Hi guys,

It's the start of a new year and about another 4 months before winter is over and I can drive Betsie again, so I figured this is a good time to slowly start fixing up a few things that I have been putting off for a while now.
I need to fix the broken front seats (I think I'll go with the pool noodles, if I can find those in Alaska), and there are some other small odds and ends that need to be fixed.

The slightly more major thing I want to replace are the axle shafts. The boots on mine are torn on both axles, and even though they are not making any noise, the boots were torn when I bought the car last February and at the very least I drove nearly 5k with torn boots. No idea how long the previous owner drove around with torn boots. I am very surprised they don't make noise yet, but I don't think rebooting makes much sense.


However, since I am a major dumbass I figure I would just start a topic on the progress of this project, so I can ask questions as they come up.


First things first is ordering a list of parts. I'll order everything from this website as I've had good experience with PelicanParts.

For the axles I am going to order the USA Industries - Empi brand axles. I know these won't be the same quality as the original Mercedes axles, but since this is just a summer/hobby car and I don't really rack up many miles in it, I hope these would survive for some time.

Now, my main question is: what other parts should I order? I figure I would need to get two differential output seals as well.
And of course oil for the diff. Should I just get 85w-90 dino oil for that?

Can anyone offer some extra advice? Maybe you did the job before and you ran into a weird problem you could make me aware of before I start? I am not expecting many problems, but I did read about a few folks that had issues with getting the axles back in, and there is also some stuff about shims needed on the axles to not have any play, and that the shims are part of the differential? I did not entirely understand how or what is up with those. Are not all axles the exact same length? Can I use whatever shims are on the original axles and transfer them over to the replacements?

__________________
"The MB W123 is so bulletproof, you can drive them forever. Which is a good thing as it takes that long to get anywhere."
Betsie: 1984 W123 300D (hobby, 280k miles)
Myrla: 2001 Mazda Protege 2.0 ES 5spd (daily driver, 130k miles)
The Turd: 2007 Toyota Camry (wife's car, 118k miles)