I was wrong!

This car (1987 300d) has had a bad right rear wheel bearing since I got it a couple weeks ago. Was noisy, and wheel had lots of free play if you jacked it up. So, today I thought I'd swap it out over a long lunch at my fabrication shop so I no longer had to worry about the wheel falling off.

The first interesting thing was I didn't need a ratchet or breaker bar to remove the hub nut after unstaking it. I simply spun it off with the 30mm socket by hand. I welded together a quick and ugly adapter to bolt a slide hammer to the hub and proceeded to aggravate my carpal tunnel by pounding away on the hub. It moved out about 1/8 inch and stopped. After way to much slide hammering, I added weight to the slide. Banged away another half hour, no luck. I finally resorted to a slide weight that was a block of steel 6" diameter 4" long and 4 good wacks yanked the hub out of the bearing. Here is what I found after a quick bead blast:


As you can see, the inner race spun big time on the hub. This raised a lip on each side of the groove that created the interference fit that didn't want to let go. So, since I didn't have a spare hub, and am a welding & machining kind of guy I decided to fix the hub. First I built it up via TIG welding - which was really shaky with a hand that was numbed by the carpal tunnel aggravation the slide hammer caused:


Then it was turned back true on the lathe:


And after a little polishing back to the original diameter:


I heated the bearing and iced the hub, and they went together with a beautiful, tight fit. The reassembly was quick and easy...

So my 2 hour plan stretched out to about 5! But it's done, the howling is gone, and I'm not worried about losing the wheel any more...

WOW!
Congratulations!
you are THE Man! it must be nice to have a machine shop to work in. My right rear wheel bearing was out on my wagon, so I changed the entire subframe from a 95 wagon and got the upgraded vented rotors and such. along with all new link bushings and all... your way looks easier.

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John HAUL AWAY, OR CRUSHED CARS!!! HELP ME keep the cars out of the crusher! A/C Thread
"as I ride with my a/c on... I have fond memories of sweaty oily saturdays and spewing R12 into the air. THANKS for all you do!

My drivers:
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5-5SPEED!!!

1987 300TD
1987 300TD
1994GMC 2500 6.5Turbo truck... I had to put the ladder somewhere!

Excellent work.

I have access to a similar shop, but spending three hours of their work would cost more than the hub.........

Great job! I like that you were able to fix it rather than replace and landfill it.

Great Job! Was any heat treating necessary? I suspect the welds are probably finer harder metal than was there to begin with though.

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Codifex
1981 240D ChinaBlue (Got her running with a donor engine.)
1983 300DTurbo w/sunroof.
1984 300TD manual sunroof. (Electrical Gremlins)

Excellent. You could find work as a Cuban mechanic.

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

I would be so lost without a TIG welder, lathe, and mill at my disposal. Luckily I have them at my day job (welding instructor at technical college), my own fabrication shop, and even on a small scale at home. The hub is steel, and I simply built it up with mild steel. There should be no wearing going on here, and the hub was not noticeably hardened in the first place. Also, the welded area should not affect the part as far as wheel loading, so shouldn't be any safety concerns. I definitely don't recommend welding on suspension parts for everyone!

I'm really impressed with this car from a mechanic/engineer standpoint! It's such an easy car to work on! I was an engineer with a small sportscar manufacturer for 12 years and have a pretty good concept of quality as far as design and implementation. These cars lend themselves well to being worked on!

I changed a Wheel Bearing on my Volvo 244GL Diesel and it was a lot easier than on the W123.

The only difficulty at all was removing and reinstalling the Aluminum Collar that you press on to hold the Bearing onto the Axle Shaft.

I did not need a Slide Hammer during any part of the operation and I did not need a Dial Indicator or special Tool to adjust the End Play. In fact you do not adjust the Eng Play on it.

To me that is simpler and easier.

From an engineering stand point it may not be a superior design but it is a common design used on Millions of US Cars besides the old 82 Volvo. The design appears entirely adequate.

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel