Thanks for the information. That is very valuable!
See, I thought the orientation of the driveshaft doesn't change, regardless of whether or not there's a load on the suspension. I was under the assumption that the transmission and the differential were both fixed and couldn't move, so I figured that putting the car on ramps wouldn't matter.
But you're saying I have to jack it up? Well shoot. I currently don't own a jack and jack stands yet that I can use for the Mercedes. I have a small 2 1/4 ton jack and 2 ton jack stands. I've used them on my daily driver a bunch of times, but that little Mazda is not nearly as heavy as the Mercedes is.
That means I'll have to go buy a jack and jack stands. Bummer, that sets it all back a little bit. Really no chance this'll work just fine on ramps?
I
do wonder how you're supposed to jack up the transmission like the instructions say if you can't jack it under the transmission pan with some wood to spread the weight. Someone else have a suggestion?