w124 rear wheel bearing

[carreraplanes]

Changing the LH rear wheel bearing, planning to take the rear hub to a press shop. Should I ask them to heat it first, or just press it out cold

[97 SL320]

Usually it is a press out cold just like any older front drive car. You can help the situation by removing the bearing snap ring and cleaning rust from the bore.

[Sugar Bear]

Should just press out...after removing the snap ring

[Mxfrank]

Take the new bearing along and then they can press that in.

[carreraplanes]

Many thanks folks...

[pwogaman]

I share this lesson I learned the hard way so you don't have to.

Here is my tip for those removing the snap ring yourself: don't try to use the snap ring tool itself to loosen the snap ring from within the groove if it is held in place from any crud or rust, particularly if using an inferior after-market tool such as the big one from Harbor Freight. First soak the area with penetrating oil and carefully whack the snap ring laterally a bunch of times so as to rotate it within the groove with a punch and hammer. Once you can rotate the snap ring within the groove your discount tool should be able to work just fine.

I found out the hard way trying to use the snap ring tool to break it free from rust and crud only works to damage the tool's tips. The Harbor Freight webpage has a bunch of bad reviews for the tool because the users tried to break the snap ring free, which it is not intended to do. Maybe the official MB tool can handle that, but the Harbor Freight tool can't.

[jay_bob]

Another trick that vstech and I used:

Mount the bearing carrier in your shop press (before you attempt to remove the snap ring).

Use a collar to apply force just on the snap ring. Be sure you are not pushing on the inner part of the bearing.

Apply very gentle pressure (like 1 or 2 small pumps after achieving contact) to the snap ring. The goal is to just ever so slightly push the snap ring and the bearing race inward on the carrier.

This gives you enough clearance between the face of the bearing and the rim of the carrier to pull the snap ring.

Our experience with a 124 wagon. Larger bearings than the sedan but otherwise similar.

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/diesel-discussion/348451-ok-w124-rear-bearings-bear-replace.html