W123 Drive Shaft/support bearing questions
 

In relation to W123 Drive Shaft/support bearing I have the following questions.

Why do some 300D's have a circlip to hold the carrier bearing on while some 300D's like mine don't ?

Why is the sleeve nut on some of our cars loose ?

Its my understanding that the sleeve nut should be snug so that the front section shaft can not move in relation to the rear shaft. Am I mistaken ?

My 85 300D didn`t have a circlip when I removed it the first time. I haven`t seen one on any of the 123`s I have taken apart up to now.

They might have had them when new, maybe some mechanic at some point decided not to replace it.

The nut really isn`t on all that tight on any I have removed, just on a little snug. except for that %#@& 240 I was working on at PNP, was rusty and wouldn`t budge. used a prybar to get it to slide on the splines and got it off.

there has to be some movement on the splines with vibration, tortional twists of the body even if small, or things would break.

Charlie