Question about tapered steering head bearings

[rdsarefun]

I picked up a project bike and am going through it as the previous owner started restoring it and never finished. He put new tapered steering head bearing within, unsure of brand or where these were purchased. The issue I have is that when installing the steering head shaft into the frame with the new tapered bearings, I only have about ~3 threads exposed to tighten the large castellated nut with the spanner wrench.  Rule is that at least 2 to 3 threads should extend beyond the nut.  The races (upper and lower) appear to be fully seated and the lower bearing appears to be fully pressed onto the steering shaft.  Any thoughts?  I am thinking to remove these and buy new from a known source, any recommendations that do not have this issue?

[JKV45]

I picked up a project bike and am going through it as the previous owner started restoring it and never finished. He put new tapered steering head bearing within, unsure of brand or where these were purchased. The issue I have is that when installing the steering head shaft into the frame with the new tapered bearings, I only have about ~3 threads exposed to tighten the large castellated nut with the spanner wrench.  Rule is that at least 2 to 3 threads should extend beyond the nut.  The races (upper and lower) appear to be fully seated and the lower bearing appears to be fully pressed onto the steering shaft.  Any thoughts?  I am thinking to remove these and buy new from a known source, any recommendations that do not have this issue?

I would say that lower bearing is not fully seated.

[m in sc]

i agree. lower race needs to do down i would say.

[rdsarefun]

Yeah, I didn't try taking a drift punch or anything and tapping it down further from recollection, I thought the base of that head shaft is a little wider at the bottom but at this point, it can't hurt to see if I can get it to move further down the shaft.

[m in sc]

use a pipe over it, or, set it in your vice stem down, shpildet the bearing inner race on the vice jaws, and tap the tree down from the bottom side

[rdsarefun]

So I did some more investigating and have the following.  The lower bearing was fully seated. The OD of the steering head  is 1.181" and this bearing hits a 'hard stop with a larger OD. I ended up removing the lower bearing and thru research, is an All Balls kit with a 99-3515 lower bearing and a 99-3509 upper bearing (kit 22-1007). All I can think of is maybe the lower race is not fully seated, I can see a slight parting line (guessing .010" max), the top race is fully seated. I don't think that this .010 is going to give me much more "thread-wise", but I will fully seat it.   I have read where these kits protrude ~2 mm higher (John from Economy), but with only 3 threads on the castellated nut before preloading it and when loaded, nothing protruding from the nut this is no good.  Most likely going to source an OEM style captured ball bearing kit.  Is anyone running this setup and have you experienced similar issues? 

[m in sc]

looks like somebody used the wrong  kit maybe? i hate tapered bearing kits for this very reason. they really arent any better on vintage bikes vs well serviced ball bearings, and never ever fit well. i thought john at ec had stock style replacements ?

[1976RD400C]

That is a problem with the tapered bearing sets. It will also cause the distance between the upper and lower triple clamps to be more, making the headlight mount ears, that fit over the fork tubes, to slop up and down. Putting O rings on there can take up the slop. Keep in mind once you have the upper triple on there and tighten the acorn nut the adjuster nut isn't going anywhere.

[automan]

They all do this, well known.

[rdsarefun]

So I have to question, having no threads protruding above the castellated nut and this is acceptable?  I know the top of the triple tree captures this with the acorn and compression bolt. I have never seen any threads about this, other than it is taller

[m in sc]

as long as you have all threads engaged its no weaker. just a mechanical fact. none need to protrude. still, its a mess w those bearings

[2 Smoker]

I had to use the stock ones as the tapered needle bearings din not fit.Seems it is a common issue with them and most use one needle ans one bearing type to gain access to the threads.