1979 Tange Meriter Headset

[Gnarlyscoots]

This came with a 1981 Torker frameset that I recently finished. I did post a thread regarding it and gathered much information too.





I found it was a 1979 model Tange Meriter sealed headset. Upon inspection, I found that it had grooves along the interior of the bearing for what I assumed was re-greasing. I flushed the bearings with petrol, allowed to dry and then repacked with grease.

I then fitted onto the Torker and it seemed okay and ran smooth. After approximately 4 days of riding, it became stiffer and seemed to grind a little when turning. So I decided to replace the headset with a Beartrap II. Anyways, today, I thought I would strip down the bearings and see what, or if, could be done.



Having now had time to inspect it and not fearing pulling it apart as it seemed naffed anyways, I have found that I can actually seperate the bearing cases, albeit a bit fiddly, and actually thoroughly clean the insides and repack properly. The first picture and the bearing to the left of the second picture is still sealed but removed from the cup (which was not the easiest of tasks) and the bearing to the right is prized open but still fitted in the cup. I thought I would try them both in different ways.





Having removed all the hardened grease that the petrol did not touch and thoroughly cleaned all the surfaces, I repacked with grease, fitted the bearings (that were/are in amazing shape for the year) and tried to press the top cap in again. No luck with the other half of the case still mounted inside the cup, so removed all the bearings, the outer case from cup, refitted the bearings and with a bit of fiddling and experimenting, managed to fit the bearing cap. All cleaned up and pressed back into the cup. The bearing to the left of the second picture is what they looked like before cleaning, yikes!




Anyway, after a couple of hours of experimenting and figuring out the best way to achieve my goal, they are both repacked with grease, fitted to the bearing cups, run smooth as butter and ready to roll if I decide to refit them.




Hope it helps someone in the future. Any questions, feel free to PM me.

[Bigplinky]

Very nice never seen one of those 

[lk_97]

Very nice

[bobafett]

Lovely 

[rad_pitt]

Proper cool headset Terry 

[In2 bmx]

That's sweet ... I'd love one of those . 

[bloud]

This is very cool! I have several meriter headsets that need serious care. One question, are you saying the inner cup/guides (not the headseat up) the bearings fit into comes out? I had one apart, but don't remember being able to take that out, and could never get it back together.

[Gnarlyscoots]

This is very cool! I have several meriter headsets that need serious care. One question, are you saying the inner cup/guides (not the headseat up) the bearings fit into comes out? I had one apart, but don't remember being able to take that out, and could never get it back together.

If you lay the cup face down, you can see the outer case that hold the 2 bearing cups together. With a bit of force, you can tap them out. It will come out as a complete unit.



I would recommend that you first use a screwdriver to prize off the outer bearing cap (only because I found it hard to get the top bearing cup out the retainer when I had it out like the pic above), remove the bearings, then turn over the headset cup and tap out the brearing cup retainer. It will dent the bottom of the retainer but once it's out, you will have the inner bearing cup still inside it and you can tap that on a flat surface against the retainer and it will flatten it again.

Once you have cleaned the bearings and cups, you put the bearings back with grease packing and take the outer bearing cup and push in at an angle into the retainer. Work your way around using some heavy duty pliers, just sgently squeezing the outer bearing cup back in. It will go in quite easily once you get it half way round.

Hope that helps dude. PM me if you get probs and I will give you my mobile and talk you through it okay.

Tj

[bloud]

I understand now. Will let you know if I have questions. I'm very happy you posted this...

[Gnarlyscoots]

I understand now. Will let you know if I have questions. I'm very happy you posted this...

No worries dude. Sweet headsets too. If you want to part with one, I wouldn't mind another to restore   For fundage of course.

[bloud]

I understand now. Will let you know if I have questions. I'm very happy you posted this...

No worries dude. Sweet headsets too. If you want to part with one, I wouldn't mind another to restore   For fundage of course.

Couldn't wait and just finished one cup. Took me about 40 minutes, but I think I have it. The bearing race on this one was a bit tweaked so I took some extra finagling. Now I have about 8 more in various conditions to do. I actually collect these for my Fuji Feather restorations, these were the stock headsets that came on them. You'll see one come up for-sale every 6 months or so. NOS run $100+, used and abused anywhere from $30 to $60.

These were THE best headsets in the mid to late 70's.

Thanks again. I am going to do a detailed blog post about this once I have time in the future.