Getting the race out was, by far, the hardest part of the front crank seal job for me. Sharing what worked for me for the benefit of anyone out there Googling what to do:


TOOLS USED:
-A drill
-A sledge hammer
-1/8 in cobalt drill bit.
-3/32 in cobalt drill bit
-3/8 in cold chisel
-Vise grip locking pliers
-Seal puller (the same kind used for pulling the front crank seal)


1. Protect the inside of the engine. I stuffed a bunch of plastic wrap all around the opening.

2. Grab a sharpie. Hold the 1/8in drill bit up to the new race and make a mark just shy of the same depth as the new race. I did this so that I could know when I'm getting close to drill through the full depth of the race to make sure I don't hit the sprocket behind it.

3. Begin drilling a hole in the race using the 3/32in COBALT drill bit, then switch it out for the 1/8in bit once the hole is started. Make sure the hole is well centered on the face of the race and not angled up or down. You might have to abandon the hole and retry. I heard that using a dowel or something to poke an indent is helpful before beginning. Cobalt drill bits were game changer here. This was the job that finally propelled me to spend the money on a set.

4. After drilling close to the full depth of the race, I took a sledge hammer and started striking the hole with a 3/8in chisel. During this process I accomplished a couple things: The graduated nature of the chisel put enough stress on the race to cause a small crack, thereby loosening it slightly. Also, I was able to get the chisel somewhat "stuck" in the race, which enabled me to put a pair vice grips as tight as possible on the chisel and then smack the vice grips. This was a pretty goofy setup and I'm sure there are better tools for this kind of thing. The main idea is that I now had something to wack from different angles. The first movement I saw of the race was while doing this. Initially, I found it was easier to get it to move left or right. Eventually I was able to smack the vise grips at an angle that pulled the race outward, just slightly. You'll have to go back and forth with it and the vise grips will probably fall off a dozen times. Every time the race moves, it gets easier to move again.

5. After a bunch of chiseling and vise grip action, the race had become loose enough that I was able to take a seal puller and carefully pull at it, working it off


Hope this helps someone.

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Lots of fun for you! Ha, for a lot of persons they just pull on out.

There are threads on it, but I never paid attention to the details.

For a while when I saw a god deal on Mercedes special tools, I used to buy them, so I already had the factory tool to do it if mine was stuck so I used the tool and I don't recall if it was stuck or not.

Where I had a problem was the large cam shaft tensioner rail. I bought the wrong tool for that and it was too small for the job. I ended up drilling it out to a larger size bolt hole so I could turn some all thread into a slide hammer.

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

I was REALLY wishing I had that factory tool earlier in the week haha

Today I'm putting everything back together. I really hoped to have the car running again by Sunday, but now I just discovered that I'm supposed to replace the harmonic balancer dowel pins in addition to the 6 bolts.

Are we supposed to replace the 27mm bolt (and its washers) as well?

Also I have a lingering concern about the upper cover. I made a couple gashes in it during all of the race removal "fun". I asked a couple people about it and they said it should be fine with aviation permatex, but I also don't trust other people to be sufficiently detail oriented.

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If you are speaking of the crankshaft bolt, I reused mine. I don't know what others I do as had not paid attention to that.

See if this works it is supposed to be a free online W123 manual.

Mercedes W123 Manual

Model 123 Maintenance Manual Index

Best of luck.

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

I've never replaced a front crank fastener nor the washer on a w123 car. Going on bad memory here but IIRC the washer is supposed to be installed in a certain direction. IIRC it is kinda like a spring washer. I may be thinking about a different brand car though. It has been a long time since I had the front pulley off of a w123 car.

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Jim

I did some research and I feel pretty good about reusing the crank bolt and its washers, just have to clean them up well and make sure the washers are oriented correctly.

Any thoughts on re-using the 6 smaller bolts that hold the harmonic balancer? Mine look to be in pretty good condition. Threads look good, no rounding in the caps, only some surface rust on the caps. No local stores carry them in the correct strength (and from what I gathered, the strength definitely matters; class 12.9 = too brittle)

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12.9 bolts hold your brake clippers together.

All I can say is unless the manual has not to reuse a bolt, I don't even consider tossing them.

Even the cylinder head bolts can be reused if the length is measured, and they fall within a reusable measure.

Some bolts like the brake caliper retaining bolts are supposed to be replaced due to their what I call nylock type retention system that is supposed to keep them from backing out. I degreased the inner and outer threads and re-used mine but put Loctite on them.

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel