Giant OCR Headset Binding
 

So I have a 2008 or so ish Giant OCR Carbon road bike. I am reinstalling the fork and cannot get the headset components in the proper order. I tried a couple combinations but it binds when installing the center cap even with minimal force. So can some one tell me what order these pieces go in and which direction they face? I believe the 2 on the bottom of the photo go on the bottom side. Thank you.


https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...c7de5d8d6f.jpg
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...dff59ea819.jpg

i was waiting for someone with an OCR to weigh in.... hmmm,
i'd suspect you have one or more parts inverted/flipped, and that is preventing a successful reassembly.

why are there two split rings shown? usually only one is used, against the crown race... and only if the lower bearing has an inner chamfer.
was the smaller, upper row split ring used in the frame or upper cup? is the headset a semi-integrated, or fully integrated style?
are there two pressed in cups, or just a properly bored head tube(part of the frame) that the bearings set in?

listed from top down..... tapered cap, seal, wedge split ring to center up the bearing, bearing with inner chamfer up,...
bottom bearing onto lower split ring.

this is a typical assembly order of an integrated headset.
add upper and lower bearing cups if it's a semi-integrated headset.

note the lack of an upper split ring beneath the bearing.... your pic shows one in that top row.

and if that upper seal is installed upside down, it won't fit well.

some of the absolute biggest, most destructive, messes i've seen were bad headset "assembly" attempts by confused owners. they tend to add or subtract parts, and pound things into places they shouldn't be in.
i have a Felt Virtue Three here right now that had a caged bearing headset rammed into an Integrated frame head tube, and done ALL wrong !
it would BARELY turn.
the bike WAS a 4K dream machine before the high end parts were removed, and the butchering began.
present value, with the damaged cheapo fork, cheap/mismatched mechanical disc calipers, and low end SRAM parts? $250, maybe.
the bike was originally built with XT and XTR parts, hyd. brakes, etc, when new.
the nice Fox rear shock is one of the few original parts.

it will, at least, be rideable, once it leaves here... sigh.
even the rear hub axle set was assembled badly... the brake disc was firmly against the caliper mount... the mount had been filed in an attempt to create clearance.
the jam nuts were swapped... once they were reversed, all was well.

try assembling without the upper seal.. see if it works better.
see if leaving that upper aluminum split ring out helps.
etc.

Thank you. My picture shows the items in a estimation of what I assumed they may be....not the way they actually were removed. My fault. The upper and lower chamfered bearings and the 2 split rings are identical. I assumed they fit in the upper and lower assembly in an opposite fashion....but I do not know what that is. Maybe I should try more trial and error. Thank you.

The INNER chamfer of the bearings (the side in the bottom photos) face outward and you'll notice it fits well on the crown race this way. As mentioned by maddog34, the black split ring should fit on top of the top bearing with the smaller dia. end sliding inside of the bearing to take up the gap between the bearing and the fork tube.

a thing i do with stacks of parts like this... i lay them out, As Removed, from a machine.. i've used empty egg cartons to separate them, in order, too.
the parts can also be placed back on the machine/fork/whatever, loosely assembled, as you await parts or customer approvals.

if the machine needs to be set aside, awaiting part, etc, i then tie headset stacks together, IN ORDER and Direction of assembly, with a twist tie, Zip tie, or piece of wire/string, etc... once the needed parts arrive,m there is no time consumed sorting things out again. ;)

:thumb:

tip two... i bag the old/bad parts for the customer to look at, or for a 'show and tell" with them.
they can actually SEE WHY a part needed replaced.
I Just did a show/tell last evening... i even saved the paper towel with the total sum of grease and dirt from the bad headset.. there was next to NO GREASE on the bearings, but PLENTY of shiny, expensive Frame Metal Chips on that towel...!
i heard the Word "WOW!" many times.... and got a big "THANK YOU!", plus a 5 dollar tip too. :D

Recently overhauled a cheaper version of one of these headsets on an aluminum OCR. In the top row, the second part from the left is the bearing, goes into the cup in the orientation in the second picture. The third part is the split ring, it goes above that, oriented as shown in picture 1. The forth part is a dust seal, it goes above that, oriented like in picture 2. Fifth part is next, oriented like in picture 1. I suspect the two split parts furthest to the left do not actually belong to this headset, perhaps someone was trying to use them as spacers between the headset and stem.

I also found a .25mm spacer was needed between the split ring and the dust seal, otherwise the dust seal would grind against the headset cup, this may or may not be necessary with yours. These are the spacers I'd grab if you find you need one, some bike shops will have them in stock if you don't want to order a 10 pack.