I had a cyclical noise on my 83 300sd coming from the front drivers side wheel. The brakes looked good, so I have been focusing on the wheel bearings.

On beginning to work on removing the inner race, I noticed that the race could spin free in the hub. It still had to be punched out, but when seated against the hub it was loose enough to rotate.

I cooled the new race in the freezer, and used the old one to pound it in. It went in too easy, just a few taps around. The new one not only rotates but wiggles. It got a little more snug when it warmed up, but it still spins and has some play.

I assume this means the hub has been ground out by the old race, and that I need to get a new/used hub. I figured before I did that, I'd check here to verify that this is abnormal, and that there wasn't some simple fix, that I was ignorant of.

Any Advice?