2004 T1N Rear Axle Bearing and Seal DIY Change

220629

Well-known member
My driver side 2500 (left) axle seal started showing signs of leakage.
*****
Added:
Read/skim this entire thread. There are some tips for bearing removal and installation included by others which are a bit less complex than the methods which I used.
*****
Dual Rear Wheel 3500
Word is that the NCV3 is very similar. The NCV3 Wrtie-up is here.
https://sprinter-source.com/forums/showthread.php?p=346400
A 3500 overview. Thanks goes to Lindenengineering Dennis. :thumbup:
The issues come up from not being prepared with parts AND some special tools!!

The design on the 3500 is a "mini" fully floating axle design just as you would find under a heavy truck or bus its just at a Dinky/Tonka toy downsize.

First is having NEW axle nut lock plates on hand ! (Boy Scout motto here)
Simply put, in about 80% of cases during tear down you will bust off the retention tongues which cannot be used again.

The hub nuts are a crenelated design.
Therefore you need a special peg socket to bust them loose.
Yes you can use a punch at a pinch and hope you won't mar up the crenelated teeth.
I was always taught by (Ex WW2 RN & RAF mechanics) to the right tool so that the next bloke would state a professional "bod" put this back together. (Some habits die hard)

Gaining access to the rear seal.
Once on the bench. the seal is shrouded by the cup style tone ring. It is factory installed onto a machined shoulder by using a special cup placing tool.
Often the tone ring cup is deteriorated to such an extent by rust .Therefore it won't stand any resistance to removal and will often fall apart or seriously distort upon any attempts to remove it.
The removal technique is to use a suitable long punch poked through the hub and engage against a shoulder on the tone cup .
So new tone cups MUST be on hand otherwise the van is VOR'd
Then you can use a punch to carefully re-install the new tight fitting tone ring up but you can distort it. Hence have special cup we made for accurate placing of the tone ring.

Then there's the a seal itself !Easy to remove with a seal extractor or your favorite beating tool .(big old screwdriver??)
Caution behind the seal is a backing oil defection washer.
Often whacked up & then fattened by careless wrenching activity, its often thrown away and therefore found MIA .
So two new backing washer also need to be sourced BEFORE starting the job together with genuine style silicon hub seals and new tone rings.

Seals are best placed using an install cup or placing tool due to its recessed step location shoulder . Hence a BFH won't work in this case!!


Hope that is of help.:cheers:
Dennis
*****

To be clear, I first checked with a Sprinter shop to do this, but the person was booked and suggested that most any machine shop could R&R (Remove and Re-install) the bearing/seal with a press. Based upon that I ventured merrily forward.

My first move was to print out the very detailed bearing and seal change instructions from Alldata. JDCaples recommends paying for that so I joined Alldata. He was right. It is well worth the money. I then took those instructions to my local Fl**t Pr**e large vehicle machine shop. The guy at the counter said that it looked pretty straight-forward, but he would have the technician call me on my included cell number if there was a problem. I ordered the bearing seal kit from Europarts. The parts arrived, the machine shop didn't wave me off by calling, so I removed the axle.

Rear Axle Removal

The service manual is very good at listing the procedure. I will only add some comments from memory.

The tools I needed.

BFH - always necessary, isn't it?
19mm socket - wheel bolts
Various screwdrivers.
T-50 torx - for rotor cap screw.
7mm Allen - caliper bolts. (a T-45 cheat works)
18mm - socket or box wrench - caliper frame (3/4" 6 pt impact socket cheat works). Added: 2006 = 19mm
* What is with using 18mm?? Most all wrench sets skip that size.
Pliers - parking brake position springs, and stretch springs R&R.
6" and 9" extension.
13mm socket - bearing/seal housing bolts.
Side cutters, crimps, splicing for Wheel Speed Sensor wire.
Brass brush to clean tone wheel slots.

AxleRemoveTools.jpg

All was very basic as to disassembly. I decided to change only the leaking side as there are no clips inside the differential. I think it was a good decision. I lost maybe at most a 1/4 cup of gear oil (caught in my plastic shopping bag overnight cover) and I know the fluid level was up to normal because I checked it the week before.

Some tips

The parking brake springs are not the traditional stake pin with a cup. The design uses spring wire for the entire assembly. The backing plate slots on my Sprinter were closed a bit for some reason. I had trouble getting the springs rotated and loose. That caused the hook at the end to distort. Once everything was apart I re-formed the hook end and used a small screwdriver to open up the backing plate slot to proper dimensions.

BrakeBackPlate.jpg

The parking brake cable needed to be pulled up a bit with the lever handle to allow the round pin to be extracted from the brake pivot/cam assembly. I used a thin punch to push the pin out. This is a good time to free up and lube the brake cable splitter assembly.

The spring position as found.

ParkBrakeSpringPosition.jpg
ParkBrakeSpringPositionNotes.jpg

The star wheel adjuster as found.

ParkBrakeStarAdjPosition.jpg

I was unable to remove my wheel speed sensor. I tried PB Blaster, a little heat, and using a screwdriver blade to wedge a bit againt the tone ring. It wouldn't budge. The many salty winters have taken their toll.

I checked on the part before destroying mine. There is a left and right side sensor. The only difference that I see is signal wire length. I noticed that the ends of both are just wire to be spliced. I decided to cut my signal cable rather than damage the sensor. It worked fine for me.

Sidetrack:

Don't try the screwdriver wedge against tone ring trick to attempt sensor removal.



OK. The truth. Cutting the wire and re-splicing worked fine, but didn't cure everything. After re-assembly I had the ASR, ESP and ABS dash lights come on. Checking with the DAD revealed a left rear wheel sensor code and a bunch of other codes. My first thought was that I had damaged the sensor. Further inspection as I rotated the hub showed that the sensor to tone ring distance changed. The tone ring was either distorted when I tried my screwdriver wedge on the sensor removal, or when the new bearing and seal were pressed in. Either way, I used a 15 thousandths feeler gauge (the closest distance I found) and a 1/8" fairly long flat blade screwdriver to lever the tone ring slots back into shape. Edit: 12 thousandths might be a better target. After clearing codes with the DAD all was well.

Some additional info about the DTC's is here:
https://sprinter-source.com/forums/showthread.php?p=260688#post260688

If you find a machine shop to R&R your bearing/seal then the installation of the axle shaft assembly is reverse order just as the service manual says.

If you want to have some ideas of how to remove and re-install the bearing/seal DIY then continue reading my wordy description. You have been warned.
 
Last edited:

220629

Well-known member
My driver side (left) axle seal started showing signs of leakage.

To be clear, I first checked with a Sprinter shop to do this, but the person was booked and suggested that most any machine shop could R&R (Remove and Re-install) the bearing/seal with a press. Based upon that I ventured merrily forward.

My first move was to print out the very detailed bearing and seal change instructions from Alldata. JDCaples recommends paying for that so I joined Alldata. He was right. It is well worth the money. I then took those instructions to my local Fl**t Pr**e large vehicle machine shop. The guy at the counter said that it looked pretty straight-forward, but he would have the technician call me on my incleded cell number if there was a problem. I ordered the bearing seal kit from Europarts. The parts arrived, the machine shop didn't wave me off by calling, so I removed the axle.
So after a bit of delay, Thursday I delivered my axle shaft assembly with new parts from Europarts to the machine shop complete with another printed bearing/seal change description from the service manual. (It was pretty much verbatim to the Alldata procedure.) There was a different counter guy this time... "Oh.", looking at the parts boxes, "This is a Mercedes." He looks at the bearing retainer slotted nut design and comments, "This looks much better than the clip rings we usually see. Leave it to Mercedes."

A few discussions of how it all works ensued and then he says he'll have the technician look the job over. (The counter guy didn't completely get the design.) That night I said to my wife that I was confident that when the tech looked it over he/she would see how simple it really was and all would be good. WRONG!! Friday I call and they say it is Mercedes, needs special tooling and they won't touch it. Great. Why is it that just being a Mercedes product makes it appear more complicated to people than it obviously is? Giving them a bit of a break.... There is a special tool called out in the manual which slides in to remove the bearing. It also has a circle relief area for the bearing installation. The nut has a special tool also. Those tools are not completely necessary to do the job.
Edit: In fairness, a professional shop cannot use a 24" pipe wrench on the bearing slot nut as I did. They certainly can use different supports than the MB tool for bearing pressing though.

So now it is late on a Friday afternoon and I'm basically screwed. Not any of the machine shops I know about are open over the weekend. I go and pick up the axle and remind them that I had left the entire procedure printed out one week ago and at that time I asked for feedback. The answer was. "We didn't know from the instructions how complicated it was."

So I decided to try and remove the bearing/seal myself over the weekend so at least I could get another machine shop to press in the new bearing and seal.

I have too much junk on hand, except when it comes to times like these. I never needed to visit a hardware store for this project.

I didn't have the special MB bearing nut tool so I needed to deal with that. The MB tool engages two slots. I used some 1/4" square stock taped into place to lock into the slots and provide a proper bite for my 24" pipe wrench. The pipe wrench and 1/4" square stock worked great to break loose and remove the nut. There was no damage to the special nut. The left axle has a left hand thread. Right side is "normal" direction.

BearingNutWrench.jpg

I decided to try using some 60" long 3/8" all thread I had on hand. I combined that all thread with some coupling nuts (for more thread contact), Unistrut, angle iron, channel, etc. and that put together a puller of sorts.

This picture shows the shaft end in basic positon. I squared everything up before I began actually tightening the coupling nuts to apply pressure.

AxleEndPuller.jpg

I used some puller hook arms, angle iron, and a steel channel to lock against the bearing housing.

HubEndPuller.jpg

The bearing intially moved fairly easily for about a 1/4" or so. I tried more pressure with the coupling nuts, but nothing would move any further. The DIY "puller" might have been out of column. As I had no intention of re-using the old bearing I used a Mapp gas torch to heat the collar. After that the bearings moved right along. Were I to do this again I would use heat on the bearings right away.
 
Last edited:

220629

Well-known member
Bearing/seal Installation

A caping chisel worked to knock out the old seal. I used my bench vice to clamp/install the new seal into place. The book recommends flush with the housing.

SealViceInstall.jpg

The bearing kit I got had the OEM Made in Spain MB bearing (A 017 981 46 05), a dual lip seal, and a rubber band like seal. There is a gasket on the bearing housing which the service manual says to replace. That gasket didn't come with the kit. My gasket was intact. I applied a light coating of Permatex #2 non-hardening sealant on the gasket surface before installation.

Once the bearing and seal was off I cleaned everything up and then set up my "press". The MB instructions caution about putting proper pressure on the bearing. I didn't have a MB R&R special tool. I used a length of 1 1/2" pipe to go over the shaft to apply proper force to the locking ring and bearing inner race. That was a great idea, but the tapered axle shaft got larger on the ends and would bind on the 1 1/2" pipe. Some 1 1/2" steel couplings added to a 2" shoulder nipple solved that binding problem.

This picture shows the top assembled "press" parts.

PressTopwNotes.jpg

Here is the base where I used a hydraulic jack.

PressBaseWithJack.jpg

PressBaseWithJack2.jpg

A caution.

My DIY press worked great. A problem that I encountered was that as the bearing race pressed up into place it bound against the not properly seated rotor backing plate sheet metal (rotor protector?). Turns out that the backing plate tolerance was so close that the metal wouldn't set into place over the boss. I needed to use a 1/2 round mill file to enlarge the opening for it to set into place properly on the hub boss. Be certain to fit the backing plate to the hub before assembly. I needed to remove the bearing again to file the parts to fit. (Not fun.)

Installing the Locking Nut

The inner bearing halves are squeezed together and held by the shaft locking nut. That sets the position of the rollers to the outer race.

BearingHalves.jpg

The service manual calls for 369 foot pounds of torque on the bearing nut. This picture shows that by design the tapered bearing half assemblies butt up against each other to set the distance. The torque needs to be enough to lock the two halves solidly together within the race. My logic was that if the 24" wrench and 1/4" square stock method worked to break the nut loose, then it would work to tighten it enough too. My subsequent 24" pipe wrench grunts got me back to the original lock tab positons. I took that as a good sign. I used the small caping chisel to lock the tabs into the bearing nut slots.

There is no reason for anyone to do things as I did to change out the rear axle bearing and seal. If I accomplished nothing else with this long description it should show that if a couple pieces of 3/8" all thread worked to pull and re-intall my bearing and seal then it won't take much of a hydraulic press to do the job. The angle iron and channel worked fine pushing against the cast bearing/seal housing to remove the bearing and seal. A light duty press should do just fine. vic

Edit:
DIY All thread "Press" Parts which I used.

2 ea. 3/8" x 72"L all thread
2 ea. - Slotted Unistrut 18"L
4 ea. 3/8" coupling nuts (extra thread bearing surface)
4 ea. - Large washers to bear against Unistrut
4 ea. - smaller washers to use with above
1 ea. - Hydraulic jack
1 ea. - 1 1/2" sched 40 pipe 36" L (or 2" pipe approx. 45" L without parts below)
3 ea. - 1 1/2" coupling
1 ea. - 2" x 2 1/2"L nipple
Misc. wood blocking or steel blocks.

Be Careful Ordering the Bearings.
Thanks goes to SprintageWein for the follow-up. :thumbup:

A big heads up for anyone replacing a rear bearing on a T1N (I have an 06): the 516010 part number (branded by several companies, including Timkin, National, Duralast) that Jcwhitney, Napa, Oriellys, Autozone and others will tell you is the correct fit- it isn't. Let me be the last to experience that particular frustration!

I ended up ordering MB part # A 017 981 46 05 (bearing kit that vic used in the original writeup here) from a local dealership for $80. There may be other (cheaper) options out there but I wasn't able to find them easily and don't want to roll the dice again with third party suppliers on this part.
Rear Wheel Bearing Kit 2500 2002-2006
Seal is included, one kit per side
Only for 2500 models
http://europarts-sd.com/rearwheelbearingkit-25002002-2006.asp

You should also order a gasket.
Mercedes A 902 357 01 80
 
Last edited:

220629

Well-known member
Update:

After quite a bit of driving and a trip towing my boat to Newport RI and back (approx. 500 miles each way), it appears that my DIY bearing replacement is OK.

Edit: 2016/12/29 - Approx 3 years and 50,000 miles all seems fine.- June 2021 still good.

Full disclosure. By feel I did notice a bit of heat on the hub on the towing trip delivery. Not terribly hot, but not at all cool compared to the opposite side. I must have had the parking brake adjusted a tad tight. :bash: Backing the star wheel adjustment off two clicks resulted in both hubs remaining basically equal in temperature for the return trip.

vic
 
Last edited:

Boater

New member
Good write up Vic!
Haynes workshop manual for the T1N mentions the special MB tool to undo the locknut but then suggests using studding with a 2 leg puller pretty much exactly the same way you did!
The re-install description involves screwing the nut down to push each bearing onto the shaft (but finish driving the first one home with a suitable drift).
I have been struggling to work out how I was going to remove and replace the nut (will look for the tool or maybe make one) but your square bar and pipe wrench solution looks acceptable to me (I don' actually have a pipe wrench that size, but that is easy to find!

Oh yeah - why 18mm sockets? it seems pretty common for suspension components which use high tensile bolts/screws to need odd sized sockets (18 is really commonly uncommon!), I rather suspect there is a different standard used for these that the regular iso-metric bolts we are used to.... Either that or it's all part of global conspiracy to force us to use dealers for repair work!

Right, time to pull my half shafts out and check the bearings!
 

Boater

New member
I'm pretty sure the noise is all coming from the drivers side bearing, although having pulled it it didn't make the same noise when turning the race directly

They say to release half shafts not to drive them out, but to tap them in and they bounce out. The passenger side did, easy peasy, the drivers side didn't.
Even after upgrading my BFH to a 6lb sledge, tapping inwards was not helping it release so I reverted to a nylon headed hammer and tapped around the drive flange gradually driving it out.
I am certain it was the bearing race that was sticking rather than the splines, re-inforcing the audio clue about the noise seeming to come from that area.

Slightly concerned that the oil seems to be turning to varnish on the half shafts. Didn't open the diff cover because my 13mm socket is past it's best and wasn't gripping, I've just been out and bought 2 off wall drive 13mm sockets (it's a size a use a lot which is why the 12 point one is so worn out!) so I'll do that tonight, but I'm no longer expecting to find any problems in there - will degrease it though ready for fresh clean oil!
 

Boater

New member
I thought I would try to add a few more photos in case anyone finds them useful (exact shape of components may vary depending on year):

Undoing the bolts in the axle flange (note large holes in drive flange to pass socket through):


Withdrawing the halfshaft (bearing race is visible to the right):


Halfshaft removed from axle casing complete with bearings, brake back-plate etc.


You don't need to look in the diff cover to change the axle bearings, but here is what it looks like (hopefully yours wont have the diff oil turning to varnish and coating everything so thickly):
 

312d

Member
i will hook up on Vic's to add more info for single Wheel. (baumuster 741.409 axle)
the bearing is FAG 581408A (kit same as OEM, is FAG 713667030 or SNR 154.46 or TIMKEN 82067),there is an SKF BTHB 329129, but the later is not adviceable, because it has narrower tracks and conical bearings = more pressure on bearings due to less área of contact. also it is sealed type not open so i have to remove the seal and the shield to leave it open for the differential oil.
the repair kit is A 902 350 14 10, it contains one seal 60 inner dia - 73 outer dia -11 height- 7 lip height all in mm, six bolts M10x40mm 12.9 grade ( i guess 1,5 pitch), one gasket, one oring (flat), one locking ring.

I ordered the special tool to be fabricated, i'll show it later.




















imagenes gratis
 

312d

Member
until now i have the special tool i sent to fabricate to tighten the bearing nut of the axle shaft. I hope it can take 350 pounds per feet. The nut i took was already damaged by attempts to tighten that by another mechanic, not me; i am pulling it off because i felt the Wheel was loose and have play on the bearing, i am merely correcting another's lame work.












imag
 
Last edited:

beansbest

Oh hai u guys
Hey all just wanted to put in my 2 cents here. I am doing this job right now and was able to remove the bearings with no press needed. I just cut the outer race part way with a die grinder, hit it with a chisel to break it, then did the same to the inner race. Took about 20 minutes a side.

EDIT: I also was able to remove old bearings and install new ones without removing the speed sensor. Instead of pressing new bearings on, I just tapped them home with a brass drift and a hammer. From removal to installation was about 1.5 hrs a side. The pipe wrench and square stock trick worked like a CHARM on the axle bearing nut. I found that 5/16" square stock fit perfectly.
 
Last edited:

312d

Member
now that i have the sprinter on the road i have some time to put measurements about the earlier shown wrench in case anybody want to make their own.


imagen
 

220629

Well-known member
Some tips from Nutterbutter :thumbup:


Finished (hopefully) dealing with my current issue:

https://sprinter-source.com/forums/showthread.php?t=50756

Followed so much of the great advice on this thread.

Would like to add:

1. Removed inner bearing by using a pair of prybars on the inner most bearing. Putting strong, even pressure allowed me to slide it off a little at a time.

2. Removed outer bearing with a drift and hammer, one side at a time. Moved a microscopic amount at first....

3. To install bearing, I cut the inner bearing race in half with a angle grinder. A little bit of emery cloth to clean up the inside cut edge, and voila, you have a bearing press adapter. See picture.

4. I had an old chain link fence post. Cut the end off even with a pipe cutter. Was the perfect side to use a slide hammer with the home made bearing press adapter. If you buy one, it's cheaper than a pipe.

5. I purchased the special wheel bearing nut tool 460 589 01 07 00. Oddly, it comes with a 1/2" square drive. With that much torque, I'd expect a 3/4" drive. I own both a 1/2 USA craftsman breaker bar, and a 3/4" China Craftsman breaker bar. Used the giant fence post as an extension to both get the nut off and on. At near maximum torque, I stopped and put my safety glasses on. The 1/2 breaker bar had a good amount of flex in the head, and I was scared it might explode. I tried the 3/4", but the cheap harbor freight adapter I had did get a little bit of permanent bend to it.

I kept pushing with the 1/2 and it did work to get it both on and off.

6. If I had to do it all over again, I would have purchased new both the locking washer you bend up into the tabs, and the dust shield. For the locking washer, bending the tabs down to unscrew, and bending them back up again in a similar location caused a piece to chip off. The dust shield was bent up on one side, and I had to adjust with a hammer to not rub the rotor. On the other, it looks like the side had been off before, and there was some type of RTV/silicone on it that had to be removed. Was a pain to sand it all off.

7. There are several different tone rings. Get the right one!

8. Use grease to install the tone ring.

There was a rough feeling after installing both spindles. Could feel it by hand. I attributed it to maybe a piece of dirt that got inside during outdoor install, or maybe the fact the spindles were all dry. I hope I didn't damage the bearings somehow during install.

I topped off the diff fluid, installed the wheels and went for a test drive. Everything felt smooth and fine. So I think maybe the oil just had to get in.

wheel-bearing-driver.jpg
 
I'm working on a tone ring change out right now on my right rear, which of course entails changing the bearing as well...

I ordered a TM516010 (Timken) bearing as a replacement, which comes sealed both sides. The existing bearing, however, is open to the diff fluid.

My question is: do I need to somehow pop open the bearing on one or both sides? Or can I install it as is?

It seems like it's at least possible I could pry the seal out, but I don't want to risk destroying something before I know for sure it needs to happen.
 

220629

Well-known member
I'm working on a tone ring change out right now on my right rear, which of course entails changing the bearing as well...

I ordered a TM516010 (Timken) bearing as a replacement, which comes sealed both sides. The existing bearing, however, is open to the diff fluid.

My question is: do I need to somehow pop open the bearing on one or both sides? Or can I install it as is?

It seems like it's at least possible I could pry the seal out, but I don't want to risk destroying something before I know for sure it needs to happen.
First. If you are positive that the bearing is correct except for the shields, then the shields can be removed to make it an open bearing. We often did that for electric motor repairs. We would keep double shielded bearings in stock sizes. We could then choose to install the bearing complete with the shields, or remove one or both shields as needed to fit the application. As you mention, it is important not to scratch the finished surfaces of the bearings. It takes care during removal, but it isn't rocket science.

The Sprinter rear end bearings are open and live in a relatively controlled environment. If the seals are left intact then the bearing life is basically the life of the sealed in lubricant. The differential lubricant does find its way over to the bearings to provide lubrication.

After verifying that the bearings are exact replacements except for the shields, my preference would be to remove the shields.

vic
 
Thanks for that Vic. Popped the seals/shields off the bearing.

Now i'm at the point of reassembly, where I have the new bearing pressed on, but not quite all the way (to the point of pressing everything together tightly), and I can't quite seem to get it the rest of the way just yet. (The rotor shield piece fits correct down onto the hub boss, which someone earlier noted could be a problem)

Is there any issue with just letting the axle nut installation do the work of the last 1/8" of slop? Since it's going to be torqued to 370 ft lbs, I assume it would squish the bearing down the last little bit of the way...
 

220629

Well-known member
...

Is there any issue with just letting the axle nut installation do the work of the last 1/8" of slop? Since it's going to be torqued to 370 ft lbs, I assume it would squish the bearing down the last little bit of the way...
:hmmm:

I don't know...

What press method/pressure are you using? It should seat down unless the force isn't enough.

If it is some cobbled up DIY method like I used then maybe it is just a bit lacking.

I'm fuzzy on the details of the assembly construction. My methods most always depend upon my figuring things out at the time as opposed to going by my (often poor) memory. Reviewing the pictures didn't jump anything out for me.

IF nothing is out of place or otherwise interfering, then getting to proper torque value should do it. I re-used my locking tab washer so that gave me a decent index to gauge that the nut was back to where it was before dis-assembly.

My repair was over 3 years ago and probably 50,000 miles without any subsequent problems, so re-using the tab washer seems like it might be an option to give a position gauge.

Sorry I can't offer more.

vic

Added:
Comparing the position of the new lock tabs vs the old should also give an approximate indicator of the final compression/torqued nut position.
 
Last edited:
:hmmm:

I don't know...

What press method/pressure are you using? It should seat down unless the force isn't enough.

If it is some cobbled up DIY method like I used then maybe it is just a bit lacking.
Definitely a DIY method, a homemade welded frame to make a sort of press with a bottle jack. Most of it went on fairly easily- but when I got down to the last bit, it started bending the "press" frame upward. Tried an "actual" press after that, albeit a harbor freight model that wasn't exactly big enough. Similar issue there. Then I tried smacking it down with a fairly BFH (on the old/removed inner race + a piece of pipe I was using as a press adapter), no luck there either.

Can't really explain it except maybe that my methods are not powerful enough to seat it completely down. I cleaned everything up before starting pressing it on there, and i'm fairly sure there's no way to put it on backwards.
 
I'm starting to question my sanity here- set up another press rig and still no joy.

The bearing IS supposed to be tight up against the bearing cover, right? (Well, dust shield technically, but they are together).
That's the way it looks in the manual, and how I remember it, but the difficulty of getting it this last little bit has me wondering. The service manual says to press it "as far as the stop". Am I missing something here?
 

220629

Well-known member
... Am I missing something here?
Yes.

Even a flimsy DIY press should seat the bearing home. One guy in this thread said that he tapped the bearing home/into place.

To my knowledge a double shielded bearing is incorrect for the Sprinter 2500 rear axle.

You have the incorrect part(s).

vic
 
Yes.

Even a flimsy DIY press should seat the bearing home. One guy in this thread said that he tapped the bearing home/into place.

To my knowledge a double shielded bearing is incorrect for the Sprinter 2500 rear axle.

You have the incorrect part(s).

vic
Hmm, I don't know about that- it's identical to the old one once the shields are pulled off. Also listed as the correct part on multiple websites.

Still, it does seem like it's pressed on there as far as it can go, so I don't know what the issue is.
 
Last edited:

Top Bottom