Step 1: Mark the relative positions of the front and rear driveshafts. Also mark the relative positions of the front and rear flex discs.

Step 2: Get a 46mm and 41mm wrench and loosen the sleeve nut located on the front section of the shaft.

Step 3: Remove the front flex disc and compress the driveshaft.

Attached Thumbnails

         

__________________
Scott
1982 Mercedes 240D, 4 speed, 275,000
1988 Porsche 944 Turbo S (70,000)
1987 Porsche 911 Coupe 109,000 (sold)
1998 Mercedes E300 TurboDiesel 147,000 (sold)
1985 Mercedes 300D 227,000 (totaled by inattentive driver with no insurance!)
1997 Mercedes E300 Diesel 236,000 (sold)
1995 Ducati 900SS (sold)
1987 VW Jetta GLI 157,000 (sold)
1986 Camaro 125,000 (sold - P.O.S.)
1977 Corvette L82 125,000 (sold)
1965 Pontiac GTO 15,000 restored (sold)

Step 4: Remove the front portion of the drive shaft.

Step 5: Remove the two 13mm bolts on the carrier support bracket.

Step 6: Note the circlip. You will need to remove this later.

Step 7: Remove the rear flex disc and remove the rear portion of the drive shaft.

Step 8: Picture of front and rear driveshafts removed and associated parts. The broken portion of my carrier bearing and bracket are still attached to the rear driveshaft.

Step 9: Remove the circlip. Get a large three jaw puller and remove the carrier bearing.

Attached Thumbnails

         

__________________
Scott
1982 Mercedes 240D, 4 speed, 275,000
1988 Porsche 944 Turbo S (70,000)
1987 Porsche 911 Coupe 109,000 (sold)
1998 Mercedes E300 TurboDiesel 147,000 (sold)
1985 Mercedes 300D 227,000 (totaled by inattentive driver with no insurance!)
1997 Mercedes E300 Diesel 236,000 (sold)
1995 Ducati 900SS (sold)
1987 VW Jetta GLI 157,000 (sold)
1986 Camaro 125,000 (sold - P.O.S.)
1977 Corvette L82 125,000 (sold)
1965 Pontiac GTO 15,000 restored (sold)

Step 10: Picture of rear driveshaft with old carrier bearing and bracket removed. Also pictured are the new carrier bearing and bracket.

Step 11: Press the new carrier bearing into the bracket. I lubed the bracket with dishwashing liquid and pressed the carrier bearing in with my hands.

Step 12: The new carrier bearing and bracket are installed on the driveshaft. Don't forget to reinstall the circlip! The bracket has a shoulder which must face the rear of the car upon installation. The bearing rests against the shoulder when you press it into the bracket. Picture it like this - if you were to pull the bracket off the driveshaft, it would take the carrier bearing with it.

The last picture is of the gigantic wrenches you will need. Many of your parts/bolts may be rusted in place so be patient. My rear flex disc was seized to the driveshaft so I had to remove the flex disc from the differential to get it out of the car. You may be luckier than I was. Make sure you realign everything to match the marks you made upon installation so nothing is out of balance.

Good luck!

Scott

Attached Thumbnails

       

__________________
Scott
1982 Mercedes 240D, 4 speed, 275,000
1988 Porsche 944 Turbo S (70,000)
1987 Porsche 911 Coupe 109,000 (sold)
1998 Mercedes E300 TurboDiesel 147,000 (sold)
1985 Mercedes 300D 227,000 (totaled by inattentive driver with no insurance!)
1997 Mercedes E300 Diesel 236,000 (sold)
1995 Ducati 900SS (sold)
1987 VW Jetta GLI 157,000 (sold)
1986 Camaro 125,000 (sold - P.O.S.)
1977 Corvette L82 125,000 (sold)
1965 Pontiac GTO 15,000 restored (sold)

Nicely done.

__________________
DJ


84 300D Turbodiesel 190K with 4 speed manual sold in 03/2012

Good job. Great write up.

__________________
CJ

1983 300D 12X,XXX

Thank you for the write-up.

You can get a big adjustable wrench at a plumbing supply store. I got mine at lowes, it opens very wide and has about an 8" handle.

dd

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-------------------------------
'85 300D, 'Lance',250k, ... winter beater (100k on franken-Frybrid 3 Valve Kit)
'82 300D, 'Tex', 228k body / 170k engine ... summer car
'83 300TD Cali Wagon 210k, wife's car

I just did this job two weeks ago on my '85 300TD and I needed a few extra steps. The manual advises disconnecting the parking brake cable and supporting the transmission from below in order to remove the transmission support. I took both of these steps. The parking brake cable can probably be worked around, but I did find it necessary to remove the transmission support to get better access to the bolts on the front flex disc. Also on my '85 there is no snap ring on the drive shaft. On the later year models there is another ring in it's place that is held on by friction and it requires the use of the bearing puller to remove the carrier bearing and the ring at the same time. I also had the car in neutral most of the time so that I could rotate the driveshaft by hand from underneath in order to access all of the flex disc bolts. Just be sure to use sturdy jackstands under the car. Overall it was not a difficult job, but it did take me a while and I had to spend quite a bit of time rolling around on my back under the car.

__________________
1985 Euro 300TD Turbo

You made it look easy!

__________________
'84 300SD sold
124.128

My car is a 4-speed manual and that may make a difference. There certainly are different ways you can go about it. This just lays out the basics and most people should be able to figure it out from there.

Scott

__________________
Scott
1982 Mercedes 240D, 4 speed, 275,000
1988 Porsche 944 Turbo S (70,000)
1987 Porsche 911 Coupe 109,000 (sold)
1998 Mercedes E300 TurboDiesel 147,000 (sold)
1985 Mercedes 300D 227,000 (totaled by inattentive driver with no insurance!)
1997 Mercedes E300 Diesel 236,000 (sold)
1995 Ducati 900SS (sold)
1987 VW Jetta GLI 157,000 (sold)
1986 Camaro 125,000 (sold - P.O.S.)
1977 Corvette L82 125,000 (sold)
1965 Pontiac GTO 15,000 restored (sold)

I certainly did not mean to imply that you had done anything improperly. I just wanted to point out potential differences for other folks that might be thinking about doing the work. I actually wish I could have seen your write up and pictures before doing my own. It would have saved me some time under there figuring out what was what. Thanks for the write up and pictures.

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1985 Euro 300TD Turbo

Bookmarked! Thank you.

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83 300TD, 260,000 miles, aka "Dusty"
6 vehicles, 2 cup holders (both in the dump truck)

This DIY is now in our DIY Wiki HERE.

Thanks Scott!

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Bill Wood - Retired Webmaster
My Personal Website
1998 Mercedes E430
2010 Toyota Sequoia
My Photo Albums

Nice job! I needed that. Mine needs done to.

__________________
1981 240d aka "The rust bucket"

Is a w126 drive shaft bearing replacement the same?

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1999 w140, quit voting to old, and to old to fight, a god damned veteran, deutschland deutschland uber alles uber alles in der welt

What are the symptons to make you replace this?
I have been experienceing some "clunking" that sounds like it is coming from the middle to the back of my car. Could this be a remedy?

1983 300SD

Thanks

Tim

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1983 300SD - 190K
1984 300TD Euro 158K (CWC candidate )