Background: '85 300sd 300k miles. All CV boots look original and are not torn. Assume original axles due to original parts elsewhere on car (flexdiscs, motor mounts etc). Vehicle has 16" aftermarket wheels with improper oversized tires (to be addressed shortly).

Last night I removed all the wheels, one at a time, to inspect the hub surface and clean/lube the fasteners. For the rear I used the jack points with my floor jack and let it hang enough to remove the wheel. When I was done I moved the car out of the garage, turned around in the street and backed into the drive for my morning cummute.

When I left the driveway this morning I was greeted with an ugly axle bang bang bang. Very loud and not a subtle tick or click. I parked it and checked the axle by hand (car on the ground) and the left side moved a small amount. Nothing appeared broken. It felt like the axle disengaged from the hub and was jumping in and out of the splines.

Is it possible the hub fastener has come loose and the axle came out -or- is it more likely the spider assemble came apart? It really seems unusual for a failure to occur with no warning at all.

I will check it out when I get home this afternoon. After reading a few of the axle/boot threads, I have a good idea what to expect when I tear into it. New boots were on my list but was hoping to put them off for a bit while I took care of other issues. Now it could be a whole axle instead. /cringe

Mike

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'05 E320 CDI
'20 GLE 450