Steering head bearings

B

BNKN

Well-known member
Helping a friend re/re head bearings. Asking about just the races in neck. Welded inner circumference of race to shrink, fell right out. Shrunken race measures 51.8mm OD. B/N race measures 52.1 mm OD. Cleaned up neck, applied anti-sieze, race cannot be driven in.

Question: Can we apply torches to neck (I know paint will damage) as you would aluminum?
 
freeze the new bearing... thats what I do when it's a tight fit... heating aluminum may anneal the materials... at the steering neck is the last place you want this.
 
thanx, i did freeze it, also carried it from the freezer to shed on icepack to reduce heat gain. still too tight. we ended up paying extra attention to square the bearing to hole and proceeded to tap lightly around maintaining square. i/2 in now, still square. never had one this tight before. came into house to google metric bearing drivers, thought i'd check this thread again. thanx buddy
 
RonnieRev said:
Use a heat gun to heat the neck.
Click to expand...

I was not clear. Its a steel frame. I know aluminum would expand easily (from wheel bearing experience) Was wondering if steel would. Going to buy driver set.
 
Are you sure you are putting in the race square when you first start off?
 
frekeyguy said:
Are you sure you are putting in the race square when you first start off?
Click to expand...

We were trying to be as square as possible but it kept shifting. It was rocking so the race or neck were ever so slightly out of round. We ended up using a paint stripper heat gun and it made all the difference. Ironically it didn't strip the paint. Also made a bearing installer for for the stem bearing. Dealer wanted 179 dollars for the factory tool. I can tell you how I built that if you want.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom