The "new" axle arrived, looks very nice, no rust

I took it apart for inspection today, meshing had been correct and intact main differential bearings.

He, however the pinion bearings suffers from same syndrome as on the old axle. It takes a quite big force to move the pinion just after a few seconds of rest, I also feel cogging when the pinion turns and the general friction in the bearings seems high. So I need to change the pinion bearings (which I have anyway)

Which would be the best way to measure the pinion hight accurately?

I also want to to torque up the preload of the main differential bearings, seems like another special tool to manufacture.....

Finally I want to change the bushings in the axle hinge. Actually I have been thinking about the possibility of replacing some of the bushings to polyurethane type, would this be possible?

Brg,
Karsten

Hmm, that grooved nut for the pinion is ON, already bend some tool etc.

I might need to apply heat (acethylene) but I´m afraid this will destroy the pinion and possibly the pinion flange?

Any good ideas to get this bastard off?

Brg,
Karsten

http://cgi.ebay.com/Mercedes-Pin-Wrench-Socket-for-Differential_W0QQitemZ3864045763QQcategoryZ42337QQssPageNameZWD1VQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Thanks (again) Arthur,

I clamped the tool I made to the pinion flange so I actually managed to bend the handle of my wrench before the homemade soccet became damaged, as the metal I used for clamping it to the flange with streached, and the soccet disengaged.

The seller of the tool you linked to does unfortunately not ship to Denmark, but I mailed him to see if he will make an exception. The price is good though.

Otherwise I will order with Samstag.

Brg,
Karsten

I have been told they are cheaper right from Benz Dealers.....

Okay, I'll check with Mercedes tomorrow. Unfortunately not many of these special tools are still available direct from MB.

Netherlands
vandijk@classicsl.com

Germany
http://www.sls-hh-catalogue.de/start/index.phtml

Finally got the soccet for the grooved nut, worked great the nut came right off. The pinion fell out by itself, no need to use a puller this time.

Next hurdle is the outher rings of the pinion bearings, they are pretty stuck. Right now I'm trying to make a special puller to get the front bearing outher ring pulled out, but this will take a little additional engineering to make it strong enough...... If any hints are available, I'm listening

Brg,
Karsten

Back from a 3 week travel in The US I'm back on the case. I managed to change the pinion bearings (took lots of tools to manufacture) everything looked fine, turning torque, general feel of the bearings etc.

However it turns out that the entire pinion is bend 1 mm, which I unfortunately did not notice before now..... Still wonder how this happend..

So back to square one again.... I hope I can get the rear pinion bearing off in one piece. It is pretty expencive and I would hate to waste it.

Fortunately I have a spare pinion from the other differential, just hope this is okay.

Karsten

Gee, I understand if people wants to avoid working on these rear axles, what a pain in the b.. Okay, the next one will be easier

Well I have a good set of tools now:

1. Clamp to get the rear pinion bearing inner ring off. Gives something for the press to hook onto.

2. Pusher to push the rear pinion outher ring out of the differential housing.

3. Puller to pull the rear pinion outher ring into the differential housing.

4. Puller to pull the front pinion outher ring out of the differential housing

5. Tool to torque up the big grooved nut for the main differential bearing.

6. Tool for grooved nut on pinion (Cheated and bought this one after ruining the homemade)

7. Puller to get wheel bearings off the axle shafts.

So now it will be a matter of trial and error to get the meshing correct...

I'll post some pictures of the tools when I get the time, they are actually not that difficult to do, but it takes a little time.

Brg,
Karsten

Found out today that the problem was not a bend pinion shaft (and of course the hard way) The real problem is that I got a wrong front pinion bearing with a slightly larger hole in the inner ring....... I think Murphey is having a real good time here.....

Brg,
Karsten

Small victory! The meshing test turned out great, perfect meshing.
First I painted the teeth with a permanent marker pen, no good, it does not wear off easy enough, then grease, not too good either, too difficult to see what is going on. Then my wife donated a lipstick, that was perfect

Karsten

Yup.. lipstick !!!
I think they even mentioned that in some of the info data I sent you...

Yes indeed Arthur And thanks to you that I'm this far at all. It has been quite a learning experience with more than a few set backs, but I guess the trick is not to give up..

Karsten

Some pictures of the rear axle work and tools can be found at www.elkjaer.dk

More pictures and comments will follow soon. I had to jump to some urgent body work on a W111 220Sb since I must take it to MOT. This means a little break in the cp work.

Karsten