I'm impressed that you got the squirrel cages off.
About five years ago the blower in my '90 300E quit. I bought a new motor intending to move the fans over to the new motor like you did. Well, I couldn't get them off and didn't want to chance breaking them.
The problem with the old motor was that it was locked up. Well, I worked it loose and put some oil on the shafts/bearings and reinstalled it.
Amazingly, it has worked perfectly ever since.
BTW, I enjoyed your article about replacing the U gasket. Except that you posted it about a month after I did that job on my car!
