I'm guessing you're looking at the W123 factory manuals. Confusing, aren't they? I think the reason that section is so confusing is because it is written for a much wider variety of car than just the W123. Possibly they use that one section in a lot of manuals.

Anyway, here's a chronicle of some earlier work I did with the help of member SW. If you accidently ended up at Performance Products I think they'd only have one type axle for your car.

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/showthread.php?threadid=22342

Ken300D