proper headset assembly help older bike?

[JoshuaK]

Hey all, I took apart an unnamed bicycle to clean it up and now am putting it back together. I took pictures of the headset / fork so I knew what order the washers / parts went in, but for some reason its now super rough now when you try to "turn" / spin the fork around.

Do I need to lube up the threads? Everywhere I read said not to do it, but is that for newer bikes? I'm just not sure why its so rough now as It was smooth prior to this.

 

[RustySprockets]

I'm betting that the bearing cages are installed upside-down.

On one side, the balls are exposed; on the other, they are concealed. Make sure the 'open side' faces the cups, otherwise binding will occur.

 

[Dr. Tankenstein]

I was told long ago, the easy way to remember the direction of bearings was the sports analogy of ‘balls in the cup’


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[MattiThundrrr]

I was told long ago, the easy way to remember the direction of bearings was the sports analogy of ‘balls in the cup’


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Golf, right?

 

[Wildcat]

Clean up the bottom race on the fork so it's smooth. Slide the fork in and turn it to check the smoothness of the bottom set of bearings first, before tightening the top nut. Flip the bearings if it doesn't turn freely, check it again, then tighten down the top nut and see if it still turns freely. If not, flip the top bearings over and that should do the trick.

 

[Frankie plekhand]

Hey all, I took apart an unnamed bicycle to clean it up and now am putting it back together. I took pictures of the headset / fork so I knew what order the washers / parts went in, but for some reason its now super rough now when you try to "turn" / spin the fork around.

Do I need to lube up the threads? Everywhere I read said not to do it, but is that for newer bikes? I'm just not sure why its so rough now as It was smooth prior to this.

As they are sitting on the photo, the bottom one is ok. But the top one is upside down


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[JoshuaK]

Thank you for everyones help... It was upside down ball bearings plus I had paint get stuck in the cups ( rookie mistake ) onto fix the next problem