Get new 1/8" bearings. Loose Screws or other sources. Also grease the races so they can "float" properly in the hemispherical seats. They also need to be a bit tighter than today's headsets in my opinion.
Joe Bender-Zanoni
Great Notch, NJ
> I just began to re-assemble my old soldier today after some cleaning and
> polishing...and I am having a bit of an issue with the integrated headset.
> It seems I can't get it tightened down to my satisfaction, and when it
does
> get tight...it is too tight. I have checked the bearings and all is
> well...they are inserted correctly. Now comes another question. When
> disassembling the headset to clean and re-grease...I found out the hard
way
> that the headset contains approximately 200-300 bearings (exageration but
> those who have dealt with these know!). I had other bearings lying around
> and they seemed to fit precisely into the races without any problems and
> felt fine during trial...but once tightened...these are the ones giving me
> the problem. So, do I need to located someone with about 200 bearings so
put
> the old ones back into place?? I found most of them but I guarentee I will
> come up short on the old ones.
>
> For date, the bike is a 1949. Thanks for any advice...
>
> Walt Skrzypek
> Falls Creek, Pa