Hello

I was replacing the headset today on my 1980 Fuji America.
Old headset was Tange Falcon, JIS (30mm x 27mm). New headset in Tange NJS JIS, same spec (well, it is about 1mm taller, but I hope it will work fine).

Cups went in without a problem - smooth install. There was some pressure required, but it was not excessive and cups seated very nicely.

Not so much with crown race.

For the life of me, no matter how much I pound on it, it would not get seated. Inner surface of the race measured about 26.9mm, outer surface of the race seat measures about 27.1, and does not have perfect surface (some chrome chipping, and there was a 'ring' halfway down the seat, most likely from previous installation).

After I cleaned up the race seat with the file a little bit, on next attempt race went a bit deeper. Still, it is about 2mm from being seated.

In order to drive it I am using short piece of PVC tubing that is of perfect size. I support crown underneath with 2x4 set vertically, and hammer away on the PVC tubing with rubber mallet.

I am really hesitant to apply even more power to make it seat.

Should I take it to the bike shop and have them mill/face the crown race seat a tiny bit smaller so that it fits?

^This^

Get the seat milled. LBS might charge you $20-$25. If you try forcing it, you'll end up splitting the race.

+1 are u sure the fork and frame front tube is not milled ISO?, are u sure the tange falcon is jis?? I believe that thing is iso after looking at velobase, either way a jis crownrace should fit just fine, more than fine it is too big.

Another thing, why not use the old crownrace?? probably it will work just fine with the new headset, did you try???? If it works and is not pitted u can save 20 bucks re using it.

Getting the crown race seat properly milled is the best solution, but not all shops have JIS crown race mills. Failing than, careful filing to remove the chrome and other obstructions will likely succeed. Are you greasing the parts before trying to install them?

Using the old race is a possibility, if it is the same thickness as the new part. The downside is that the crown race bears the brunt of the abuse a headset suffers over the course of its life, and is the most likely reason to replace a headset in the first place. Why are you replacing the original headset? If there's obvious wear on the original crown race, you are unlikely to find any significant improvement with the new headset if you continue to use the old crown race.

hopefully your shops are better than mine. i cant find a shop in an 80mi radius that than face a bottom bracket...

Thank you guys for ideas.

Yes, I was greasing the parts, actually, I was applying Park's anti-seize (lube plus copper or something like that).

Reusing old race is not a best (maybe possible) solution, old headset was worn and indexed when I bought the bike. Hell, the whole bike was worn out. I just brought it today to LBS to have bottom bracket threads chased. Looks like one more trip is in order.

Here is a photo of the old race:

Nothing useful to add, but I milled my first fork a few months ago... It was surprisingly fun.

If I had a $400 tool to mill it, it surely would have been fun. Instead, I feel today like a neanderthal with a hammer...

I suspect, I need to mill only 0.1mm of it to make it fit right. Duh. Should I attempt that with a file if my local shops lack JIS milling tool?

In the worst case, if I screw up, I can always bring it in to re-mill it to ISO...

yes u can do it iso but u will need a new crown race (iso) or... put some paint in there to make it out for the difference.

Oh, sorry. I did it at a co-op. No way would I buy that tool!

yes you could try filing it out .just a few passes should do it.

Ok, guys here is the report of my progress. After unsuccessfully calling couple bike shops around (some of them do not have ANY fork milling tools, and none had JIS), I decided to file it down.
I also discovered that race seat was a bit oval, 27.05mm in one direction, and 27.1 in another. After carefully filing it down a bit (more in the 'longer' dimension) I also cut a narrow strip of 100 grit sandpaper and polished ring a bit, getting rid of imperfections. After a number of 'try and repeat' iterations (took loooong time), race fit in just right. Of course, at that point, old race could be installed almost by hand (old one was about 0.05mm larger than new).

After that, I happily assembled headset, adjusted it and marveled at how smooth it is. Just to mention, as I was assembling it I just used a common sense and trial approach and found out that caged bearing 'wanted' to be assembled with the cage toward the race, and balls toward the cup; it felt better that way (stable, not rocking) and was spinning much better (when still being dry).

As I finished the project and was happily cleaning up my workspace I noticed the instructions that came with the headset. Hmmm - being still in excellent mood I decided to read them just for fun. Imagine how quickly my smile disappeared when I noticed that instructions directed to install caged bearing with the cage UP, and they were specific about it, both in text and pictures. Opposite of what I did. Darn!!!

