W126 Bearing Bracket Busing/Mount Removal - The Easy Way - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

eatont9999 · #1 10-23-2012, 12:05 PM

Howdy!

So, after pulling a bearing bracket assembly from a parts car, I had a lot of trouble getting the bushings and mount extracted from the bracket with conventional methods. I tried the BFH, impact hammer, cussing at it, penetrating oil and beating on it some more. I was still unable to get the guide rod mount out of the bracket.

I finally had enough and bought a gear puller set. The puller I wound up using was the 6" with the claws extended the maximum range. I also made use of a 15/16" deep well socket. You will also need a wrench or in my case, an impact gun to turn the nut on the gear puller.

To remove the two rubber bushings, orient the bracket so that the rubber lip on the bushing is facing down. You will notice there is a metal insert in the middle, which is hollow. Place the socket in the hole with the base of the socket facing up. Attach the gear puller and claws so that the claws are under the rubber lip and the pintle of the puller is snug against the butt of the socket. This may take some finesse but once you get going, it is a breeze. Tighten the gear puller up a few turns. So the claws do not lose grip, with the gear puller tight, take a mallet or hammer and tap the claws inward near the bottom so they make good contact. Now just spin the gear puller nut down until the bushing is birthed.

To remove the guide rod mount, you will use the gear puller and a socket again. When I removed the bearing bracket from the junk yard, I just cut the end off of the guide rod mount with a hacksaw. That being said, I can only suggest you either cut the threaded end off yours or find some pipe that can fit over the guide rod mount. You may need a larger/longer gear puller. What I did was take a 15/16" deep well socket, put it over the nub that I had left on the guide rod mount, attach the gear puller and continue to push the old rusty mount out.

Then comes the fun part where you get to clean the old bracket up and repaint it, etc. I painted mine silver.

Part Deux will be how I re-install all these bushings and mount into the bracket. I still have to figure that out.

eatont9999 · #2 10-24-2012, 01:17 PM

When ordering the bushings for the bearing bracket you may want to take note that they are different sizes and the front one is a smaller diameter than the rear one. I feel like a dumkopf now that I spent all night trying to force a bushing into a hole that was too small all the while taking note that the diameter of the two holes was different. No, cutting off the secondary lip on the bushing doesn't make it fit; it just ruins the bushing.

Now I have to try to replace the mount on my current bracket so I can keep the old bushings installed until the new ones arrive. I stupidly threw out the old bushings from the spare bracket. Long trip coming up and I would like to have this bearing mount replaced. Oh, the joys of being a dumkopf.