Hey all,

I've recently picked up a 1983 240D. Both axles have shredded boots and the previous owner said it has been like this for quite some time. As such, I'm looking to put two new axles into it, but as far as I can tell, the only axles available are DSS. I've heard horror stories about the quality of this particular brand for other makes i.e. BMW and Volvo. Anyone have any experience with these? Any input would be greatly appreciated!

https://www.cvjreman.com/

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When cryptography is outlawed, bayl bhgynjf jvyy unir cevinpl.

I have not read of anyone using that brand. However, companies can get the axles from Asia and say they are from their company.

So DSS could be the same under another name that people had trouble with.

If you are going to buy aftermarket axles it is best to buy them over the counter locally. That way if you have issues you deal with it locally. Many places have life time warranties if you keep track of your paperwork.

Take a look at some of the Axle replacement threads and the part concerning the Spacers/Shims. Some members have had trouble fitting the Spacers onto the Axles themselves properly due to the way the Axle Stub is machined.

The other issue is if you get the type that has bolts going through it the Blots on some while driving have come loose. People have been removing one bolt at a time and decreasing the internal and external threads with brake cleaner and using a tread locker when the re-torque them.

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

X2 for CVJ. They did and probably still do, disassemble, clean, inspect, grease and reboot quality OE Benz axles. Easy folks to deal with.

Good luck!!!

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"Rudeness is a weak man's imitation of strength" - Eric Hoffer

When I first got my Car I had the cracked boot issues. I also had to get the car road worthy and did not know about how do the re-booting by either the Mercedes Manual method not the other method. I had no Mercedes Manual at that time.

2007 was also previous to the bunch of Asian made Axles that would show up later. I bought Cardon Rebuilt Axles from a local autoparts store. The Cardon Rebuilt Axles are original Mercedes axles. They are still sold by Autozone and the other local parts places.

The only issue I had with them is after 5 years the boots started to get fine cracks in them. I decided to and did reboot them with Doman Boots stretched over the "Cans" on my Axles. So I still have the Cardone Axles on my Car and they have a life time warranty.

I never bothered to try to get a new set under the warranty as the auto parts place Chiefs was sold to another Company and became Kragens and later O'reillys auto parts. I also simply wanted to try re-booting myself for the expeience.

Note at this time the Dorman Boots are not favored. Favored are the Astoria Flexx Boots.

If you are willing to deal with the boots starting to crack in 5 years the Cardone rebuilt ones are at least real Mercedes axles.

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

"been like this for quite some." Since the original Mercedes Axles were filled with Oil and they had been open for so long your Axles don't make good candidates for re-booting.

When people re-boot there axles some want Oil in them others go with CV Grease as I did. Even the famous Axle re-builder uses CV Grease if you don't specifically ask for Oil.
Grease has the advantage that if you get some small leak in your boot it does not eventually com out as Oil will. Even if something from the road came up and ripped your boot if you have grease in your Axle all the grease is not going to come out right away.

Note the Cardone rebuilt axles I mentioned had CV Grease in them.

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

X3 for CVJ. Not the cheapest alternative, but one of the best.

DSS is totally fine...

I assume you're referring to the annular version. I've had one for a few years now with no issues. I could understand the reluctance to roll dice with a homo-kinetic axle, but the nice thing about annular axles is even if you need to warranty one, there's no need to reopen the diff to change it out. Once that mount is in there, you're good to go.

There are stories out there, and on here, about the bolts backing out in annular axles -as D911 referred to above. Re-torquing before install should solve this issue. Possible they're not coming off the line with proper torque. After a year of running that axle, I noticed a bead of grease on the seam. The bolts had in fact loosened. I torqued them down to spec, and have heard not a peep since (two years later).

You can't use thread lock. Degreasing the threads makes no difference as they're passing through a grease cavity by nature of the design. The lock washers supplied should be fine. If you're concerned, you can easily replace them with lock washers of your choosing.


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1981 240D 4sp manual. Ivory White.

If I can't get new OEM then I've always used Duralast Gold axles and I have several in use at this point, no failures. One is probably about 15 years old.