After some thinking I decided that while I was fairly sure I have done things right, it was better to verify. Headset came apart again, bearings flipped, assembled back... as soon as I hand-tighten upper cup fork started to bind. After some playing with it, I decided that I was right, and instructions were wrong, and reassembled the headset my way, cage down, bearings up. Of course, bearings adjusted just right again, nice and smoooooooth.

Guys, what the hell is that?

With the Tanges I've done lately, the bearings have the solid "spine" at the outside, with "fingers" reaching inward to hold the balls, and on that type, you do want the "spine" facing out away from the cup. So you're fine. Good job with the crown race on the fork there... if someone wanted me to mill the crown-race seat, the first thing I'd do is file off the chrome anyway (it's not nice to cutting tools).

If you want to play safe just take the balls off the cages, just put a lot of grease so the balls dont fall off.

Ultraman: I though about that actually as I was standing there flipping darn cage that way and this. Still, I find it lovely not to have to wrap plastic bag under the headset before taking it apart, so I decided that in the meantime, I will keep cages.

Lesson of this adventure: trust thyself

Glad the filing solved the problem but using PVC pipe and a rubber mallet is not a good way to transfer much force to the crown race that you are trying to press fit. A hard plastic mallet likely would have done the trick.

Since you've gotten this far, assemble it where it is the smoothest. Really... the bearing cups will only go in one way and operate smoothly. Either the "directions" were wrong, or not clear on how to assemble causing confusion.

For future reference, I'd suggest getting rid of the "crown race." Old style headsets like you have use a caged (or loose) ball bearing assembly where the balls ride directly on the crown race and the headtube cups. One of the problems with the "old" system is... if the races and ciups aren't perfectly concentric there will be rough/tight spots somewhere in the rotation.

Your solution of filing the crown race seat will produce as good of results as an LBS mechanic with the tools at his disposal. Good on you for that. However...

I'd suggest changing the (at least the bottom bearing) to a sealed cartridge bearing common to threadless headsets. They use a "crown base" rather than a crown race (we still call them crown races- but they ain't). The bearing assembly seats on the crown base. Machine either the crown seat or the base to provide an interference of .001".

If you have a threaded steerer, which I know you have, you'll only be able to retrofit the modern bearing to the bottom. That's where all the stress and contamination is anyway.

This conversion ain't gonna happen at the LBS. They aren't machinists. However it's so simple that having it done by a machinist won't be much more that having the LBS cut the crown race seat.

Rates at machine shops tend to run in the $100.00 / hr range for small work... any decent shop should have the right tools to mill the seat but most machinists of the old school would have spent a good deal of time doing hand work with files which is something the average person can also do with patience and attention to detail.

At our little shop you do get to deal with a couple of guys who were machinists before they turned their attention to building bicycles...

To joejack951: sorry for confusion, the mallet that I have used was indeed a plastic one called 'no marring mallet', used in woodworking for some furniture assemby; I think it is just common to call the thing 'rubber mallet'.

As for getting sealed bottom bearing in... thank you - interesting idea (I did not know I can do that on threaded setup) ... for the far future Right now, I have not ridden that bicycle even once (I got it in a shape that is in my opinion unrideable). I am not 100% sure if it is actually going to work out for me. That is one of the reasons why I am leaving it's battered finish on it for now, just doing some de-rusting and touch-up-ing to preserve it. I actually thought about using $12 headset on it for now, but then changed my mind and went for a 'ridiculously expensive' one at $40

As for directions, they were VERY clear to put the headset cage up, balls down. They pictured them that way, and than they spelled it out in the text 2 times, first time simply as a part of installation instructions, second time really making the point of it. As I read them, when I saw the picture - I thought - they are wrong and still smiled, when I saw text in installation instructions - I thought - they are wrong but my smile faded, and when 2 paragraphs down they made special point of the bearing orientation in the upper case, I thought - what the #$%@ is going on, did I install them backwards?

After all, what is the point of the instructions if they provide wrong recommendation on the only step in the process that is easy to screw up?

All in all, headset works well. Smooooooth, and there is absolutely no binding nowhere, perfect rotation 360 degrees around, with just slightest friction that is likely result of well-packed grease.

I have overhauled headset on another vintage Fuji recently (factory one, have not seen much use at all), and that one was quite smooth as well, but when rotated about 90 degrees from straight, it would bind slightly in one area of rotation - I guess on that one some of the cups/races were not placed perpendicular to the steerer, either not seated properly or frame/fork not faced properly.