Originally Posted by LAK

You are able to separate it without loosening anything else? I put a 4ft pry bar on it and still could not separate... and at 6'3" 220lbs. I'm no little guy! I could not pry it enough to get it past the shaft on the pinion flange.

I ended up dropping the exhaust, removing the shield and removing the drive shaft altogether. Turned out to be way more involved than just simply "disconnect the drive shaft at the differential".

So I guess for the benefit for people searching in the future... on a W126, at least on mine, I had to drop everything to detach it.

whunter: in your experience, is this always the case or are you typically able to pry it enough at the diff flange to disconnect it?