So I have taken note of various wheel bearing kits for this car, some are pricy. Locally, I can purchase the wheel bearing and race for around $16. Are there any other parts that I may need to install new wheel bearings?

I am assuming you are speaking of the front wheel bearings. When people order kits they nearly always get Chinese bearings in them. And all of the brand name bearing companies have at least 3 grades of bearings and China is usually the lowest grade.

Once you have the bearing number you can search on ebay and get US, Japanese or European made bearings. You need to ask the seller if the picture is of the item they are selling (you can often see where the bearing is made on the bearing) or sometimes when you page down they say where the bearings are made.

If you need to get the car back on the road it does not matter much where the bearing is made. At least the Fronts are easy to change.

The rear bearings are an entirely different story. Get the best quality you can at a reasonable price on those.

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

Grease seals or hub seals

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92 e300d2.5t
01 e320
05 cdi
85 chev c10

W123 Front Wheel Bearing kits, Where the Bearings Might Be Made

Having a Brass or Aluminum punch is also helpful to keep things from dammage.

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

Unless the current bearings are bad, thoroughly clean them and repack with high quality grease. Use new seals.

If the current bearings are good then it is likely that their quality is high. New being better is fading away, stick with the old time proven quality.

Good luck!!!

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"Rudeness is a weak man's imitation of strength" - Eric Hoffer

You really need to clarify which end of the vehicle you are inquiring about.

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When cryptography is outlawed, bayl bhgynjf jvyy unir cevinpl.

If they are anything like the W126 bearings the inner bearing is difficult to get the race out and difficult to install the race and seal. I had to pay a shop to do them for me, even though I can usually do them with no issue.

thank you for all the replies and advice. I will procure a brass or aluminum punch before I begin. I believe I have new seals in stock but will check to make sure. I purchased new wheel bearing grease to repack so I should be good to go.....

A large socket installed backwards of a 1/2" drive extension bar will solve that problem. Alternate positions tapping on the lip of the race until it's out.
(This assumes that we are dealing with front wheel bearings.)

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When cryptography is outlawed, bayl bhgynjf jvyy unir cevinpl.

A brass punch is a god idea. If not in a hurry, I take the old bearings to the local industrial supply that sells bearings. They can cross them from the number and/or measure to get quality that fits. 126 bearings haven't been a hassle re: quality or installation technique.

There are long threads about the necessity to follow the FSM or not when tightening the nut. Harbor Freight sells gauges that work well enough for not much money.

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85SD 240K & stopped counting painted, putting bac together. 84SD 180,000. sold to a neighbor and member here but I forget his handle. The 84 is much improved from when I had it. 85TD beginning to repair to DD status. Lots of stuff to do.

Thank you everyone for sharing; the information is most appreciated. One of these days when I get wealthy, I'm going to own my own car repair shop so instead of repairs being a cost center, they will be a profit center.

The proper method to grease wheel bearings by hand is to thoroughly clean the bearing with a cleaning solvent (not gasoline). Place grease in the palm of your hand and press the bearing into the grease making sure that grease goes into every opening on the bearing. Add a film of grease to the outside diameter of the bearing to ensure that bearing rollers or balls are thoroughly coated with grease. Cleaning with gasoline will leave a film on the bearing which attracts dirt/grime.

Is a 300DT different than my 300D's? Last time I fooled with the front bearings, I recall they were the most common sets out there. I recall National A-3 (outer) and A-5 (inner) or similarly Timken SET-3 and SET-5, but could be A-2. Same pairs used on 1970's Chevy pickups. I remember because I bought a bag of random new auto parts at a thrift store for $3 and sold them off (new fuel pump caught my eye). It included a Made in Germany bearing set which search found fit a Chevy pickup, so I sold on ebay for that for ~$5. I later found it also fit my 300D's (drats). The grease seal might also cross to a Chevy.

A note on bearings. Most are sold as separate PN's for the cone (rollers) and race (presses into hub). A few common combinations are packaged as a "set", like above. A rebuild once found the output shaft bearings (tapered roller) worn inside my Plymouth auto transmission and I fretted "where can I source these?". A search of auto parts found $60 and 3 week delivery. Then I got brighter and searched the PN's stamped on them and found they were about the most common roller bearings in existence, used on many trailer axles, so ran to a trailer supply. They had multiple vendor choices, so I sprang for most expensive name brand at $5 per set (but still made in China). Also, there are no SAE bearings. I think all are metric (thank Germany), which is why dimensions are all even in mm and uneven numbers expressed in inches.

I second first cleaning and inspecting the bearings. If the surfaces are smooth and show no pits, re-use them. If quality German bearings, they may outlast the car and certainly any Chinese replacements you throw in there. Even if the rollers are worn, if the race surface looks fine I would leave it in. Knocking in new races are where people mess up the bearings. Watch youtubes to learn how to repack and preload the bearings. M-B has an overly fussy procedure for setting the nut, but the bearings are no different than in old U.S. cars. Just insure your last pass is finger-tight then back-off ~1/8 turn before securing the axle nut, which is like backing up to the next slot in the castle nut on U.S. cars. Too tight and they will overheat and fail in a few miles.

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1984 & 1985 CA 300D's
1964 & 65 Mopar's - Valiant, Dart, Newport
1996 & 2002 Chrysler minivans

Thank you Bill for the update. isn't there a "wheel bearing grease packing tool" available out there in tool land? If I remember correctly, I saw or read something about it.......

IMO, a wheel bearing packing tool isn't worth its space, cost and maintenance unless you are a pro doing many packings.

I prefer disposable gloves, high quality, CLEAN and fresh grease.

Good luck!!!

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"Rudeness is a weak man's imitation of strength" - Eric Hoffer