I had a really noisy drone from the front of my 300TD; it sounded like a squadron of WWII bombers on the highway, and it was getting worse. I narrowed it down to wheel bearings-I got the necessary parts and did the left side today, and the noise is gone. I’ll do the other side next weekend.

My question is about the drift punch used to tap out the old races. I had read that brass was the way to go, but the ones I got (eBay) might as well have been French fries-they were completely ineffective at moving the races and were quickly deformed. I was then advised by an old-timer at an auto parts store to get a set of “chrome” punches (but not “hardened”) which I found fairly cheap at Harbor Frieght. With those I was able to get the races out, although I damaged a couple of small spots in the hub and had to carefully touch up the burrs with a Dremel so the new race would seat correctly. Those chrome punches survived but also got somewhat mangled at the tip, and I wouldn’t use them again unless I could grind them back into shape.

So..is there a brand, or type (specific material) of drift/punch that I can get that will work for more than one job? Or, is there a better tool for removing the races? (I was surprised to see that the W123 hubs don’t have the 2 little “cut-outs” that I’ve seen in other hubs, to give the punch a better “shot”-there’s really only a very narrow lip to tap on-leading me to suspect that there’s a better way (?). Of course, that “better way” isn’t going to be a realistic option if it’s a factory tool costing $400.-) Any suggestions welcomed-thanks!