Classic & Vintage - Bearings for a Schwinn Voyageur

hello,
I have an old schwinn voyager 11.8 (1982 year of make I believe)
- I am trying to find a replacement pair/set of bearings for the headset
- I have tried ebay, not much there right now
- I am looking for a retainer ball bearing set to make my life a little easier - I am am fairly certain that I need 5/32" bearings - (1" threaded headset).
Is there someone who could point me in the right direction, online, where I could perhaps purchase what I need? I would be very grateful-
sorry this post is not more exciting-
thanks

FWIW ~ I'd go with a loose ball system. It provides much more bearing surface to support the headset than do caged bearings, hence longer life. It only takes a smear of grease to hold the balls in place durring assembly and with a representative sample you could buy a bag of ball this morning and be riding by lunch time.

loosescrews.com is very good place to buy Grade 25 bearings of all sizes. Good prices.

they even have races! http://loosescrews.com/index.cgi?c=Bearings&sc=Retainer&id=886212811903

Although I agree with prev post, loose balls are better. :-)

thanks,
I have had such a pain with the loose bearing though - I have used plenty of grease and they continue to bunch even after a smooth placement and a delicate tightening - but perhaps too tight - I was trying to avoid play in the area - so I would tighten just to the point it would stop - I also was worried about how much space can be left in the gap allowing dirt or moisture in.
I am considering a new headset as a solution. the old one is a bit rusty.

does anyone have the trick to a perfect bearing placement/alignment and then tightening?

How I do it is to put a liberal coating of grease (too much is better than too little) in both the upper and lower outer races, invert the frame and fill (-1 ball) the bottom outer race with balls (a pair of tweezers works great here) placed against each other, insert the fork and hold it firmly in place (a bungee cord works good for this), put the frame right side up and fill (again leaving one ball out) the top outer race with balls, thread on the top inner race untill snug and remove the bungee cord. Install the shim and top nut and then adjust the top inner race to a point where you have zero play in the stack but still are able to rotate the fork smoothly and easily. Tighten the locknut and recheck the adjustment. When all is right, reassemble the other components.

You would probably be well off using a water proof wheel bearing greas, such as used for boat trailer axles. If any grease oozes out wipe the major globs off with a shop towel, followed by a rag dampened with PJ-1 spray parts cleaner... available at most motorcycle shops.

With some trial and error you should have this down in no time.

yeah, I have taken my time trying with the loose bb but perhaps I am just a few more try away-
when one is packing the loose bb is one supposed to pack the bearing against the wall of the cup and then leave space for one bearing, but am I using the right size for my schwinn voyageur 11.8 ( 1" threaded headset: 5/32" bb)? I have read on park tool's website that there should be space for two left out (http://www.parktool.com/repair/readhowto.asp?id=127).

my next attempt will be leaving space for one, packing against the cup and seeing how that goes - those ball bearings are quite a pain.

Yes, do this in the cup. I've always done and read, leave space for one ball. As to what size ball you'll need, I can't help you past... If you have a caged bearing still, use one of the balls as a sample and buy a bag the same size.

Again, try using a tweezer, chisel tip works good for me.

Stacey's advice has been excellent.

I'm worried that you have something else wrong because loose bearings are really not a pain to deal with. You mentioned a rusty headset. If there are pits or indentations in the races then that headset needs replaced.

One other thing, did you check an old bearing for size against your new bearings?

Yes, thank you very much for the very helpful advice - it has been very hot here and I haven't made a new attempt yet-

regarding the races, a little rust has formed on the outside portion of the upper pressed race and a little on the lower - at the time of original dismantling all races looked clean and good, to my eyes.

I am also curious if the bearings are correct in size (5/32") - this is the size of bearing there before, but someone could have made a change, since I have not been the only owner of the bicycle.

I made an attempt at repacking (prior to posting the problem) - not following the leave one out rule, the previous owner had not followed that advice and filled all space and I thought this was correct - I took another look now at the threaded race and there are rough worn away areas, just on the edge slighty making contact with the bearings - this is new and due to something I have done wrong causing bunching and subsequent damage, and I know it was not there before - so now I feel I need to replace this to make any headway. What I don't understand is what I may have done differently from the previous owner( despite their perhaps faulty filling of space) - because I was very careful to replace everything as I have found it.

The rough areas are victim of what's known as brinelling (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_brinelling) this will cause roughness as you turn the bars. I highly reccomend replacement, if indede this is the case.

Does it resemble this?

http://www.dynaroll.com/assets/images/catalog/pix_01_pg34.jpg

or this

http://images.google.com/images?q=tbn:yu3vvRGMWvBtDM:www.kynoch-douglas-parts.com/forum-pics/doug/articles/crank_tour/bad_rod.jpg%22%5D%5B/url%5D%5Burl=%22http://images.google.com/images?q=tbn:yu3vvRGMWvBtDM:www.kynoch-douglas-parts.com/forum-pics/doug/articles/crank_tour/bad_rod.jpg%22%5Dhttp://images.google.com/images?q=tbn:yu3vvRGMWvBtDM:www.kynoch-douglas-parts.com/forum-pics/doug/articles/crank_tour/bad_rod.jpg"]http://images.google.com/images?q=tbn:yu3vvRGMWvBtDM:www.kynoch-douglas-parts.com/forum-pics/doug/articles/crank_tour/bad_rod.jpg"][/url][url="http://images.google.com/images?q=tbn:yu3vvRGMWvBtDM:www.kynoch-douglas-parts.com/forum-pics/doug/articles/crank_tour/bad_rod.jpg"]http://images.google.com/images?q=tbn:yu3vvRGMWvBtDM:www.kynoch-douglas-parts.com/forum-pics/doug/articles/crank_tour/bad_rod.jpg

If so, it's brinelling.

again, thanks very much for the help,

It doesn't look like that - the damage is a bit closer to the thread - it looks more like a small sidewalk curb where a car has grinded off a bit of it the edge - its not smooth. this damage came from the bunching bearings. there also seems to be something with the chrome - perhaps how it was applied to the underside of the threaded race that makes a rougher area ( this is old looking and not new from what I can tell.

I was trying to take a photo but no luck with the detail - the clear problems exist on the inside of the threaded race. I am going to replace the headset with a new tange.

I think there were too many BB in there and perhaps the previous owner had been lucky with it.

the voyageur is not voyageuring much at the moment.

You can pop the old bearings out of the cage and press the new ones into it if you really want to use it. Personally I like cages, especially in the headset where the extra bearing or two doesn't make much difference (headsets are massivly overengineered anyway.)

Free bearings CAN be a pain. Like in a pugeot I overhauled. Fifity. FIFTY balls in the headset! ****ing Hell. They used this soft lithium grease that dried out of the bottom so the lower 25 went all over the place when I opened it up. It took me forever to find them all.