I assume you made it back, but the 108 manual says not to tow more than 5 miles IIRC without a flatbed. Damage to the rear axle is possible at this point. Personally, I wouldn't tow a RWD vehicle a long distance with a dolly. I know the Uhaul trailers are heavy, but I'd suck it up & use one, one-way-tow (I recently did a pickup of a dolly, drove >250 miles, picked up the car & drove 250 back; I will not ever drive an empty dolly that many miles again for the sake of my ears, even in my well-padded Jeep it was quite loud and obnoxious over uneven road.

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Current:
2021 Charger Scat Pack Widebody "Sinabee"
2018 Durango R/T

Previous:
1972 280SE 4.5
2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited "Hefe", 1992 Jeep Cherokee Laredo "Jeepy", 2006 Charger R/T "Hemi"
1999 Chrysler 300M - RIP @ 221k

The mileage limitation is mostly for an automatic transmission.

The rear axle won't suffer any damage, they do get hot even in normal use.

Most manual trans are OK being towed however since the input and counter shaft ( the one on the bottom ) are not turning to splash lube around, the bearing between input and output shaft will get dry. To get past this every X miles run the engine to splash lube or over fill the trans.

Save yourself all the worry and disconnect the driveshaft prior to a flat tow.

Later on down the road, when you're working on your 'new' W108, if you can find a dead fintail, you can swap your dysfunctional hydraulic compensator for a coil spring substitute.

Ironically, I already parted out a 1969 280s w108 and had a spring and bracket sitting on the shelf. I just didn't think to send it on the voyage. Major fail. But the rubber blocks seem to be handling the situation now that the car is "home" in the shop. Next step is to learn how to prep a mechanical injection vehicle for its first start in about 20 years. There was still oil on the oil filler cap threads, and I even got a little oil on my finger tip wine I ran it across one of the cam lobes. So for all I know, this car will run. Maybe it has run recently. Hm...


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Past mb: '73 450sl, '81 280slc stick, '71 250, '72 250c, '70 250c, '79 280sl, '73 450sl, parted: '75 240d stick, '69 280s, '73 450slc, '72 450sl,

I wasn't too worried about the trans melting down, I believe Mercedes manual are full syncro-mesh and all the gears are spinning together. At least the tail shaft is throwing atf around in there(Mercedes manuals use atf). My main concern was the excessive camber causing one of many issues​.
1. Tires/wheels rubbing the inner fender shock bubble. I fixed that by putting some rubber cushions in the main springs.
2. Tires were getting really hot. Even after the initial fix it was considerably cambered in.
3. The universal joint in the swing axle isn't designed to run at that angle for 650 miles at 65-75 mph.
4. The axle bearing at the hub side may have been running without an oil bath because of the axle tube angle.

The last one popped into my head after about an hour of driving and forced me to do something about it. The thought of it locking up the rear wasn't sitting well at all, plus I really doubt the tires would have gone the distance.

The hydro-pneumatic compensator just looks like a large diameter shock. I jacked the rear up in the middle and cut the boot off exposing the shaft. It's about 6" fully extended. I got these rubber spring boosters at o'rieleys auto parts that I think are for MacPherson struts, there about 4" long and about 1.5 x 2" rectangle. I cut a v groove in them long ways so they would sit on the shaft better and hose clamped them to it. I also used a cheapo orange ratchet strap folded over a bunch of times to take up the extra space between the rubber blocks so they would stay where I needed them. The large diameter of the compensator and the end mount gave the rubber blocks a nice place to push on. When I dropped the car it sat PERFECTLY!! No more camber and all the associated worries

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WARNING!!! VINTAGE MERCEDES MAY MULTIPLY UNCONTROLABLY!!! I have tons of Sl/Slc parts w108 w111 w126 and more. E-mail me with needs
BirchsgarageMB@gmail.com

Nice work! Thank you!


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Past mb: '73 450sl, '81 280slc stick, '71 250, '72 250c, '70 250c, '79 280sl, '73 450sl, parted: '75 240d stick, '69 280s, '73 450slc, '72 450sl,

"Syncro mesh" only relates to engagement of gears when shifting.

In a countershaft double reduction type transmission, only the output shaft will rotate when being towed, the gears are stationary. There is a chance the reverse idler or 5th gear is spinning but that wold be transmission specific.

With the engine running, the input shaft turns the countershaft splashing lube to the high level of the trans. In other words, the input shaft has a gear on it that is constantly engaged to the counter shaft, this rotates when the engine is running but not when being towed.

Have a look at power flow diagrams for a trans and open one up, hold the input shaft then rotate the output shaft.

And, while we are in the subject, neutral in a auto trans isn't neutral. Planetary gear trains can spin to high speeds when towed and run dry.

So we are ok? Or is the trans screwed?

Is a 1972 350sl manual trans any different?
That got dragged home from NC but with far less drama.

I've dollied plenty of auto trans MB where the auto trans was fine after a drag. I can't recall what the longest was though. So many of these cars never end up getting started. The farthest for me may have been only a half hour or so. However, I've had one fall into gear and start up on my other friend that was driving my truck. The key was in the on position, and I can't recall if we had a battery in it. I think we did. It's fine though. That ride was only about 2 mikes tops.


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Past mb: '73 450sl, '81 280slc stick, '71 250, '72 250c, '70 250c, '79 280sl, '73 450sl, parted: '75 240d stick, '69 280s, '73 450slc, '72 450sl,

Manual trans are more tolerant of towing than autos. However if the manual trans car was sitting not run for an extended period of time, oil would have dripped off the top 1/2 of the trans, this is where the motion will be occurring during a flat tow.

I'd drain the oil then pull the trans cover and have a look at the output shaft bearing , needle bearing between the input / output shaft and each gear where is rotated on the main ( output ) shaft. The reason for draining first is if an area overheated, it will be dry / dark. If the trans is sloshed around oil will cover the area making it more difficult to tell if there is any damage.

http://webcontent.goodsam.com/motorhomemagazine.com/2015DinghyGuide.pdf
This only lists newer cars

Jeep shows rear drive based manual trans 4 wd must be in gear but transfer case in neutral. ( most transfer cases have a rear pump for lube, placing the manual trans in gear keeps the trans from spinning. )

Nissans are towable with manual trans if the engine is run for 2 min every 500 miles.

Crap. The slave cylinder was screwed on both the 350sl and the 250se. The 350sl runs with an aux fuel supply and pump. I guess we better get that slave fixed and make that car run to test and make sure that v8 manual trans is not trashed. Then do the same on the 250se that had been sitting 20 years. The price was right on the car, even if it ends up purely parts. But it looks good enough to put on the road for a while if we rattle can the front fenders.


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Past mb: '73 450sl, '81 280slc stick, '71 250, '72 250c, '70 250c, '79 280sl, '73 450sl, parted: '75 240d stick, '69 280s, '73 450slc, '72 450sl,

Drain the oil , remove trans , pull side cover. Driving might not uncover any issues in the short term.