hi, i have tried searching the archive for information without success.

my 1976 300D driver's side rear wheel bearing was chewed up and smoked for 50 miles. however there was no trouble installing a new bearing kit and tightening it until there was no play in the hub.

however on the passenger side the nut was stuck and we dremel'ed it off, flattening the threads on the hub a bit in the process. later i obtained the special 4-prong socket which fits the nut. when i attempted to reinstall the new nut, it got very tight too soon, requiring full weight on the breaker bar to move it, but then with only one or two turns left to go it skipped a thread becoming quite loose suddenly...

so i got a 1976 300D control arm and hub from the junkyard. the nut could only be removed by impact wrench. we then tried to install the new hub with the previous bearing kit hardware. it once again skipped a thread with only 1 mm of play left to go. did i just mess up the hub?

which part is bad? i first thought the origional hub had stretched slightly. now i don't know. is it simply a damaged nut? or would it be best to replace the control arm- could the metal that the hub mounts through be compressed slightly?

thanks in advance for your help,
-justin time

You tried using the same nut?? Get a new one and see what happens. If you tried threading it onto the old unit with fubar threads, then it is fairly likely you damaged the threads on the nut in the process. Why not get a used semi-trailing arm and just put it in? Chances are the bearing in the used arm will be good for a while, yet....

Jay.

__________________
On the road, currently:
'83 300D (German spec.) 168k mi. - - Wolfgang (tucked snugly away for the winter!)
'87 300D 375k mi. - finally went over to "The Dark Side"
'87 300TD 225k mi.
Cannondale 66cm CAAD5 w/Campy/Jamis Aurora
Hujsak Custom Fixie/Landshark Track Shark Custom/Ahearne Custom 29'er