W123 Rear Wheel Bearing

One of the rear wheel bearings on my 1985 W123 Coupe has a little wiggle in it. I got a special tool to remove the nut that clamps up the bearing assembly. Using a two foot breaker bar the nut would not budge. (Yes, I was turning the correct direction.) I put a pipe over the breaker bar and tried again. It broke the tool and the nut did not move.

Have you seen it this tight on other cars? Is there any thing that I can do to get the nut loosened?

Thanks

Reply to
Commuter
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The product I have used for frozen bolts is called Kroil and it works really well. Good Luck.

Jeff

Reply to
Rooster

There is no rust at all.

Reply to
Commuter

Are you talking about the axle nut, which requires a 32 or 34 mm socket? I am not familiar with W123. On W124, the bearing is pressed in. I don't recall there is nut to adjust. The axle nut requires somewhat like 200 or 300 ft-lb torque, probably the tightest you would ever encounter in a passenger car.

The bearing requires very special tool to remove, not feasible for DIYer. If the bearing is bad, it may be easier to replace the whole carrier (that connects to body via the multi-links) rather than the bearing.

Commuter wrote:

Reply to
Wan-ning Tan

On W123 and W126, the rear wheel bearing is replaceble. I seen it done on my car but never done it myself.

Reply to
Tiger

That is good to know. I have done non-drive wheel bearing on several different cars (though none was MB). Also had a drive wheel bearing done by shop once. I never expect such a daunting job until the W124. I like MB because of its logical placement/design and generally easy repair procedure. This W124 rear wheel bearing was a complete surprise to me.

Tiger wrote:

Reply to
Wan-ning Tan

IIRC the nut is locked in place by hammering a dent in one side. Did you straighten that out first?

And, yes, the nut is very tight. There is a spacer between the inner and outer wheel bearings that is oversized as supplied, and the nut in question is turned (hard!) to compress this spacer to yield exact play. So installation is hard too, and you need to be careful not to compress the spacer too much. You probably should consult a MB manual for this work.

pej

Reply to
Per Erik Jorde

Replacing the W124 rear wheel bearing is not so difficult if you first remove the wheel carrier. After that, it is simply a matter of removing the big lock-ring and knocking out the old bearing with a big hammer and a suitable distance (e.g., a big socket). The new bearing can be pressed in with an ordinary bench vise, using the old bearing race as a distance. Or shrink the new bearing in the freezer and knock it in.

pej

Reply to
Per Erik Jorde

I don't know what the nut is called but it holds the bearing assembly together. It has four grooves for gripping. It doesn't adjust like the front wheel bearing does. It has a spacer bushing that is crushed by tightening the nut until the proper end play is obtained.

----- Original Message ----- From: "Wan-ning Tan" Newsgroups: alt.auto.mercedes Sent: Saturday, March 14, 2009 9:55 AM Subject: Re: W123 Rear Wheel Bearing

Reply to
Commuter

I don't know what the nut is called but it holds the bearing assembly together. It has four grooves for gripping. It doesn't adjust like the front wheel bearing does. It has a spacer bushing that is crushed by tightening the nut until the proper end play is obtained.

----- Original Message ----- From: "Wan-ning Tan" Newsgroups: alt.auto.mercedes Sent: Saturday, March 14, 2009 9:55 AM Subject: Re: W123 Rear Wheel Bearing

Reply to
Commuter

I don't know what the nut is called but it holds the bearing assembly together. It has four grooves for gripping. It doesn't adjust like the front wheel bearing does. It has a spacer bushing that is crushed by tightening the nut until the proper end play is obtained.

----- Original Message ----- From: "Wan-ning Tan" Newsgroups: alt.auto.mercedes Sent: Saturday, March 14, 2009 9:55 AM Subject: Re: W123 Rear Wheel Bearing

Reply to
Commuter

I don't know what the nut is called but it holds the bearing assembly together. It has four grooves for gripping. It doesn't adjust like the front wheel bearing does. It has a spacer bushing that is crushed by tightening the nut until the proper end play is obtained.

----- Original Message ----- From: "Wan-ning Tan" Newsgroups: alt.auto.mercedes Sent: Saturday, March 14, 2009 9:55 AM Subject: Re: W123 Rear Wheel Bearing

Reply to
Commuter

I don't know what the nut is called but it holds the bearing assembly together. It has four grooves for gripping. It doesn't adjust like the front wheel bearing does. It has a spacer bushing that is crushed by tightening the nut until the proper end play is obtained.

----- Original Message ----- From: "Wan-ning Tan" Newsgroups: alt.auto.mercedes Sent: Saturday, March 14, 2009 9:55 AM Subject: Re: W123 Rear Wheel Bearing

Reply to
Commuter

I don't know what the nut is called but it holds the bearing assembly together. It has four grooves for gripping. It doesn't adjust like the front wheel bearing does. It has a spacer bushing that is crushed by tightening the nut until the proper end play is obtained.

----- Original Message ----- From: "Wan-ning Tan" Newsgroups: alt.auto.mercedes Sent: Saturday, March 14, 2009 9:55 AM Subject: Re: W123 Rear Wheel Bearing

Reply to
Commuter

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