Help!!! IM stuck. Flex disk???
 

Helllo if any of you can help fast it would be appreciated. Iwas driving and I started to get a bad vibration and then large chunks of rubber started to get shot out from under the car. I think its my flex disk that came apart. Im about 75 miles from home. Can i drive this hom e without damamging anything???
Thanks
Chris

Generally I would say NO! But if you persist you better drive SLOW. If that driveshaft gets loose you will wish it didn't. I have seen at least one airbag set off from this happening on a 124 car. The crash profile sensor is mounted right above the driveshaft on the tunnel.

Thanks Steve!! I think I will give it a shot driving slowly.
Chris

You're actually supposed to replace the flex discs before they come apart since the wear is mainly from the insdie.

If you got rubber shooting out of it, I would not risc it at any speed, but that's me :)

xp

Ok well to let you guys know I made it home with no problems, I accelerated VERY slowly and kept the speed at the minimum highway speed(45 mph). Got the car on the lift once at home and the flex disk is destroyed. I looked at the rear one and it looks great, no cracking or anything. So what gives, how often should you replace these and how easy is it to do? Thanks again!
Chris

The front flex disk is typically cracked by 60K miles. The MB maintenance system says to inspect them at the 15K mile maintenance. As they deteriorate the driveline gets sloppy, which can usually be felt by the driver.

I've never heard of one completely disintegrating, so I suspect that your car has not had the proper maintenance inspections, or the problem would likely have been discovered before it got to the point where it disintegrated.

The rear disk is a much more robust design and much longer lived.

Duke

To be honest I do all the maintenance on my car(oil, trans, fuel , suspension etc) But I really have never paid attention to the flex disks at all. So my dumb mistake, I ordered two from Phil, I figured to replace them both at the same time. Is it a tough job and any recommendations?
Chris

That is a good idea to replace both at the same time. You might want to check your motor and trans mounts too, if your mounts have failed it could have caused the failure of the flex disc behind the trans, the engine is not sitting properly at the right level in the bay and it will cause increased stress on the front flex disc. I changed mine one at a time, put the car in neutral so I could spin the propeller shaft, and installed them with the new bolts in the kit. It is an easy job, just turning wrenches. The rear was a little harder, don't know about your car, but my exhaust was kind of in the way. Don't forget to check your mounts and all the other rubber while you are under there.
Brian

Don't take your driveshaft apart without clearly painting alignment marks to make certain ...you can do this job without seperating it.......make certain the center drive shaft support rubber is not torn...and the bearing turns smoothly.

If the driveshaft ever has to seperate its imparative it goes backe EXACTLY as it came apart...and not even one spline off or you will have balance issues.

I agree that the rear flex discs seem to last longer than the front. But a more robust design???

Mercedes has a very specific maintenance schedule, and there are a number of inspections at the 15K maintenance intervals. The schedule with all the inspections is published in the maintenance/warranty booklet that is part of the owner's documentation package, and the detailed maintenance procedures are in the maintenance manual.

To these tasks I add certain other tasks that experience with these cars indicates should be accomplished - like motor mount inspection.

It's very easy to take the factory maintenance schedule and use a word processing or spread sheet program to make your own maintenance sheet that creates a permanent record that the maintenance was accomplished and whaterver repairs were done as a result of the inspection. I keep these sheets along with all other service documentation - warranty and commercial repairs orders, parts purchase receipts, etc. in a file folder with a two pin fastener at the top and punch two suitable holes at the top of all the paper. This yields a chronological history of everything that's ever been done to my car that is easy to audit by thumbing through the file.

All cars have a specfic maintenance schedule that calls for certain inspections or parts replacement that goes beyond the usual fluid and filter changes, plus given the cumulative experience of owners we learn to add additional inspections beyond even what OEM recommends. If you do all the inspections at the presribed intervals, the odds of a breakdown or emergency are vastly reduced.

Duke

Compare them side by side. The front flex disk has much less torsional stiffness because it is designed to decouple the driveshaft from the transmission to isolate torsional vibration. As a result, the front disk flexes much more than the rear disk and this eventually causes the rubber to crank. The rear flex disk should outlast the front by at least two to one - maybe as high as four or five to one.

I just consider the front flex disk to be a 60K mile maintenance replacement item.

Duke

Thanks everyone!!
I did replace the motor mounts and tranny mount not too long ago as the one side had collapsed and the tranny mount was showing cracks.
On a side note, for the w124 or at least my car, it calls for the same flex disk front and rear, maybe on the w201 its different. But thanks again everyone for the quick replies and great advice!!
Chris