Make the job go easy. Drop the diff 6” . Just 4 bolts into the body above and behind the diff. Use a floor jack to lower easy. This saves having to use a pry bar to clear the centering pilot past the yoke.

Don’t hammer the bearing off. Get a long reach puller. Even a cheap one will work.
Go to a plumbing shop and scrounge a scrap of pipe about 8” x just enough to slip over the spline. Use this to hammer the new bearing and keeper disk into the seat.

What ever you do never put the universal joint in a vice. I saw this done at a MB dealer shop. What some people will do to sell a new drive shaft.

If the car drives smooth now the shaft halves is in the correct orientation. Do what ever you must to guarantee the halves go back in the same place. Punch some marks as close to gether as possible as the factory marks are sort of vague.

I guess every guy on the board has done this job or will do sooner or later. It gets easier every time. Enjoy.

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1984 300SD turbo 126
"My true love"

God made me an atheist and who am I to question His wisdom