W123 axle R&R job--some questions? - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

Jeremy5848 · #11 06-29-2006, 10:59 PM

Thank you, John, I did that two Sundays ago, lying in the back parking lot of Kragen Auto Parts in Winnemucca, Nevada (so how did you spend Father's Day?).

I have attached a picture, taken from just behind where the right rear wheel would be if I hadn't taken it off. Starring in this picture are the differential and the right half-shaft, an oil drain pan, a red bottle jack, a block of wood, and a supporting cast of duct tape.

As I write this, the last of the differential oil is draining into the pan. The differential was warm when I got home and started work on the car, but with all of my fooling around trying to get the plugs out, it's now rather cool. I'll let it drip while I have a late dinner. Here's what I did:

1. Jack up car, put on jack stands, chock front wheels, remove rear wheels -- all the usual stuff for this job.

2. Since I couldn't get the drain and fill plugs out of the differential, I decided to slowly remove the cover and let the oil drain that way. (Tomorrow I'll have the correct tool so I can get fresh oil in.)

3. With a bottle jack under the differential, I unbolted and removed the "rubber bearing" at the rear of the differential.

4. I then lowered the differential a couple of inches so I could get the top two bolts out of the differential cover. Once those were out, I raised the differential back up and put the large block of wood under the diff, as a backup.

5. Then I removed all but two bolts from the diff cover, put the drain pan underneath, and loosened the last two bolts. Tapping the cover with a plastic screwdriver handle broke the seal and the oil started to drain. The shiny diagonal line in the picture is a long square-shank screwdriver that I jammed into the crack between cover and diff, so the oil would drain better.

Later this evening, when the oil is all out, I'll go back and take the last two bolts out. Then I'll drop the cover into the dirty oil, curse roundly, and go to bed.

"Tomorrow is another day."

Jeremy