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Old 06-21-22 | 09:03 PM
  #13  
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WizardOfBoz
Generally bewildered
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Joined: Aug 2015
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From: Eastern PA, USA

Bikes: 2014 Trek Domane 6.9, 1999 LeMond Zurich, 1978 Schwinn Superior

Originally Posted by the sci guy
i tinked the cups into the headtube with a mallet just enough so they'd stay in place, then i swung the frame headtube first into the garage wall as hard as i could to bang it all the way in. was that wrong?
Generally it is wrong to hit any bearing surface or assembled bearing. When one does this, it can "Brinell" the bearing races (put little dents in them) and squash bearings a bit. Class 9 bearings have a runout tolerance of 1.3um (millionths of a meter, or thousandths of a millimeter. This is 40 millionths of an inch.

Once installed, the bearings should be very square. In this way, all the bearings take any impact at once and the load is distributed.

One can install the bearing seats using an install tool (a tube with a mating surface so that any whacking one does reinforces the shape rather than distorting it). The best way to seat bearings and bearing seats is to use a press or a proper tool (can be all-thread with some washers, spacers and nuts, btw). and to use this in such a way that PRESSURE AND IMPACTS ARE NEVER EVER TRANSMITTED THROUGH THE BEARINGS DURING INSTALLATION.

So yeah, installing any bearing by swinging the part into the garage wall as hard as you can is ... highly non-standard practice.

But if the bike rides nice now, you probably are ok.
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