ok. I may have exaggerated:

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/diesel-discussion/206875-replacing-rear-wheel-bearings-w123-w126.html

Dave's way seems do-able. can't say I am hoping to do one soon though. I have never felt completely satisfied with driving in races like this -

I was just pursing that earlier. It doesn't look too bad, but pain and annoying. Heh.

Rear Hub Bearing Service
 

Whatever you do , please document it well and post here .

I've only had to do this on some old VW's from the 1970's and it was a big job , and the order in which you approached it made a huge difference in how many new parts you needed....

I edited a previous post. I misread where you were finding oil.


I still would not suspect the turbo until trying a different air/oil separator or putting some media into your intake line on the catchcan.

Turbos throw the air against the compressor housing. any suspended particles could easily be thrown out of suspension there and accumulate in that area you mentioned.

I jacked up the rear end and checked both sides for play... On the side I think I have an issue, I felt no play. On the other side I felt a tiny bit of vertical play and no horizontal. Curious.

Car needs to be inspected so I'm going to use that opportunity to check it out with another set of eyes and on a lift. :cool:

Due to the suspected issue with the wheel (maybe im crazy) I haven't driven the car all week. No puddles under the car is a welcome sign once again! Area around the turbo still has some new residue but not too much. Will keep an eye on it and look into some media for the catch can to trap those pesky oil particles.

155 miles on the turbo so far @ 6psi max boost right now.

How did you come to the suspicion that you have a bad bearing? noises?

For a long time I thought I had a bad bearing back there; just kept ignoring it hoping it would be fine for long enough. The noise was a rhythmic tapping at different speeds. drove me frkn nuts waiting for that wheel to fly off doing 80 on the highway.

wheel had a perceivable amount of play, nothing worth repairing.

Finally, I was down there adjusting the ride height and decided to check all the parts for play.

... axle shaft. they wear out and the shaft will bounce back and forth between the CV ends. The rubber boots on each end act as the 'spring' sending it from side to side.

changed the shafts, no more noise. well, until my friend crashed it into a double bed gravel truck. that was probably pretty noise.

At speeds in excess of 55-60mph I notice a random and intermittent vibration to the car. It'll be smooth as butter on the highway and then starts acting like a wheel is slightly out of balance- increase shake is visible in the steering wheel- no road changes are noticeable. Unsure what sets it off. It's intermittent and I hear no noises.

Then later, I was working on moving apartments and I was talking to a buddy about the car and gave it a loving push on the rear passenger tire with my foot and I swear I felt it move and possibly rubbing on something. Upon further inspection is seemed like the wheel was at an abnormal angle (toe in). It seemed like it had some play in it, too. (Car was aligned with new tires maybe 1.5 years ago.)

I thought all of these signs pointed to a bad bearing so went to check for play... but then didn't find what I was looking for!

FWIW ;

Rear wheel problems almost never cause steering wheel shaking you mention .

I think the two oil leaks and turbo rebuild had me a bit paranoid about other things going wrong. Possibly jumping a bit to conclusions on this one. I put another 200 miles on the car and everything seems par for VIN.

In fact perhaps a combination of the recent maintenance and the engine running smoother than ever made me notice the other vibrations more a bit more than usual.

I'll post back after some more miles and the inspection Thursday

My 300TD was stolen!!!!

Year: 1985
Color: Sand Peach
License Plate: CR VIN
Last seen: Portsmouth, NH

I was on vacation in Texas with my car parked at the Portsmouth, NH C&J bus stop from December 3 - December 15th. Upon return, my car has been stolen.

I have filed a police report and would ask everyone to keep an eye out for a Sand Peach (Beige) 300TD Wagon (1985) for sale or being parted out to get in touch with me- thanks!

Greg White
207-332-8660

Pretty upset at the moment, put some good effort into getting "VIN" running again only to have someone jack it.

:bigcry::bigcry::bigcry::bigcry:

That sucks. Doesn't seem like it would be the target for your everyday car thief. The everyday car thief probably wouldn't know enough to get it started in cold weather. Are you sure it wasn't towed? Do you know if it needed any parts? If so, perhaps there is a way of checking parts suppliers to see if anyone bought the part in the vicinity recently.

Here's hoping it gets recovered soon before it gets stripped down for part then left in the woods .

Thanks and yes hopefully it gets found =(

The police have already called several tow/impound places so far with no luck.

I've searched CL, ebay and local classifieds. Will begin calling more tow and impound places and junk yards.

Cheers

Greg ;

Not to put too fine a point on it but expecting the cops to find it in an impound yard is time wasted ~ YOU need to go drive around to every tow yard you can find and peek over the fence ~ don't waste time calling them nor asking when you get there, just look.....

BT, DT and found the ' missing ' vehicle more than once .