Two quick questions...

[Jimmy the Gent]

I'm working on a Sting-Ray,and I have a couple quick questions:

1.-I had some trouble with handlebar adjustment. Specifically; they were stuck. I initially removed the bolt to adjust the height,and sprayed some old reliable (WD-40) and let it soak. I then (stupidly) got impatient and tapped the bolt with a hammer to get it started, so I could reinstall it. The bolt then fell flush with the neck,and spun freely. None of this was a big deal-until the WD-40 worked; and the bars came free. The point is, I think I broke it. The neck now looks like there's a piece missing from the bottom,but it's too clean a break to be a well,break.My question is this: Does anyone have big pictures of a neck that isn't installed,so I can see what the bottom is supposed to look like ? I tried Google; and all of the results were way too small to help....


2.-My sprocket/pedal assembly needs to be rebuilt. It makes distinctive clunking noises when I'm riding. I work for a company that supplies heavy-equipment parts, a lot of which have bearing assemblies under high temperatures. Can I use the grease we sell for those applications on the crank assembly? It would only be temporary,until I can do it "the right way" (Better known as "When I can afford to buy a bearing set" ) Can I use the same grease on the rear hub? The front crank and pedal assembly has no drag,it just makes those noises under stress or weight. The rear hub however, does drag. I'm pretty sure the grease inside is sludge...


I tried to be quick... :mrgreen:


Sorry if these seem like noob questions, and thanks for reading....

 

[dougfisk]

1. Look down into the steer tube part of the fork. I think you knocked the wedge down into it. If so, screw the bolt into the hole in the middle of the wedge and pull it out.

2. Any thing called grease and intended to lubricate bearings will be adequate for the short term, and even the long term.

I'm working on a Sting-Ray,and I have a couple quick questions:

1.-I had some trouble with handlebar adjustment. Specifically; they were stuck. I initially removed the bolt to adjust the height,and sprayed some old reliable (WD-40) and let it soak. I then (stupidly) got impatient and tapped the bolt with a hammer to get it started, so I could reinstall it. The bolt then fell flush with the neck,and spun freely. None of this was a big deal-until the WD-40 worked; and the bars came free. The point is, I think I broke it. The neck now looks like there's a piece missing from the bottom,but it's too clean a break to be a well,break.My question is this: Does anyone have big pictures of a neck that isn't installed,so I can see what the bottom is supposed to look like ? I tried Google; and all of the results were way too small to help....


2.-My sprocket/pedal assembly needs to be rebuilt. It makes distinctive clunking noises when I'm riding. I work for a company that supplies heavy-equipment parts, a lot of which have bearing assemblies under high temperatures. Can I use the grease we sell for those applications on the crank assembly? It would only be temporary,until I can do it "the right way" (Better known as "When I can afford to buy a bearing set" ) Can I use the same grease on the rear hub? The front crank and pedal assembly has no drag,it just makes those noises under stress or weight. The rear hub however, does drag. I'm pretty sure the grease inside is sludge...


I tried to be quick... :mrgreen:


Sorry if these seem like noob questions, and thanks for reading....

 

[Jimmy the Gent]

1. Look down into the steer tube part of the fork. I think you knocked the wedge down into it. If so, screw the bolt into the hole in the middle of the wedge and pull it out.

2. Any thing called grease and intended to lubricate bearings will be adequate for the short term, and even the long term.

Wow...thanks for the quick response!

I looked in to the tube; and I didn't see anything,but I'm at home without the best lighting. I'll check it more thoroughly tomorrow at work. I'm just thinking ahead here, but if I had a similar neck from a non-Schwinn, could I use the wedge from that,or possibly the whole neck?

 

[X-RAY]

^ i agree, look up a pic of a new stem for sale and see if it looks like yours.the end is cut on a slant, whiich kinda looks broken but to clean and smooth, like you said. sometimes you can thread the bolt in from the bottom to push the wedge out, i've lucked into that before.
ever take apart a new bike from a big box store? if you have, you've seen the little amount of crap they use for grease. anything you use has to be better!
dont be afraid to ask questions, we were all new "noobs" once. :wink:

 

[Jimmy the Gent]

^ i agree, look up a pic of a new stem for sale and see if it looks like yours.the end is cut on a slant, whiich kinda looks broken but to clean and smooth, like you said. sometimes you can thread the bolt in from the bottom to push the wedge out, i've lucked into that before.
ever take apart a new bike from a big box store? if you have, you've seen the little amount of crap they use for grease. anything you use has to be better!
dont be afraid to ask questions, we were all new "noobs" once. :wink:

All the pics I did find-besides being way too small-were a mixture of wedge included,and not included. It's not in the steer tube,it's not in the neck itself. I'm beginning to wonder if it's been gone since I got the bike. After all; the handlebars were pretty much rusted in place-until tonight.

 

[scrumblero]

its in there, thats what "gave' when you were tapping on the bolt. get a flashlight and look down in the forks you will find it..

 

[Anonymous]

Remove the handle bar stem and turn the bike upside down...that wedge should fall out.

After ya find it on the floor somewhere...thread it onto the stem bolt loosly and stick that gooseneck back in there.


ANY new grease is better than no grease

Just clean the bearings and inspect the parts real good first (I prefer gas)

New grease and old grease DO NOT get along.

 

[aka_locojoe]

Like others said I bet the wedge bolt is still in there. It's almost impossible to see.

 

[Jimmy the Gent]

First off;I want to say thanks to everyone for their help. The Sting-Ray is back on the road. As it turns out; the wedge was in the tube, it was just so camoflaged by the rust (and it got wedged in the bottom) that I couldn't see it.

However; a piece of the bolt was broken off in it; but I was able to use another one from a donor bike I had laying around. The wedge was exactly the same.


Oh, and the lesson I learned from all of this? Never use an impact on a bike. Too much torque is not always a good thing....

 

[user 135]

Good you got it fixed. Grease the wedge and lower portion of the stem to prevent some of that from happening again. Also grease seat post to prevent corosion.

 

[Anonymous]

Glad to hear ya got it back together.

I forgot to mention what CMAN just posted.

 

[Jimmy the Gent]

Just to clarify; by "grease" do you mean with actual grease, or does spraying everything down with WD-40 count?


It's no problem either way; I can just pull it apart tomorrow (without the impact,lol ) and grease it...

 

[X-RAY]

use grease. i feel that wd40 is more of a penetrant than a lubricant.or, there's always anti-seize, a product made by loc-tite.(kinda funny when you think about it :wink: )

 

[Jimmy the Gent]

Neck RRR'd..

Removed, Regreased, Reinstalled


8)

 

[Jimmy the Gent]

Seatpost now greased, and it's not the crank that needs the rebuilding...it's the rear hub.


That's where the noises are coming from.

 

[Jimmy the Gent]

Way-overdue update:

I rebuilt the rear hub. I had some first-timer glitches, but other than that,I got it back together just fine. I had to re-use the bearings,and after close inspection I saw some wear on them,but they should be okay for now.

Oh,and I used this as a cleaner:

...worked like a charm. 8)

I'm going to try to get some pics tomorrow-I don't have a good camera yet,so I'll just use my phone-and probably just start a new thread.

Until then.......