w123 axle compensation washer / shim
 

Hello All

Between the new job, life and getting all the summer toys ready for summer i decided to replace my axle shafts with the "carquest" lifetime remanufactured units....that is not the topic here - after a small amount of debate this is MY story....every part on the car now is new/remanufactured i did not want to put back in the old axles(not broke, just as old as me) and seeing that this car does MAYBE 5 thousand miles a year i went with the 120 bucks for both compared to the 800 bucks new, and if one fails ill change it out on a saturday moring and ask for a new one... woo hoo

but heres the deal...

the compensating washer was 3.22

the fsm says that they are available from 2.6 - 3.4
and may need to be swapped/found after an axle replacement...

has anyone had to "find" the right one after a axel swap?
i did a few searches and found nothing on this info....just asking to ask, ill get a few new washers and try until there is no lash...



i imagine that i am closer to 2.75 now...the dealer will hook me up - i must say Gary and Gegg at Mercedes Benz of Buffalo are very helpful, as are most MB guys...thanks all.

good motoring to all this summer
Jake

Warden did his axleshafts using the carquest units too. Ive got a completely separated boot on one side, so ive gotta do it soon as well.

well here is the answer....

took out 3.2 and 3.1 shim

dealer had (1) 2.6, and (1) 1.5 shim

bought those and ordered a set of...
2.7, 2.8, 2.9 and the last 2.6

only to find out that the pass side took the single 2.6 but the driver side would not take the 2.6...NEEDED SMALLER!
dealer said the next size down was 1.5.....what happened to the rest????

so i took the two old ones to the surface grinder and machined them down...1 to 2.5 and the other to 2.4 (NOTE! - THE SHIMS ARE NOT FLAT, THERE IS A CROWN TO THEM THAT MUST BE KEPT TO RETAIN A FLUSH INSTALL....MACHINE THE FLATTER SIDE - BUT YOU WILL NOT GET A TRUE RUNNING SHIM, IT WILL MIC OUT IN THE RANGE OF 2.38 TO 2.41 (THAT WAS MINE)

installed the 2.4 and it was perfect. no end play and the circiclip still turned in the groove...

hope this helps
Jake

Quick question...what shims are you referring to?

I've done my axleshafts twice now (one went bad after 5 months and was replaced under CarQuest's lifetime warranty; that was a year ago now), and the only parts I removed (or needed to remove, at least as best as I could) were the differential cover, the C-clips, the two bolts with washers and spacers on the wheel end of the axleshafts, the brake calipers (just to get them out of the way), and the axleshafts themselves...I don't remember seeing any shims or anything like that.

Maybe I missed them, or maybe they didn't come out?

Thanks!

Hopefully they didn't fall out, Warden. They go in the cavity where the diff side seals are located.
I went thru a fiasco when I bought a differential for a swap. It turned out that was from a 300SD. It required different washers. There is a set of them available from MB and runs about $50 wholesale. My mechanic had a lot of fun fitting the right ones.
The half shaft has to have a little "slop" yet not cause the clip on the inside to be too snug in its race.
If your shims had fallen out (and you didn't notice them) the clip would most likely have been pushed off soon afterwards (and you'd have a ka-whump ka-whump noise coming off the rearend!) as the tip contacted the cluster.
DDH

Nothing fell off, so either I missed them and they never came out, or they were never there. When I did the second replacement, both C-clips were still on there, and everything sounds fine now...so I guess they're there...

Very interesting...you learn something new every day, eh?