Axle shafts flanges or splines?
 

I've been making calls around town to find some new axle shafts for my 81 300sd. I found a place that said they had two types that would work for my car. I couldn't understand the guy on the phone very much, but he said something about one having splines and the other having flanges. I've never dealt with axle shafts on any benz yet, so do either fit? There was a pretty huge price difference between the two.

do a search on it.. i rember a discussion .. and i think the ones with splines is a no go.. i think

I have only done a half shaft changeout on a 190E 2.3-16, but that unit had a flange connection at the differential and a spline connection at the wheel. If you check the FastLane parts system you will see a photo of a replacement part that looks just like this. There is an implication that you have to buy some extra parts if you have an older version to adapt the newer one. In any case FastLane does not have the part in stock, but if I were you I would call Phil in the morning and ask him, then order the part from him. Jim

This subject has been thoroughly covered here. I changed my axles a couple of months ago, posted a report with pictures here.

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/diesel-discussion/156429-w123-axle-r-r-job-some-questions.html

CVJ Axles of Denver was the source I used for rebuilt axles. They were $140 each plus $50 refundable core charge. With shipping of the axles to me and the cores back to Denver, my total was $322.19. Three year warranty and they typically have lots of cores in stock so they can build what you need in a day or so and ship it off to you.

You can find lower prices ($100 each or less) at some of the chain auto parts stores but posters to this forum have reported mixed results. A lifetime warranty really isn't much good if you spend that lifetime on the garage floor changing parts that have gone bad.

FastLane lists axles for your car as "temporarily unavailable." An email to Phil would be in order. There's a German-made new axle available for $400 each or you can buy new axles from the dealer for $900 each. That's the price range. Your choice.

Jeremy

Good, the one with the flange is only 65 bucks with a core at Interauto.
Thanks.

81 300d has splines on both ends with 8 mm bolts.

He has an '81 300SD, I thought. Jim

You probably have homokinetic (unless somebody changed them over).

1.)homokinetic (what your people call "splined" ;))
2.)annular..."flanged"

Extra parts needed to convert earlier homokinetics to annular:

Well, I am not sure what kind of connection he has, but homokinetic is a kind of CV joint, not the end connection. The old kind of MB CV joints were not the kind known as homokinetic. Those have a spherical section with ball bearings around the periphery. Do a Google search and get a photo. The old ones are way too hard to describe, but they have sets of fingers with 3 bigger steel balls between the fingers.

Jim

Is there any advantage one has over the other?