Brakes and bearings DIY

[simonshearer]

My compliments go out to the authors of the DIY threads. I used the DIY thread on this subject and it was a tremendous help.

I don't know how long it takes to wear down a rotor 3/16" on each side, but I wouldn't be surprised if the PO's of my car ever replaced them in it's 220K+ mile life.

I decided to go all out and do rotors, pads, sensors, bearings and seals. I could get most of what I needed at an import parts store, but purchased the seals at Auto Zone. Not a good idea as it turns out, because as I found from a search after the fact, the Timken 1960 AZ lists for all W126 1986-91 cars is NOT correct (about 1/8" too wide in diameter).

Mmmm, and this I find after I have destroyed the old one removing it.

It is Sunday, and no one has one, and of course MB dealerships refuse to offer convenient hours for the parts store.

I ordered new seals, no problem, be in Monday.

But the dilemma I faced was a car on jack stands in the driveway, four other cars behind it or on the street, and my wife not too happy about the prospect of me going out of town and it being like this until next weekend!

I only needed to move the car a few feet - not like I was going to be driving anywhere - so I improvised.

I replicated the size and shape of the seal by using white teflon plumbing tape. Then I repacked the old bearings (leaving the new ones for when I have the seals), and it all fitted together quite well, surprisingly well as even the retaining lock nut tolerance was pretty much the same as before and the rotor was rock solid on the spindle; good enough to put the brake caliper on and have it spin true.

Tire back on, moved all the cars back into their correct positions, wife happy, I'm ready to go out of town and the car will wait until next weekend.

None of this diminishes the fabulous help the DIY's are to me, and I want to thank everyone who took the time to photo-document the procedures.

Simon

1986 420SEL in Lt Ivory with Brazil Brown leather interior (main project)
1982 300D Turbodiesel in White with MB Tex Palomino (recent project; nearly finished)
2000 Porsche 911 Carerra 4 in triple Black (6-spd; not a project!)

[Firewater]

Could you post a link back to the DIY you're referring to? I'm doing my rotors and just having a helluva time figuring out where to put the jack stands!!

[professor]

Here is how I did it with the 190E but with the W126 you will have to detach the hub from disk brake by removing the bolts from the inside. The best way to do that is to put back the hub & disk assembly back in the wheel (away from the car of course) then attempt to remove the bolts. This way you have a larger surface to hold on to while you use leverage to get the bolts out.

This here can help in terms of the bearings but the hub is not set up the same as the W126
http://s713.photobucket.com/albums/ww134/drewprof/190E_Front_Bearings/?albumview=grid