Don't worry grease and penetrating oil has saved the day...

A how to with pictures will follow!

This is how I got the nut off.

Firstly in the DIY it says to sacrifice some wheel nuts and a bar to stop the hub from turning whilst you are using the special tool to undo the nut. This is unlikely to work if you are using the shorter steel wheel nuts - you are going to need the longer alloy wheel nuts! This was my problem number one.

Problem number two is that I'm doing this off of the car so the suggestions of applying brakes and putting the wheel on the ground - which are under normal circumstances great suggestions - don't help here.

You could, however, apply this method to a trailing arm assembly either fitted to the car or one that is detached.

First step:-

Knacker the sealing ring next to the retaining nut.



Punch it away from the nut to the outer circumference of the hub with a chissel.

Slamming it up against the side (NOT DOWN!) will stop the hub from turning.

Step two:-

Use your chissel to turn the nut.



Just keep knocking it round until it comes off. Note the amount of penetrating fluid has been sprayed over the place. For this step I don't think you don't need the special socket. But if the staked ring seal starts to turn you still have the option to use it as you are unlikely to break the retaining nut.

(I had previously drilled into the retaining nut in an attempt to weaken it but this proved to be unsuccessful)

And here is the retaining nut off

The next problem was how to get the hub out of the trailing arm - again when it is fitted to the car you have a reactive force so you can hammer it out with either a punch or a slide hammer arrangement as described in the DIY.

I'm sorry to say I'm not really a fan of hammering stuff. I'd rather use presses so here follows a home made solution.

Did you get the hub out? Be careful with the brass drift. I tried that method. Unfortunately, I rounded over the delicate threaded end of the hub and had to remove the whole assembly again to dress the threads after I couldn't get the nut started. Whatever you do, make sure the nut starts before you reinstall the hub.

If I was to do it again, I would use a piece of wood between the hammer and the hub until I got enough clearance to use the slide hammer method.

Any NASA engineer would probably spit if he saw this but I'm a fan of wood and tape!

Firstly I positioned two chunky bits of wood either side of the hub - in between the hub and the trailing arm. I chose to position them close to the brake caliper mounts and the on the opposite side as they look like the strongest points - I didn't want to damage the dust shield.



I didn't do anything too fancy - as I didn't know if it would work - I just cut some wood to length and found some M12 threaded bar, nuts and washers (You need some wide ones to spread the load and to stop the nuts from burying themselves in the cheap soft wood)

I PUT SOME GREASE ON THE M12 THREADS (this helps)

And tightened the nuts on either side of the hub. One part is reacting against the end of the hub where the retaining nut was positioned. The other end reacts through the wacky wood construction onto the trailing arm.



This is one up close it looks like the hub is touching the wood - it is close but not actually touching - it needs to slide out of the trailing arm.

I had to stop and pack in some other bits of wood so that the hub didn't grind up against the cheap chunky wood.



Here is proof that the hub will pop out after tightening the nuts on either end of the threaded bar.

And here is picture of the retaining nut end

Sorry I'm not a quick typist - see the post above!

That's the most ingenious way I've ever seen someone remove a rear wheel bearing. Good job. Rear wheel bearings on any car are a PITA.

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http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z...-RESIZED-1.jpg
1991 300E - 212K and rising fast...

I must confess I've been strongly influenced by the Whiskey Dan method of removing trailing arm bushings see

W123 1984 300TD wagon rear trailing arm bushings R&R

An adaptation of this method also works for fitting bushings and the aluminium tube for W123 front LCA bushings:-

How I ended up fitting the bushings to my W123 300D LCA

Neat Job and great pics.

Send a pic of the Hub being pressed of with your Wooden Press to Mercedes. I bet they would get a kick out of it.

I have a cracked Trailing Arm that I removed; in my Garage somewhere and about 3 weeks ago I got a hold of a used Pin Wrench.
I want to salvage the Bearings and Hub from it.
If you use a slide hammer or the Brake Rotor to beat the hub out I have read you damage one of the Bearings.
With your Wooden Press I think the Hub can be removed with out Bearing Damage so when the time comes I will try your method!

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

Go for it - I can't see any damage on my bearings.

I forgot to mention above - don't worry if the hub spins whilst you are tightening the two nuts on the threaded bar. I stopped for a second and had to scratch my head: it doesn't make any difference. I found that as you tighten the nuts on your threaded bar (home made press) the hub spins as it get tighter and then it stops just before the stiction of the interference fit gives way and the hub jolts along a little way out of the trailing arm assembly. Keep tightening the threads - WITH GREASE! - and the same happens again and may be again until the hub comes free.

Best of luck.

I'll show my method of reinstalling the hub - and for kicks I'm going to try and do it off of the car (How will I stop the wheel spinning? Just wait and see!).

This will be in a few days time - I'm waiting for parts and I want to do a full clean up de-rust and repaint of the trailing arms first.

My Biggest problem will be finding where I put the old Trailing Arm. I have not seen it for almost 2 years. It could be in a Shed that is entirely packed with stuff or in th back half of my Garage that is also tightly packed. It will be some major labor just to find it.

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

I know exactly how you feel about finding stuff - I've only had the car since September. The inside of my garage is even scruffier than the wooden special tools I've been building...

ANYWAY - Do you wanna RACE????

Get your bits of wood and threaded bar together - find your trailing arm and then start the clock.

I've just removed the nut and the hub from my other trailing arm in 12 mins.

Can you beat that?

Actually I have been working on my non-mercedes Vehicles. I took my Chevy Astro Van Alternator apart yesterday and found eBay was the cheapest place to get the new Bearings for it. Now I have to wait until they are delivered.
Today I am dealing with the Vans noisy Blower Motor.

I took apart the Blower Motor to see what is wrong;see pic, who knows what evil is lurking inside your Blower Motor.

Attached Thumbnails

 

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

After I had a windshield changed on my old Honda I turned on the fan to de-mist and got showered in glass - driving with bugs in your teeth seems to me to be the better option!

Strange how it is so sticky though. Most of the blower motors I've taken apart are dusty not sticky. Is a bearing throwing out grease? Has a previous owner "greased it" to stop squeaking?

This is the first time I have taken apart a Blower Motor.
It has a Spherical type Bearing on the end in the pic; made from a powdered Bronze type material that can be saturated with Oil (Oilite bearing).
There is a Felt washer under the Metal Retaining disk that was supposed to be saturated with Oil that I guess the Bearing is supposed to draw Oil from. There is no seal to prevent dirt from getting between the bearing and the shaft and that sticky stuff was around the Motor Shaft.

Also at the rear of the Motor is a hole that a Rubber Tube attaches to for cooling. The Blower air pushes into the housing towards the interior of the Van and part of that Air goes back into that tube. This means things that get into the housing can get pushed into the motor.

Other than that I do not know why or what caused the buildup inside.

It is cleaned and I will put it back on tomorrow (going to try to fix a Relative’s Washer to day); but a new motor is only $20 locally and I was tempted to just buy one.

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel