I replaced the front drivers side bearings - inner/outer/seal

Used ~60 grams of synthetic grease

Erred on the loose side - Made sure not to overtighten them.

Now the car pulls some to the left - i.e. after taking you hand off the wheel going 50 or so - about 4 seconds it starts to wonder left.




The bearings seem happy - No smell from the hub like burnt greese or anything

No grease leaking out.

Both rims by the hub feel as hot as each other after going 80 mph.

No hum/whine/vibes from 0-85mph

Now I'm wondering if I'm just being to paranoid and the car maybe did this before.

Or is this normal?

Thanks,

Chad.

96 C280 sport

You may need an alignment if one was done with a bad wheel bearing in place.

Too much clearance will show up and wander and pull, though, until the bearing fries in service. You did pull it up TIGHT before setting the clearance, didn't you?

Peter

__________________
1972 220D ?? miles
1988 300E 200,012
1987 300D Turbo killed 9/25/07, 275,000 miles
1985 Volvo 740 GLE Turobodiesel 218,000
1972 280 SE 4.5 165, 000 - It runs!

You mean hold the hub tightly against the spindle - yes




The adjusting nut was just right before hand tight before I locked it.

After the tire was on I gave it a good spin and it spun forever.





When you measure the hub to adjust it - Is that by rocking the hub like push/pull on opposite sides - wiggle I'd guess you'd say - or is that measured when pushing and pulling the hub straight in/out.

You need to tighten the nut until the wheel becomes significantly more difficult to turn -- this seats the bearings and races (if you replaced them, as I strongly recommend). Otherwise, the grease will hold the bearings off the races or the races themselves may not be all the way down. Loose bearings result.

Clearance can be set by either the "crapshoot" method -- when tight as above, back off the nut 1/3 turn, then lock -- or by using a dial indicator to get just at 0.001" clearance straight in and out.

It's normal to have a slight drag -- there is grease in there, after all!

I would suspect your bearing is still a bit loose.

Peter

__________________
1972 220D ?? miles
1988 300E 200,012
1987 300D Turbo killed 9/25/07, 275,000 miles
1985 Volvo 740 GLE Turobodiesel 218,000
1972 280 SE 4.5 165, 000 - It runs!

hmm - yeah I never tightened it so tight that it got hard to turn -

I assume I should use a wrench to do that?




Will it hurt those bearing to let my car sit overnight with them a little loose?

So when I measure the .001" - It should be with me pulling the hub straigh in and out correct?

Yes, you must use a wrench.

Clearance is for straight in and out -- if you can feel the nub move, they are too loose.

Won't hurt to sit a day or two, but driving it much will cause excessive wear.

Peter

__________________
1972 220D ?? miles
1988 300E 200,012
1987 300D Turbo killed 9/25/07, 275,000 miles
1985 Volvo 740 GLE Turobodiesel 218,000
1972 280 SE 4.5 165, 000 - It runs!

According to the MB shop manual, clearance/play should be .01 - .02 millimeters. Conversion for a non-metric dial indicator is .01 millimeters equals 0.00039 inches, and .02 millimeters equals 0.00079 inches. You need to see the needle move between .0004 and .0008 inches. I watched for 1 graduation (.0005") on mine.

__________________
1986 560SL
2002 Toyota Camry
1993 Lexus

OK - CAR STILL PULLS!

And now it shakes like a dump truck at 80mph.



So which is it? .001" or .0008" - no one seems to know the real value - I'm so pissed.