Wheel fell off

Replacing the axel flange is not very easy. The nut holding the flange is on the inside and the axel shaft has to be removed. You may buy a used flange if the treads are good. An other option is to have a qualified shop put new treads in (helicoils,

Let the shop do it for you. They will replace the rear bearing at the same time and that solve your problem... because eventually your right rear bearing will start to clunks

Not an easy job for diy.

I would be very wary of this. I had a bad experience after this was done to a stripped stud hole on an exhaust manifold. In the end I had to rethread it to a larger size. This is not a realistic option on a wheel flange so I would replace the whole thing. Its a major safety issue after all.

A lot of these problems are caused by garages over tightening the bolts with air powered tools with no torque control set on them. A friend of mine had a back wheel come off and overtake him in a tunnel because of damage done when a wheel was changed. I also saw a wheel come off a acar once and bounce right through the front window of a house. Also a local bus here lost a wheel last month which hit a house and just missed injuring a passer by.

In the past I used Helicoils on my racing catamaran (Tornado), they were very good. Also used them for repairing worn plug treads, worked great to. If the old tread is drilled out to the exact diameter required and rethreaded with the special tool the inserts are indestructible. I have no experience with wheel bolds. One of my rear wheel treads was worn, I drilled it out and threaded it for 14mm bold used in a newer Mercedes (shorter and about the same weight).

Rob

If I have the Heli-Coils done, what size would I need to get? I think the bolt is a 1/2 inch, but Im not sure. Your assistance is greatly appreciated

Yeah, Im prolly going to end up doing that. A new one is like $359! But I guess thats what it costs i guess.

It should be 14 x 1, same as a spark plug. I would replace the hub with a used unit rather than use a thread repair, but if thread repair is what you will do, at least use a solid repair like a Time-sert

They are 12mm not 14mm like in the newer models. They also have a rather coarse tread (x 1,5). Timse-serts are not necessary better than Helicoils, Helicoils have a better grip on the outside and are very strong. Both require some skill to apply properly. Some people call Helicoils ?rubbish? ,this has more to do with their (lack of) technical knowledge than the product. Boeing uses a lot of Helicoils in their aircrafts, I trust them to have tested their safety.

I would not buy a new hub. If you can find a good used hub and are able to replace it, that would be te best option.

Rob

Mercedes wheel bolt will be metric, not inch. In your case, I recommend replacing the damaged hub.

Neither a spark plug nor the wheel bolt is 14x1. But I do agree with replacing the hub.

hi what i would do go to a breakers take the wheel off then centre nut pull the hub off put it on yours job done helicoil would work,would cost more ,more off road time replace the bearings at the same time if you want cheers frank

"Rick" wrote: > 1984 500SEL. I was driving at night, and I noticed my > passengers side > rear wheel was making a bumping noise. I pulled over, thinking > maybe > it blew out, but it was fine, so I kept driving. It got worse, > so I > pulled overr again, and I noticed that I had no lug bolts at > all. I > jacked it up, took 2 nuts from the front wheel, and tired to > tighten > them, and they wouldnt tighten. The threads on the bolts and > the hub > were stripped. What do I have to do to replace the wheel hub. > I see > the wheel flanges online, is that what I need to get and > install, or > is it a more extensive repair. Please help.

As far as the quality of helicoils, and their suitability, I think that hey are fine if installed properly. you need to have enough material there for it to dig into, and you need to drill it out with the proper size bit. If you do these correctly, you will be fine. I worked with an engineer that had worked for Boeing, and I don't know if this is where he got it from, but he was a big proponent for using them wherever you had a bolt threading into a soft material like aluminum if it were ever to be dissassembled and reassembled.

Since torquing down a bolt puts stress on the threads, and there is friction there, you can wind up wearing soft threads. Repeatedly loosening and tightening a fastener can eventually kill the soft threads. So he would design it to either use a stud, which isn't torqued in, it is only screwed in with no force, then put under tension, or he would use a helicoil. The helicoil(if installed properly) would not spin, and would take all the wear, which would be minimal since it is much closer to the hardness of the bolt, and I think they may even be harder than most bolts.

Prior to his shpeil on helicoils I also thought that they were the equvalent of duct tape. But I think they do have their place.

Bill