I’m so sorry if this has been asked a thousand times already but I‘ve searched throughout this site, Sheldon Brown’s site and also Shimano’s site and I can’t find any info about this particular headset. Or very possibly I don’t know exactly what I’m looking for?

This is a threaded headset on a 1980 Lotus Eclair and I don’t believe it’s ever been serviced. When I turn the fork it feels not just gritty but also lumpy.

The parktools tutorial on removing threaded headsets says to hold the threaded race with a spanner and loosen the top locknut but this headset doesn’t appear to have a threaded race? It has I think a keyed washer? Basically a spacer with three square holes. How do I remove the top lock nut?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

The proper tool for the lower threaded portion/upper race is called a hook spanner.

You could just straddle the front wheel, or use the stem to turn against...

To start with you don't want to twist the fork by using high torque on the headset while holding the fork by the wheel. Also note that this headset has two locknuts.

My preferred method is to hold the knurled upper race with pump pliers (Channellocks) while using an open end or adjustable wrench on the hex locknut. Protect the race with an old leather belt to avoid marring it.

Once that locknut is off remove spacers and cable holder then use a hook spanner or hammer and punch to loosen the locking ring. Then the cup will be free to take off by hand.

I tried this but I couldn’t get it to budge

so something like this?

Yes, those are fine for the knurled cup. Don't forget the leather protection.

If you hold the cup, while loosening the locknut, you'll get better action without stressing the fork.

If you have some Channellock type pliers and some type of grinding tools/metal file you can make a very nice tool to service your headset and other notched type of nuts and lockrings. You may need to grind down the thickness of the jaws as well to better fit the lock rings. DIY Lockring Pliers : 3 Steps (with Pictures) - Instructables

Personal trainer then...

While that kind of plier would work on a crank lockring, the lockring on the headset is not set up the same way. The lockring has 3 notches at 120° to each other. The pliers work on lock rings that have notches 180° from each other.

To make matters worse, the hook spanner for the bottom bracket like the Park Tool HCW-5 is too large to work on the headset. The Park HCW-17 might work. An adjustable hook spanner is also a good choice although you need something that is on the smaller side.

But the best tool I ever found for the job was one like the pedal/hook spanner in this tool kit. The tool is totally useless for removing pedals and the hook spanner is too small for the bottom bracket but it works wonderfully for the headset notched lock rings.

Caveat: while that is an inexpensive and effective lockring tool, it really only works on lockrings with an even number of notches. Most of those headset lockrings have only three notches, and the pliers can't effectively grip them. So, the hook spanner is the tool to use in that case. Hook spanners designed for bottom bracket lockrings have too wide a radius to engage the headset lockring, so you either need a smaller radius hook spanner, like the Hozan C205, or one with a hinged hook.

Adjustable (Crescent) wrench?

Agree with the above posts from cyccommute and JohnDThompson. You need a lock ring wrench for the ring that's just above the adjustable race.

Or, as Hozan labeled it, a "rock ring wrench."

This ^^^ is the one that I immediately thought of, if it's the right size it's a great tool, solid and easy to use compared with the adjustable type.

One could leave the handle bars on, secure bars and then loosen the hex, remove bars then pull the locknut

One can secure the adjuster/stop with a wrench and then loosen the hex with another.

One can secure fork and wrench the hex.

If you think about how much torque you can apply by holding the front wheel, a tool with a 6 inch handle won't come close. Soat it in PB Blaster, Liquid Wrench, Kroil, etc. for a few days and try again. Another trick would be to heat the lock nut with a hair drier to try to get it to break the rust and corrosion that is holding all this together. And assuming you do get it apart and rebuild it, grease, grease, grease. BTW, the "lumpy" feel you are getting is probably because the headset lower race is fretted. You will see a series of evenly spaced marks on the crown race. The fixes for this is to replace the crown race or to go with loose balls (no bearing retainer) so the balls don't align to the same spot every time.

https://www.amazon.com/Heavy-Shank-F...3&gad_source=1

Harbor Freight is a great source for tools to cut/grind/weld in this fashion.

what about something like this set

You don't need a crazy tool. Put the large adjustable wrench on the top locknut and turn CC while holding the handlebars. If you can't get it loose with a foot long wrench, you've got bigger problems.

Once the locknut is off, you can pull the keyed cable stop spacer out. Then any lockring wrench will work because it will be open on top so it no longer needs to be thin. Then take the knurled part off by hand.

You can assemble these headsets with some trial and error the same way, relying on the lockring, cup and keyed spacer to hold a position while the locknut is tightened down against them. That doesn't work very well with regular headsets, but the addition lockring makes it possible.

Something I like about this forum is the answer I’m seeking is often a combo of several different replies so thank you everyone!

Putting the wheel back on for leverage is what ended up finally working. To pull against that I just used the regular adj. wrench to get the top locknut off and then used that & one of the Klein tools to get the lockring off.

You pulled one cup?

Wow, that high weight low rep regiment worked quick, let's see the guns, luckily the steel fork didn't assplode...

I'll take $2 on the cup was loose, and fell out with a $2 hedge on other cup didn't fit across the shot...

It came right out, is that bad?