Clunking 1992 300D broken axle shaft
 

Symptom:
Persistent clunking when shifting from forward to reverse gear...

Result
Attached pictures of the broken axle shaft.

Wow! What caused that? Did a boot break, and they just rebooted the joint?

Yes
 

Broken boot allowed dirt/grit into the joint. :eek:
The ball cage is fused to the housing = snapped the shaft like glass. :eek:

Same thing happened to me on my 87 300D. I thought it was the transmission at first.
Also, a ball joint on my car broke like that.

Snapping axles
 

I searched and this was the closest thread to my situation. I know its old, but lets open it up anyway
I have a 87 300TD. All the bushings were replaced, but between gear changes the diff makes a loud BANG. its been about the same over the last 80k miles (at 240,000 now). I thought the differential was thrashed from having the transmission set tight, and am actively looking for a replacement diff but they arent easy to find with lower miles.
To the point, within the last 3 months I broke the original driver and passenger halfshafts at the outer joints, and two of the FEQ replacements on the passenger side. Both in the same spot and during slow turns.
the FEQ are refurbs that cost $60, the mercedes ones are new from GKN Loebro and cost $400. I talked to may parts guy and he claims in his 35 years he has never seen this.
DO you think the problem is the FEQ quality matched with the thrashed diff, tighter ratio and more torque or a larger issue? Is there something I should check before just biting the bullet and go with the MB ones?

thanks,
george

I would go to a junkyard that has MB's in it, and pull the axles, open the boots IN THE YARD before you buy them... because 90% of them are gonna be bad.
new boots are simple to change. the axles come apart, and simple tools reassemble them. fresh grease (or oil) can fix the axles.
check the axle for radial play. their should be ZERO you can feel...

oh, every 124/210 uses the same axle unless it's a HIGH power vehicle. the v8 models can have higher strength axles, and they should fit as well...

the 201 axle is NOT the same... and on some you will need the diff shaft as well as the axle (it's easier to pull out of the diff in the yard, anyway) 2.5 powered diesel 124's have a smaller hub on the diff end, but the replacements are all the same.

Thanks but we dont have any MB wreckers in the area. Last one i went to wanted $200 per axle..
The remanufactured FEQ ones were tight and still didnt last, thats why im starting to think theres something else going wrong...?

car-part.com

car-part.com is a great site. On older stuff, some auto wreckers don't break the entire car down to enter it into inventory so one must be creative if you don't find smaller parts. Look for major parts like engines / transmissions / body parts to find a suitable car then give them a call.

I checked out car part, awesome website that will no doubt be of much use in trying to find a new diff. thanks guys!
now for the bad news. I bought two axles off ebay, they arrived and felt very tight, good condition, even the boots were good. Installed it, drove out of the driveway and CLANK. another one broken!!
SO its not the axles. they arent actually breaking but popping apart in the outter joint.
Everything in the rear end seems tight, all the bushings and mounts were replaced 3k miles ago, I had two alignments done and everything in the rear is perfect (front pass side has a bad toe).
I am absolutely lost on this. The car has hydraulic rear suspension so the only theory i could come up with is that theres something wrong where it allows the car to get to high or too low when making a sharp low speed turn and thereby too much stress on the joint causing it to pop apart? But the system seems to be functioning correctly.
HELP?

I wonder if the rear diff was replaced with the wrong one and it was narrower than the original. This could cause things to pop apart.

Its not possible... I'm the only one that does work on the car.. its the original diff.
Also there isnt any space, its very difficult to get the axle, not like theres two inches of slop.