Hello All,

I just wanted to report briefly on my rear half axle replacement job on my '85 300td, and give my heartfelt thanks to dMorrison for his excellent post on this subject. The old axle was pretty manky when it did come off; the inner boot was torn right in half (!) and the outer had a fairly big hole in it. I got the replacement axle from my stinky '82 parts wagon. I'm now just waiting for the gasket to cure before installing fresh gear oil.

A few things i noticed:

It's fairly easy to make a tool to open the drain and fill plugs on the differential out of a 9/16" nut and bolt. I am on a pretty severe budget, and the prospect of buying a 14 mm Allen headed anything made me cringe. So I took a 9/16" bolt and welded a chunk of steel on it for a handle. This seemed to work OK. I got lucky-- the plugs weren't too tight either on my '85 or on the '82 parts car.

I got a brass drift from a friend to pound out the axles, but on neither car did they come out gracefully, I seemed to have to endlessly adjust the jack under the differential housing, and grunt and pull in a million different directions. Eventually though, they did capitulate, although I doubt I could say definitely what it was that I did to achieve removal. Does anyone know of a sure-fire method of getting these suckers out?

This is definitely the deepest I've been in the old girl yet. I'm not sure I'd want to get this far in again soon. I'm just glad I got this finished before the weather gets truly snotty. So now it's back to the daily grind of tracking down rust, vacuum leaks, and water leaks. Boy do I ever love Sikaflex!

Thanks for tuning in everybody, and especially Mr. Morrison.

__________________
George

Vincent: 1984 300D - 255,000 miles - NEW!

Wilbur: 1991 GMC Sonoma 2WD 2.5L 5-speed 250,000 km (top secret project)
Pancho: 1992 Mitsubishi Pajero SWB RHD 2.5L intercooled turbodiesel - 215,000 km

Some time ago I read another thread where a poster recommended unbolting the top shock absorber mount before jacking up the car. This allows the rear wheel to drop even lower and create more distance between the differential and hub.

I've replaced several of these and not had a problem. Just wacked the snot out of the drift and yank it downward.

Hopefully, you just had a difficult situation.

Diesel Don

__________________
DAILY DRIVERS:
'84 300DT 298k (Aubrey's)
'99.5 Jetta TDI IV 251k (Julie's)
'97 Jetta TDI 127k (Amber's)
'97 Jetta TDI 186k (Matt's)
'96 Passat TDI 237k (Don's
'84 300D 211k Mint (Arne- Undergoing Greasecar Conversion)

SOLD:
'82 240D 229k (Matt's - Converted-300DT w/ 4 speed

I figured maybe it was something to do with the wagon body...
i dunno. i had a look at that upper strut nut, but it looked kind of inaccessible, so I shied away.

__________________
George

Vincent: 1984 300D - 255,000 miles - NEW!

Wilbur: 1991 GMC Sonoma 2WD 2.5L 5-speed 250,000 km (top secret project)
Pancho: 1992 Mitsubishi Pajero SWB RHD 2.5L intercooled turbodiesel - 215,000 km

Just be careful when you do unbolt the shock and lower things down the
spring can fall out. but that would be if the shock was removed.

Charlie

__________________
there were three HP ratings on the OM616...

1) Not much power
2) Even less power
3) Not nearly enough power!! 240D w/auto

Anyone that thinks a 240D is slow drives too fast.

80 240D Naturally Exasperated, 4-Spd 388k DD 150mph spedo 3:58 Diff

We are advised to NOT judge ALL Muslims by the actions of a few lunatics, but we are encouraged to judge ALL gun owners by the actions of a few lunatics. Funny how that works

"Manky" had to google that one.

manky:

scottish word meaning unclean person or unclean act.

New one to me. But it' in the Official Mercedeshop vocabulary now.

Dave

PS Your welcome.

__________________
1970 220D, owned 1980-1990
1980 240D, owned 1990-1992
1982 300TD, owned 1992-1993
1986 300SDL, owned 1993-2004
1999 E300, owned 1999-2003
1982 300TD, 213,880mi, owned since Nov 18, 1991- Aug 4, 2010 SOLD
1988 560SL, 100,000mi, owned since 1995
1965 Mustang Fastback Mileage Unknown(My sons)
1983 240D, 176,000mi (My daughers) owned since 2004
2007 Honda Accord EX-L I4 auto, the new daily driver
1985 300D 264,000mi Son's new daily driver.(sold)
2008 Hyundai Tiberon. Daughters new car

I had the same trouble getting my old axle out on the 240D. There was some rust on the teeth where the shaft enters the hub. I would pretty much describe getting it out just like you did - difficult to describe in a way that would be reproducible. I had luck whacking at it from over the top of the hub shield. It allowed me some leverage to kind of whack and pry it out.

Oh yeah, and lots and lots of PB Blaster.

__________________

Current Mercedes
1979 maple yellow 240D 4-speed

Gone and fondly remembered:
1980 orient red 240D 4-speed

Gone and NOT fondly remembered:
1982 Chna Blue 300TD

Other car in the stable:
2013 VW Jetta Sportwagen TDI / 6-speed MT