[JeffKoch]

Title says it all. I'm about to install new clamps, but the new tube doesn't have a lower bearing race - I have a spare in my parts box, but I can't get it on. Do I heat up the race? Some special tool that I don't have? Too bad I didn't see this coming, since my bike is now hanging from the rafters with no front end, and I can't finish the job until I get the race seated...

 

[tye1138]

I heated up mine for install but not that much just 500f in oven and then bought some PVC pipe that was the same diameter and banged it in. Pain in the arse but oh well. I'm on my iphone right now so if you have a question pm me and I'll answer when I get home.



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[lushbaugh]

well....

Title says it all. I'm about to install new clamps, but the new tube doesn't have a lower bearing race - I have a spare in my parts box, but I can't get it on. Do I heat up the race? Some special tool that I don't have? Too bad I didn't see this coming, since my bike is now hanging from the rafters with no front end, and I can't finish the job until I get the race seated...

i did mine by sticking the race in the freezer, to shrink it the you can tap it in with a socket the same size. and use a rubber mallet or a dead blow hammer....worked for mine.

 

[lushbaugh]

I heated up mine for install but not that much just 500f in oven and then bought some PVC pipe that was the same diameter and banged it in. Pain in the arse but oh well. I'm on my iphone right now so if you have a question pm me and I'll answer when I get home.

tye you must be thinking you heated the head tube....heat expands cold contracts metal....

 

[JeffKoch]

Well, I'm screwed until tomorrow at least, since I'm sure I don't just happen to have a piece of tubing laying around that's exactly the right diameter. I also worry that if I screw up and pound it down at an angle, it'll jam and I'll never get it off. How do the pros do this job?

Heating the race should make it expand, which I would think is what you want - unless heating makes the ID shrink. Interesting question, is it better to heat the race or to freeze it?

 

[Hawkeye]

You can do both - heat the new race, while you cool the tube in the freezer, which will cause the (alloy tube) to contract, and the steel race to expand. I then used a steel pipe of appropriate length and ID to slowly tap it into position. You can also use a large socket, and carefully tap on its sides in circular fashion. It is very hard to deform tool steel which is what the bearing race is made of, unless you turn impatient and start banging hard on it with a hammer.

I used this method to get new races fitted on my 1098, with Dan Kyle's 30mm offset clamps.

 

[nine16]

As mentioned, put the steerer tube in the freezer and race in the oven. If you don't have a cylinder of some sort to press it on, try a block of wood and a hammer and just go around and around a little at a time until you work it on.

 

[paulmm600]

i'm pretty sure last time i fitted a new set of head bearing i just used the triples as a press, slipped the bottom bearing on, slid steering stem with bearing into steering head on the frame, slid top bearing on, top triple and tightened the steering head nut slowly while making sure the lower bearing stayed square initially. it was a long time ago though i'd be interested too in how they do it in the shops.

.

 

[BrianG]

As mentioned, put the steerer tube in the freezer and race in the oven....................

+1

A short piece of PCV and a few whacks will get it on easily if the pieces are heated/cooled.....

 

[JeffKoch]

All right, thanks, I'll try the freeze/heat/PVC method then. Gotta find a PVC tube with the right diameter...

 

[nine16]

i'm pretty sure last time i fitted a new set of head bearing i just used the triples as a press, slipped the bottom bearing on, slid steering stem with bearing into steering head on the frame, slid top bearing on, top triple and tightened the steering head nut slowly while making sure the lower bearing stayed square initially. it was a long time ago though i'd be interested too in how they do it in the shops.

.

There are special tools. In the bicycle shops I used to work in as a teenager we used a piece of pipe for the races. We did have a special press for inserting the cups into the steerer tube, although I made my own recently with some half inch threaded rod, matching hex nuts, and a couple giant washers--in all, a couple bucks from Home Depot.

One more thing, if you do have a good fitting metal pipe, you can put that in a vise, invert the steering tube over it, and give the bottom of the triple some whacks with a big rubber mallet (or a hammer with a piece of wood between). That way you make sure the load is well distributed and you are very unlikely to dent/mar the race.

 

[tye1138]

All right, thanks, I'll try the freeze/heat/PVC method then. Gotta find a PVC tube with the right diameter...

Yep, thats the magic ticket! Plus the PVC comes in handy for fending off wimpy intruders!



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[JeffKoch]

O.K., thanks everyone, mission accomplished! I chilled my clamp/stem in the freezer overnight, then heated the race in my oven to 500F, then married the parts - the race slipped right on, I didn't even need the PVC tube (which fortunately only cost me $0.99 at Orchard Supply). Now I can start putting the bike back together.

 

[nine16]

BTW, for anyone else doing this, the steerer tube will get as cold as its ever going to get in 15 minutes of freezer time.

 

[JeffKoch]

Same with the race in the oven. Metal is a pretty good heat conductor.

 

[Largerthan9]

Hey, go to a bike shop. It will take 10 seconds to install with the Park Tool crown race setter they have. If you bring a six pack of beer and tell them its for a Ducati they may do it for free. Motorcycles are still pretty much bicycles with motors.

 

[JeffKoch]

Follow up: This was really the nightmare job from hell, not because of the race but because of all the crap I had to remove from the bike to finish the job. Side fairings, front fairing, air tubes and covers, the whole bit - lots of little allen-head screws everywhere. Ducati really made this a difficult bike to work on, for no obvious reason - this would have been a fairly simply job on a 916-line bike, but on a 1098 it was a days-long chore.

 

[st2lemans]

Wow, that's strange. My 999R was real easy (27mm clamps and switch to steep), I don't recall having to remove anything other than one of the side fairings so that I could get a jack in there (can't use a front stand if you're removing the front end, and no rafters in my garage to hang a hoist).

Why did you change the clamps, different offset?

Tom