Originally Posted by
Agfa001
I have this headset (I think a P3?) - it keeps coming a bit loose every couple of months, the shop I used to go to told me it was normal and I just had to get used to tightening it from time to time. Not super, unsafe loose, but enough you can feel "play" when you apply the front brake with any force...The shop guys told me I think that I could just tighten it using a spanner?
I see this old thread:
Loosening Stronglight Headset
but cannot find the diagram it seems to reference...What are the tools/steps I need to take to tighten this headset?
The tools needed are a pin spanner like the Park SPA-2 for the locknut:
And the VAR-78 or a slip-jaw water pump pliers for the threaded race.
It can be difficult to get the pin spanner to apply enough torque to the locknut to hold securely; maybe that's the problem you've had. You can replace the locknut with one from a different headset with the same thread spec so you can use a real wrench to torque it down securely. Or, just use the pliers on the locknut.
This is probably the missing diagram you reference. Note that later versions of the P3 headset used a more standard locknut with wrench flats:
