In case this helps someone, here's what I learned about 107 front wheel bearings:
The EPC lists TWO bearing kits for my car (1984, 107.046, 117.962):
107 330 00 51 on the front axle page
115 330 00 51 on one of the other front axle pages
I think the difference between the 107 and 115 kits is the oil seal. The 115 seal has an outer lip, as in this post, whereas the 107 kit has none. The FEBI kit 05422 here shows what my original seal looked like.
If you do a search for the 1073300051 part number on the EPC without vehicle and click on a 111 assembly it notes that 1073300051 replaces 111 330 00 51.
The *** online catalogue lists the dimensions of the inner bearing incorrectly (17.46 mm rather than 18.9), even though the bearings in the kit are correct. The dimensions on the febi catalogue for 05422 are correct.
The dimensions of the oil seal are 45-62-10/12 (ID-OD-height of metal/height of metal + rubber inner).
The oil seal in the *** kit was 64mm, whilst the bearings were correct. The *** online catalogue lists 4 different part numbers with the same bearings. Probably one of the kits has the correct seal.
The correct SKF kit is VKBA516 for my car. 517 may also work, but not 914 whose oil seal is again 64mm OD.
I ended up with a Firstline kit FBK144 whch was correct in all respects, but has the oil seal with the lip as in the previous linked post. This seal installed fine and seems fine. The bearings in this kit were all F.A.G. spain, whereas the bearings in the *** kit were a mix of *** and KOYO! The firstline kit also had the three-lugged star-shaped washer (mine were worn), a dust cap (couldn't get it on, so used my original), the electrical contact thing, and a strange spanner shaped thing that according to the EPC is not valid for my car.
This is all so confusing even I'm now confused writing this. To keep it simple here are my tips for ensuring you get the correct bearings + seal:
1) Remove all bearings, seals, races and measure with vernier callipers.
2) Ask every motor factor you know to order every kit that they think is compatible based on both your registration/VIN AND the MB part numbers.
3) Take the original parts and vernier callipers for a day driving around all your motor factors (in a car with 4 wheels on it). Better still get each shop to measure both bearings and the seal over the phone, and check the bearing numbers against the originals.
4) Keep driving until you find both bearings and a seal that has the same dimensions as the parts you took off and is made by a reputable manufacturer.
A trick to get the races out is to heat the whole area with a blow torch/camping cooker then squirt cold water on just the race, causing it to contract. Then hit it with the drift punch/chisel. This worked for me.
If anyone needs part numbers for the bearings let me know, I can probably dig them out. Right now I'm knackered and I can't find my notes. We should actually have a thread for a wheel bearing cross reference, i.e. which kits fit which cars and who makes the supplied bearings.
Oh and the kit I bought was £30 vs. £100 for MB oriignals. Could have probably got it cheaper on ebay but I've got 300 miles to drive tomorrow so couldn't afford to mess around.
Cheers.
The EPC lists TWO bearing kits for my car (1984, 107.046, 117.962):
107 330 00 51 on the front axle page
115 330 00 51 on one of the other front axle pages
I think the difference between the 107 and 115 kits is the oil seal. The 115 seal has an outer lip, as in this post, whereas the 107 kit has none. The FEBI kit 05422 here shows what my original seal looked like.
If you do a search for the 1073300051 part number on the EPC without vehicle and click on a 111 assembly it notes that 1073300051 replaces 111 330 00 51.
The *** online catalogue lists the dimensions of the inner bearing incorrectly (17.46 mm rather than 18.9), even though the bearings in the kit are correct. The dimensions on the febi catalogue for 05422 are correct.
The dimensions of the oil seal are 45-62-10/12 (ID-OD-height of metal/height of metal + rubber inner).
The oil seal in the *** kit was 64mm, whilst the bearings were correct. The *** online catalogue lists 4 different part numbers with the same bearings. Probably one of the kits has the correct seal.
The correct SKF kit is VKBA516 for my car. 517 may also work, but not 914 whose oil seal is again 64mm OD.
I ended up with a Firstline kit FBK144 whch was correct in all respects, but has the oil seal with the lip as in the previous linked post. This seal installed fine and seems fine. The bearings in this kit were all F.A.G. spain, whereas the bearings in the *** kit were a mix of *** and KOYO! The firstline kit also had the three-lugged star-shaped washer (mine were worn), a dust cap (couldn't get it on, so used my original), the electrical contact thing, and a strange spanner shaped thing that according to the EPC is not valid for my car.
This is all so confusing even I'm now confused writing this. To keep it simple here are my tips for ensuring you get the correct bearings + seal:
1) Remove all bearings, seals, races and measure with vernier callipers.
2) Ask every motor factor you know to order every kit that they think is compatible based on both your registration/VIN AND the MB part numbers.
3) Take the original parts and vernier callipers for a day driving around all your motor factors (in a car with 4 wheels on it). Better still get each shop to measure both bearings and the seal over the phone, and check the bearing numbers against the originals.
4) Keep driving until you find both bearings and a seal that has the same dimensions as the parts you took off and is made by a reputable manufacturer.
A trick to get the races out is to heat the whole area with a blow torch/camping cooker then squirt cold water on just the race, causing it to contract. Then hit it with the drift punch/chisel. This worked for me.
If anyone needs part numbers for the bearings let me know, I can probably dig them out. Right now I'm knackered and I can't find my notes. We should actually have a thread for a wheel bearing cross reference, i.e. which kits fit which cars and who makes the supplied bearings.
Oh and the kit I bought was £30 vs. £100 for MB oriignals. Could have probably got it cheaper on ebay but I've got 300 miles to drive tomorrow so couldn't afford to mess around.
Cheers.