Hello,


Last week one of my front wheel bearings failed. By the time I managed to stop the car safely the tappered rollers had melted themselves around the knuckle shaft.

I bought a new set of bearings hoping that I could remove the molten bearing from the shaft. I have just spent 3 hours trying to remove molten metal with one of those Dremels, but have ended up damaging the shaft. I now have to replace the whole knuckle.

My car is a 190D from 1985. Do you know if I can fit the knuckle of any W201? I have been offered a knuckle that comes from a 1988 2.3 with ABS. My car does not have ABS. Will it fit? Will the holes fro the brake caliper match?

Also, do you know if I can fit a W124 knuckle? The W124 is a much more popular car in Spain and there are plenty of them at the wreckers.

I will post some pictures on Monday.


Thanks in advance
gonzalo

The original part for the W201 (non-16 valve) is 201 330 xx 20, where the xx is 21 for right and 20 for left.

The 2.3-16 used the W124 part 124 330 xx 20, where the xx is 05 for right and 04 for left.

The good news is that either the W201 or W124 part should work.

Hello MTI,

Thanks for your answer. It really helps.

I have attached 2 photos of the outer bearing, which disintegrated and then melted around the shaft. I was unable to remove the bearing remains without damaging the shaft, so entire knuckle has to go.





The bearing that failed did not warn at all. Usually a bearing that is about to go becomes quite noisy, but this was not the case.

As soon as I get a new knuckle and fit it I will post some more photos.

Regards
gonzalo

Was this undergreased or overtightened?

__________________
2012 BMW X5 (Beef + Granite suspension model)

1995 E300D - The original humming machine (consumed by Flood 2017)
2000 E320 - The evolution (consumed by flood 2017)

I canīt really tell. All I know is that I was driving normally and all of a sudden the thing failed. No warning. Maybe 27 years and 650.000km have something to do with it.

Canīt wait to drive the car again.