[Closed] Headset removal/installation without tools?

I've tapped head races out in the past with careful use of a large screwdriver and a mallet. Replacement is with a chunk of wood and a mallet. You can make your own fitting tool by juggling bits of threaded rod, nuts and washers.

Grease it up and whack with a mallet to fit.

I have a cheap headset removal tool but you can make similar things quite easily.

Before I bought a tool I used a mallet and big screwdriver to remove.
keep moving the screwdriver round to new points and tap tap tap... take your time.
Block of wood and mallet to install. Just be careful it doesn’t go in too skewiff. I have used the fork steerer and stem to tighten the last bit of the cup into the frame, not sure if wise, but it worked and lasted ok.
Are you swapping crown race to different forks, or forks going with the headset?

Video? 3m 10s along, this fella on his scooter 😊

The tool is about £10 on ebay, just get one. It's unlikely to be the last bike you ever build or time you fit a headset (unless its a chris king).

A mallet works, but some headset cups are softer than others, I've managed to collapse one as it went in squiff. 99% of the time they pull themselves straight as they go in, this one didn't, and that was with a tool!

As above. Tap it out with a screwdriver and hammer, working around. Something blunter is better, like a bit of 6mm steel rod. Hammer and a block of wood to fit. Hardest part is holding it all together while holding the frame as well (if you have it in a stand you still need to brace against the hammer blows but it is a lot easier). You can make a cheap remover with a bit of steel pipe and hacksaw some slots into it and make a cheap press with some studding and big washers but the hammer method is fine if you go careful

I've put a cross cut in a curtain pole then splayed the edges to fit before now but a drift type thing/whatever you've got that's long enough and mallet is fine as well.

A bit of common sense knocking it out, tap it at opposite edges, a bit at a time, not a coke fuelled seal clubbing rampage!

I've done it loads like this - tap out, tap in. Just make sure that if it's skewiff then you tap the appropriate side to keep it straight. It's a pita.

I’ve put a cross cut in a curtain pole then splayed the edges to fit

+1

make your own fitting tool by juggling bits of threaded rod, nuts and washers

+1 again

Both simple, cheap and very effective.

And making your own tools is satisfying.

I used an old seat post to hammer mine out. Gave more contact area and came out really easy.

Block of wood and a mallet to smash it in.

Easy peasy.

I bought a cheap tool off ebay which was a threaded rod and some giant washers. It was crap. Use this as an excuse to get a vice and just use that instead. My workbench has a woodwork vice which was *ideal*, but a normal vice will work if it opens wide enough.

The threaded rod/washers method can be made a bit more "profesional" by using some old headset cups and bearings instaed of just washers.

I recently used a 40mm irrigation coupling to refit a Hope headset to a new frame. Perfect size and plastic with a smooth edge.

I used an old seat post to hammer mine out.

This, or a large pin punch is better than trying to use a screwdriver. Much less likely to damage the headset and frame, and won't wreck a perfectly good screwdriver.

Fitting them, just rest the headtube on a block of soft wood, put another block of wood over the headset cup and tap it in with a hammer.

I bought a cheap tool off ebay which was a threaded rod and some giant washers. It was crap.

Mine was similar but has 2 machined spacers with steps on them, one side is slightly undersize of the headtube an the other is slightly undersize of the steerer. You put one cup on the press (@thin end restign inside the brearing) and thread through the headtube (thick end into the headtube), press it in, take the headtube end off, flip it over and repeat with the other headset cup.

Perfectly fitted headsets (almost) every time.

Cost £12 IIRC.

The only advantage to the park one is the quick release lower cup. And ironically it was the Park one that crushed/collapsed the one I had a problem with.

Before I got the proper tools I used wood and a mallet to insert, and wood to remove (same concept as the screw driver but does not damage the cups as the wood is softer).

The hardest bit is fitting the crown race.. come on, I need to know the answer to my question from yesterday!

@DezB don't all decent headsets have split crown races now?

@DezB don’t all decent headsets have split crown races now?

Not ones with a seal on the crown race (AFAIK).

I had to prize one off a set of carbon forks the other day, that was a bit nerve wracking as I remembered it was incredibly tight going on!

My LBS charged me £15 to remove and reinstall a headset.
I’ll take that every day of the week if it means I don’t see to bodge it.

don’t all decent headsets have split crown races now?

Not all have. So if he's got a crown race for this headset that he's swapping from one bike to the other.. and it hasn't got a split, then I think the headset is the least of his worries! 🙂

Not all have. So if he’s got a crown race for this headset that he’s swapping from one bike to the other.. and it hasn’t got a split, then I think the headset is the least of his worries! 🙂

I've removed a stubborn crown race with judicious use of an old chisel before now - it was already knackered - but the proper tool makes it a lot easier.

The key to crown races is to use Hope headsets, why dont more come with the split crown race, just drops on.

Thanks for all the input guys, will have a proper look after work as I'm in meetings all day 🙁

The key to crown races is to use Hope headsets, why dont more come with the split crown race, just drops on.

Do you know what this thread is about?? 😆

I use a bb press tool

The hardest bit is fitting the crown race.. come on, I need to know the answer to my question from yesterday!

A used plastic gluegun cartridge with the end cut off is just the right diameter for a 1.5" headset/steerer crown race... depending on steerer length the challenge can be finding a used one long enough

Don't forget to leave the cups in the freezer for a few hours before fitting.

My remover tool is the rear axle from a 1999 Suzuki SV650, and my fitting tool is a rubber hammer. I've used "proper" tools and the flared pipe thing is a little quicker but really this works just as well- and better imo than a headset press.

The hardest bit is fitting the crown race.. come on, I need to know the answer to my question from yesterday!

With regards to the above, a couple of different sized plastic tubing will easily sort it;
[img] [/img]

Just slide the crown race on and bosh it down with the tool.