But I've also been stockpiling old OEM ones to send off to a reputable refurbisher for that "NLA Apocalypse" that will eventually come.

Several of us in our area installed annular GSP axles, bought from Rck Otto. Mine have been in for about 6 months. They "look" good - No problems so far. Price is also good (About $53 each). We did find that the splines went further into the wheel hubs than the originals, so had to cut down the spacer tubes accordingly. They also have Cardone new and rebuilt.

Like DSS, these are totally new China made annular axles as opposed to the rebuilt original MB axles from CVJ.

GSP NCV48998 Info
FitsRear Left; w/ 24 13/16" Overall Comp. Length
orRear Right; w/ 24 13/16" Overall Comp. Length

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Graham
85 300D,72 350SL, 98 E320, Outback 2.5

I would strongly suggest you ignore all advice advocating Chinese axles as these are more akin to playing a lottery - sometimes they last for a 20-30K miles but in several cases, they fail much sooner, typically in a catastrophic manner.

Highly recommend you get your axles rebuilt by CVJ or CVsource. Both know their stuff and only use German OE parts to rebuild.

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Why I will never do business with "DieselKraut" again

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/mercedes-benz-used-parts-sale-wanted/378935-why-i-will-never-do-business-dieselkraut-again.html

Last summer I ordered two Chinese (Surtrack / Trakmotive brand) CV axles, and both we're defective out of the box. They felt fine in hand but on the car you could rotate the wheel hub a degree or two and generate a nice clunk, watching the axle joints twist. All 4 joints were loose across both brand new axles.

Sent them back, and ordered rebuilt NAPA axles - like new and several thousand miles without noise. Since I could refund the Chinese CV's, all it cost me was the time I wasted and the effort of wiggling the axles in (and promptly back out) to test fit. But, I will second that it is a roll of the dice. I hope the Chinese axles get more consistent, rebuilds aren't going to be an easy run to NAPA or whichever McParts store forever.

In hindsight, the CVJ rebuilds are probably the best bet, and what I would chase down if I were doing it again today.

Before making a strong recommendation, you should really find out more about the car these will go on and the owners financial situation. How the car will be used is another factor - daily driver or maybe just a project car? These things make a difference. If car is pristine, OE axles might be the best choice. (They were still available here in 2020 for the W123). For a daily reliable that will put on a lot of miles, by all means look at CVJ. Otherwise....

If it is a $2000 car, is it worth putting a pair of CVJ reman axles on it that might cost quite a bit, especially if cores are bad, as OP's seem to be. $900?? (my guess) vs about $110 for a pair of GSP axles? (I researched GSP before buying - They are a world wide company, with products mostly made it China it seems - not necessarily a bad thing)

I opted for the GSPs. In my case my original axles were still good. Boots just looking tired. I will reboot those if the GSPs ever should fail. Car is not driven many miles these days. So far among those I know who have installed them we have zero failures out of 5. But no long term history yet. Several of them are daily drivers.

I doubt there is any actual history of frequency of failure of the Chinese axles. A huge number are sold for all makes of cars. There have certainly been some early failures - some because bolts were not torqued. The GSP bolts were marked to show where they ended up after torqueing. We checked them and they were properly torqued.

Installation problems & mistakes with all makes of axles (even OE) could result in early failures. Proper fit-up of the hub end splines/spacer tubes as well as correct bolt torque (for annular), shim washers and internal clearances at diff end are important, we found.

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Graham
85 300D,72 350SL, 98 E320, Outback 2.5

[QUOTE=Screwdriva;4137147I ...in several cases, they fail much sooner, typically in a catastrophic manner.
[/QUOTE]

Like how exactly?

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1981 240D 4sp manual. Ivory White.

If it helps anyone, I rebooted my W123 axles several years ago with the Astoria flex boots. Still have the tool if anyone needs to borrow it.

I think the Astoria boots area a great option if you catch the boot failure early.

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When cryptography is outlawed, bayl bhgynjf jvyy unir cevinpl.