Hello all,

I'm thinking about dropping the transmission in a 1989 190E 2.6.

Does anyone out there have an idea about how high the car has to be from the ground?

I don''t have a lift, so I be working with heavy duty jack-stands. I guess I'll also need to take into account the transmission jack..I read someone had used an ATV jack for under the transmission.

Thanks,
The Tenor Man

__________________
Currently Driving.....
1987 Mercedes Benz 300D Turbo - Daily Driver.
2004 Buick Rendezvous...Smaller than it looks!
2005 Mitsubishi Galant - Not bad for a tin box...Lousey Seats
Past Vehicles.....
1994 Dodge B-250 Van- GAS HOG..Succumbed to rust!
1989 Mercedes Benz 260E - Totaled but no one injured.
1977 Mercedes Benz 240D - Loved it, but SLOWWW! - Succumbed to RUST!
1976 Mercedes Benz 240D - Same as above! -
1975 Mercedes Benz 240D - Same as above!

As far as I can recall, I had the front end up on ramps. The rear end was on two lengths of 8x8 lumber under each rubber (the half-ball just forward of the rear wheels). One set of 8x8 pointing fore-and-aft, and one set pointing sideways to give it sideways stability. This made the car just about level, with lots of room to deal with the drive shaft and exhaust.

I can't remember how much clearance I had to slide the transmission out. It was on the ground, not on a jack. There would not have been room to pull it out sitting on a jack.

I used a cheap ($50) motorcycle jack. The complex ones won't fit. This one is just a 6"x17" platform with a screw like a giant flat scissors jack. Lots of travel, plenty of weight capacity, and it goes down to about 4" thick, unlike the transmission jacks which require a lot of vertical clearance. It was very easy to get the transmission stable on the platform with a 2x4 or two, with no balancing required.

Invest in a 17 mm u-joint socket and some very long extensions, for the upper bolt just behind the oil filter.

Andrew
1989 190e 2.6

I pulled my transmission by supporting the front on a couple of heavy duty jack stands. I don't know exactly how high but my plan was to lower the transmission and then jack the car up more if necessary to pull the transmission out from under the car. It turned out that I did not have to raise the car any higher. I used a transmission jack from Harbor Freight. Be sure to disconnect the bowden cable from the throttle before you try to remove the transmission.

I used an atv jack, it worked real well since it was on wheels and rolling the transmission out was a snap, I did have to get the car a bit higher since the jack itself was about 3" off the ground. The car was sitting on ramps, and the transmissione cleared everything just by lifting the car by hand, since it gets much lighter when the tranny is out that is

The exhaust was the worst part, and don't forget to mark the driveshaft so you can reassemble it without any headaches.

What I did was the pictures of everything while working on the trasnmission, came in handly once or twice, but without it... I'd be in big trouble.

xp

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1985 190E 2.3L - a constant project.

Just did the job a few weeks ago. Yeah, basic jack stands will do, raised up several notches. Make sure your emergency brake works well or do something else to chock the back wheels. Using four jack stands so the back wheels are off the ground also works.

I had to invest 15$ in a 20" long, 1/2" drive extension rod from Sears to get enough torque on those upper bolts. Lotsa fun that.

You're going to have to undo the two pipes that carry fluid to and from the radiator. Be sure to cover the ends to keep the pipes clean and it doesn't hurt to reclose the bolt holes on the transmission immediately.

-CTH

__________________
- cth350@gmail.com
http://www.111lakeside.com/

My choice is either to pull it and rebuild myself...or...take it somewhere and spend $2000....

Thanks....Many Thanks...

The Tenor Man

__________________
Currently Driving.....
1987 Mercedes Benz 300D Turbo - Daily Driver.
2004 Buick Rendezvous...Smaller than it looks!
2005 Mitsubishi Galant - Not bad for a tin box...Lousey Seats
Past Vehicles.....
1994 Dodge B-250 Van- GAS HOG..Succumbed to rust!
1989 Mercedes Benz 260E - Totaled but no one injured.
1977 Mercedes Benz 240D - Loved it, but SLOWWW! - Succumbed to RUST!
1976 Mercedes Benz 240D - Same as above! -
1975 Mercedes Benz 240D - Same as above!

I would buy a rebuilt tranny if you dont have any experience rebuilding mercedes tranny

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1986 300SDL, 211K,Dealership serviced its whole life
1991 190E 2.6(120k)
1983 300D(300k)
1977 300D(211k)

Tenor Man:

If you are meticulously clean, have lots of egg crates for the parts, and get all the available manuals, there is nothing to be afraid of. I had no previous transmission experience (although I have been doing major mainenance on our cars for many years) and my rebuild went successfully. The transmission keeps getting smoother and smoother.

The worst bit is getting the transmission out of the car and in again. Once it is cleaned up and on the bench, it is pretty much just disassembling, finding the broken bits, and putting it back together.

The manuals are essential. These are the ones that I am aware of:
---A military manual available online from a Russian site, in English. It is for a G-Wagen with a 722.3 transmission. The 190e has a 722.4, similar but with a smaller case. See the posts with stickies at the top of Tech Help in these forums, for the website.
---An exerpt from a Mitchell manual online for 722 transmissions, but it is for newer cars, and is not very detailed and not very useful.
---The ATSG manual commonly available on eBay for the 722.3 and 722.4 transmissions. It seems to be compiled from Merces sources, with some modifications. It is a little disorganized, but is mostly pretty accurate. When it differs from the Russian one, I went with this one.
---One of the transmission parts suppliers (Corteco Transtec) has a couple of information sheets, available online. One of these tells you how to disassemble and rebuild the K1 and K2 clutch drums and replace the big o-rings. That information does not seem to be available anywhere else. A Google search for Mercedes 722.4 will find it.

By the way, those two hidden o-rings are size -153: 3 1/2 ID by 3/32 thick. They are not in the rebuild kit.

You need a deep socket to get the rear nut off. I used a standard 3/4 inch drive, rather than a deep 1/2 inch drive, just because I had it.

You also need to make up some elementary spring compressors. I used the threaded bit of my big puller, and bits of black plastic ABS pipe and pipe fittings, with holes drilled in tthe sides to manipulate the snap rings. They don't have to push very hard, but you otherwise need three hands.

The manuals show a special tool for the little round side covers, but you don't need it. You can just push with a big socket. The spring behind is weak.

Rebuild kits periodically appear on eBay: gaskets, o-rings, seals, and often clutch plates. I did not need bands, but I needed the reverse clutch plates. I also needed some more little bits (to replace broken bits) from Mercedes, but they were pretty cheap.

The whole rebuild might have cost $250. I would have thought seriously about junking the car if faced with $2000 (more like $3000 here in Canada). I figured that if the rebuild went bad, I was only out $250 and my time.

While you are in there, you can do the rear engine seal.

Does the whole ugly prospect cause you to quail with horror?

Andrew
1989 190e 2.6
1990 Jaguar xj6
1975 Moto Guzzi 850T

I agree with ajme.
I also rebuilt my transmission with no previous automatic transmission experience (mine is a 1995 E320 with 722.3 transmission). I used all genuine parts and had to replace most of the steels as well as some plastic parts. The total parts cost was close to $700. I also had to disassemble and clean the valve to get proper shifting. The best part is that I now have a very good understanding of how the transmission works and I would not hesitate to buy another benz at a bargain price that needs transmission work.