Originally Posted by
hokiefyd
I will likely see if I can source a centering nylon washer locally for the 1" steerer and might sand the threads out of the cone with some sandpaper wrapped around a tapered dowel. That should keep it more or less of a circular hole, and the nylon washer should lock in pretty good I'd think.
Nope, that's not how it works.
You'll need to remove the threads, and then
machine a bevel at the same angle as the sides of the 'nylon washer' (better described as 'compression ring') ?got a lathe? I doubt it, just buy a threadless headset upper.
it's not just about centering the cone, it transfers force from the bearings to the steerer. so its important that the faces match. and get an aluminum or steel compression ring, the nylon ones are cheap and squish and lose adjustment.
true story:
guy comes into the shop with a craiglist bike, says the fork is wobbling around
I check and find that the threadless headset is frankenstiened together from other dead headsets
instead of a compression ring, a piece of copper plumbing pipe has been hammered onto the steerer to try and shim against the cone.
It didn't work.
don't kludge stuff, do it right
edit: on second thought, money always trumps good advice and I know you won't listen
so waste your time trying to kludge it
when you find out after that the headset can't be preloaded properly and it wiggles around no matter what you do
then go buy the real one, or ignore the problem and sell it on craigslist to some sucker; that seems to be the status quo...