Egg on my face noted. First I should have acknowledged that brinneling was not technically accurate - lazy use of the term. Also realize now I was misreading the bearing reference - I take it the poster was referring to the dia of the entire headset. Should have acknowledged the article as well - I certainly respect Brandt. I do stand by the fact that overtightening was not likely the cause. I did find that using loose balls provided a low budget fix, but a short-term and less than ideal one. I deleted the troublesome part of my post.