Ahead set probs

vikingbobw

I have searched for this but can not see it so apologies if it is on here already. Having bought a new bike I am in the process of teaching myself some tech fiddling on my old one and have just stripped my ahead set (Scott Alchemy, stupidly not taking note as i did it). Having cleaned, greased and put it back together it decides that instead of the smooth quiet movement it had before, it wants to almost grind and is far from smooth as if something is missing or misplaced. I have taken the bearings out and tried them different ways but the best i get is far off what i had. I have looked for detailed images on the web to check that i have placed everything in the right way but can not find anything detailed enough. Could someone please explain to this dummy in the simplest of terms reassembling the set with as much detail as poss i.e what, where and which way round things go. It is a scott Alchemy from years ago so pretty basic. If there is a site that shows this then so much the better. Sorry for what must be an annoying begginers request but any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.

nicklouse

have a look on park tools.

bearings the wrong way up is the most common one.

Splasher

How tight did you do up the preload screw (the one that goes through the centre of the cap on top)? Overtightening this will make your bearings seem rough.

Other than that, I think we need the make and model of the headset, or pics to be of much help. Heasets are all fundamentally the same but so different in detail.