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Old 09-26-2008, 12:08 AM
ajme ajme is offline
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Join Date: May 2003
Location: Vancouver, B.C.
Posts: 52
Tenor Man:

If you are meticulously clean, have lots of egg crates for the parts, and get all the available manuals, there is nothing to be afraid of. I had no previous transmission experience (although I have been doing major mainenance on our cars for many years) and my rebuild went successfully. The transmission keeps getting smoother and smoother.

The worst bit is getting the transmission out of the car and in again. Once it is cleaned up and on the bench, it is pretty much just disassembling, finding the broken bits, and putting it back together.

The manuals are essential. These are the ones that I am aware of:
---A military manual available online from a Russian site, in English. It is for a G-Wagen with a 722.3 transmission. The 190e has a 722.4, similar but with a smaller case. See the posts with stickies at the top of Tech Help in these forums, for the website.
---An exerpt from a Mitchell manual online for 722 transmissions, but it is for newer cars, and is not very detailed and not very useful.
---The ATSG manual commonly available on eBay for the 722.3 and 722.4 transmissions. It seems to be compiled from Merces sources, with some modifications. It is a little disorganized, but is mostly pretty accurate. When it differs from the Russian one, I went with this one.
---One of the transmission parts suppliers (Corteco Transtec) has a couple of information sheets, available online. One of these tells you how to disassemble and rebuild the K1 and K2 clutch drums and replace the big o-rings. That information does not seem to be available anywhere else. A Google search for Mercedes 722.4 will find it.

By the way, those two hidden o-rings are size -153: 3 1/2 ID by 3/32 thick. They are not in the rebuild kit.

You need a deep socket to get the rear nut off. I used a standard 3/4 inch drive, rather than a deep 1/2 inch drive, just because I had it.

You also need to make up some elementary spring compressors. I used the threaded bit of my big puller, and bits of black plastic ABS pipe and pipe fittings, with holes drilled in tthe sides to manipulate the snap rings. They don't have to push very hard, but you otherwise need three hands.

The manuals show a special tool for the little round side covers, but you don't need it. You can just push with a big socket. The spring behind is weak.

Rebuild kits periodically appear on eBay: gaskets, o-rings, seals, and often clutch plates. I did not need bands, but I needed the reverse clutch plates. I also needed some more little bits (to replace broken bits) from Mercedes, but they were pretty cheap.

The whole rebuild might have cost $250. I would have thought seriously about junking the car if faced with $2000 (more like $3000 here in Canada). I figured that if the rebuild went bad, I was only out $250 and my time.

While you are in there, you can do the rear engine seal.

Does the whole ugly prospect cause you to quail with horror?

Andrew
1989 190e 2.6
1990 Jaguar xj6
1975 Moto Guzzi 850T
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