
You haven’t lived until you’ve unscrewed the headset on an old paramount, and seen 64 little BB’s disappear across your garage floor. Lol!

 

[AS-1]

I know we're getting in the weeds here, but has anyone ever rebuilt one of these headsets with loose bearings? That seems like it might be a good way to avoid upside down cage bearings while also increasing bearing contact surface?

I've been there and done that. It's a 1000% loss of effort, energy, time, and sanity, particularly when packing the bottom race. It's like watching a monkey romancing a football. That's why God invented bearing retainers. If you don't believe me, ask an Ol' Brit about his Raleigh.

 

[Schwinn Sales West]

I know we're getting in the weeds here, but has anyone ever rebuilt one of these headsets with loose bearings? That seems like it might be a good way to avoid upside down cage bearings while also increasing bearing contact surface?

The "perfect solution", to the "non problem".

John

 

[OZ1972]

I have good luck with electric heat gun & WD 40

 

[Coot]

I've been there and done that. It's a 1000% loss of effort, energy, time, and sanity, particularly when packing the bottom race. It's like watching a monkey romancing a football. That's why God invented bearing retainers. If you don't believe me, ask an Ol' Brit about his Raleigh.

I've done it on similar headsets and found that it wasn't too hard. I just greased everything up well enough for the loose balls to hang tight until I could assemble it. As far as Raleighs go, I've done tons of them this way since it was the way they came and haven't really had any complaints about the time it took.

All that being said, I get what folks are saying in that it's likely a solution to a non-problem.