Can anyone suggest Plan B for removal of axle from hub on 85 300TD wagon
 

Well, Now that Ive got my parts and the special MB hub tool My 85 300TDs hub doesnt want to let go of the rear right side axle so I can open up the bearings. Heres what ive tried so far.
Ive used a brass drift (or something close enough to one) to try knoking it from the outside inward, through the hole that you can see the axle through after you remove the bolt. No movement, So Ive used WD-40 and tried as well as heating it up with a propane torch to not quite red-hot tempurature, but very hot.. and hammering it again from the outside inwards in the same manner. Someone reccomended a product called PB Blaster, I tried dousing it with that and letting ti sit some days, agian with some more hammering. Now finally Ive actually flound a rubber plug to plug the hole and fill it with PB blaster and have it sit in there for over a week. Today I tried again to no avail. Im tempted to use a steel drift, and get a sledge or a very heavy hammer...
Im not sure what to do. Has anyone experienced such difficulty in removing the axle from the hub like this? I did the left rear one to see if I was going to experience the same thing and I was able to get it off. So unless it comes off differently I must be in for some serious nastiness.

Ive again plugged the end and filled the hole with PB blaster as I gave up hammering. How far could one go with hammering before something else gets damaged? If I did take a sledge to it, what would be the worst that happens, could it affect the rear differential? there seems to be play on the inner, differential side.

Its been a long overdue bearing replacement. Perhaps I waited too long. I drove it until it was smoking and smalling like burned rubber. Once I got the rotor off I can see the play in the bearings and its as if there arent any. I regret stretching out the repair job now, ther rear brakes were affected to. some uneven brake wear caused by the imbalanced wheel. tsk tsk tsk.

Ive thought of cutting off the axle? but then what? I would probably need a whole new axle and trailing arm....

if you have a upullit or similar type of salvage yard with mb's in it, you could pull the entire LCA and hub as a single unit and change that with the axle attached...

an air chisel might do it, but it might fubar the bolt hole. you could put an old bolt in there to protect the threads. we don't get the old ones at my shop much, but the air chisel works great on the newer stuff.

Do you have a two or three jaw pulley remover? You ought to be able to get a grip behind the outside stud bolt flange and then use a bolt threaded into the axle for pushing on the center. At any rate, you may find that the hub (or axle) is buggered beyond usefulness when you get the axle out.

The axle splines are probably rusted in the hub from all that salt you drive through.

Do what Vstech said. go to a PNP type Junk yard and remove a trailing arm and axle. find a low mileage one. 126 to 85 will also work, same arm.
Note:>> The W126 Trailing Arm will work on a W123, the axle will not. it is a few mm longer due to the wider track of the W126. use the W123 axle.

Torch your axle in the middle, then remove the stub from the differential.

You are going to have to drop the sub frame to get to the 24mm bolts where it bolts to the sub frame.

If you get a trailing arm from the JY, don`t cut the parking brake cable. the cables off each arm are about 4ft long and connect under the center of the car.
I cut the one`s I pulled, the had the dickens of a time getting them reconnected back into the parking brake assy.

at the time I pulled mine, I paid $42 for each one.

Charlie

I had a wagon once.... that rear axle is really strong and over engineered..

Before the other things that have been mentioned.... depending on the time allotted for this job....why don't you try some Kroil first ?
You might need to build some kind of ' dam' with RTV to give the kroil a chance to enter the area you need it to go....

The things mentioned are huge jobs... can not imagine taking enough equipment to a pick and pull to safely do that extraction... or installing it at your place if they are able to help you extract there...

Greg, I have dropped 4 sub frame assemblies from under 123`s by my self at PNP. You do not need a lot of equipment.

remove the shocks, 17mm nuts at the top, 2 17mm bolts under the shock. pull them out and throw aside

Loosen the 46mm nut in the center of DL, channel lock/water pump pliers work for this. It isn`t on all that tight.
remove DL at differential, leave the rubber disk on, and pry off the DL.
Flex disk bolts are either 17mm nut/bolt, 17mm&15mm or a 8mm hex bolt.

Cut the brake hoses, remove the swaybra link, 17mm. Both sides.

If you are going to save the brake cables, loosen them and pull out through their grometts. If not, cut them with a bolt cutter.

remove the 4 13mm bolts that hold the diff to the body.

Note; this will drop down pretty fast, most will drop about a foot, so don`t have any part of you body under the diff. I remove 3 of the bolts, and leave one of the rear one`s for last. depending which side Iam coming in from. jacks are not allowed in PNP which would be the safest way to lower one. could place a couple tires under it.

Once the Diff drops, the springs will fall out.

then it is just a matter of removing the bracket under the sub frame bushing.
2 17mm bolts, and then the long 50 caliber bolt. think it is 22mm.
once this bolt is removed, the one side will come down some. then remove the other side.

after it is down, drag the assembly from under the car, not all that hard.
I did two in one day at 2 different yards last July.

Charlie

I doubt he can find a decent subframe at a pick and pull in his geographic area.

At this point I would ask around for someone who is skilled at using an acetelyne shop torch to heat up stuff like this to work it loose. Guys who work on heavy machinery or fleet trucks or farm equipment are used to this stuff. Regular mechanics not so much.

More than likely it can be got out. But it's going to happen on a hoist in a shop....

You'll find the answer to your problem here

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/diesel-discussion/277341-w123-rear-wheel-bearing-removal-help-needed-2.html

EDIT I assume it is a W123 - bloody 1985...

while the 126 arm will work, the axle will not. it's too long, so be sure and get an axle from a 123 if you can't get your axle out.

That's your solution. Find a drift that fits the hole well and has a flat end face.

Have a second person hold the drift perfectly horizontal against the face of the axle.

Hit it reasonably firmly with a sledge (don't need to kill it). The mass of the sledge impacting the drift will easily get it to break free of the splines.

You've already broken the bond from the rust when you heated it.


The axle has freedom in the longitudinal direction...........therefore you cannot damage anything in the joint or the diff.


Good luck.

And put something under the axle to catch it when it finally falls free.

Good catch, after I typed that and posted it, then reread what I posted, then added "same arm". wasn`t thinking of axle length. some of us may know that, the new guy searching for this same problem needs the correct info.

I added the aditional info to the post.

Charlie