I had a 116 diff swapped in my '79 300TD after I had a '85 turbodiesel installed and running, that 3.65 (or was it 3.47?) ratio was really awful, I cold burn rubber with it and it was screaming loud at anything over 55MPH. The key point I want to make is SHIMS!
Be sure to have as many shims available for the half shafts, or a full set if you can find one, because that was the only major issue encountered with that particular swap. A good friend had a set of shims squirreled away at the shop where I worked occasionally in exchange for using the lift. I think they are NLA so if you don't have the right shims your camber is going to wreck tires. And you will want to go back to the previous diff!
After owning an '83 300D for several years I found a 2.87 for it and had it installed, man! was the change dramatic, quicker overall, quieter at freeway speeds and fuel consumption was somewhat less, not as much of an improvement as I hoped but also if I now drove faster that added to the reduced fuel mileage.
And because 80 was now a breeze then yes, one could say that makes it more dangerous
I always said that is the ratio MB should have put in the 617 turbodiesels in the first place, unfortunately they waited until late ;84 and the last year of production in '85 to do that.
Oh, did no one mentioned another aspect associated with swapping the diff that is the speedo error that results?
Rather than try to find the right instrument cluster, I had my speedo cal'd to make it read the actual speed.
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Originally Posted by Diseasel300
The 603 with the 2.88 isn't exactly a rocketship off the line either, and it has more power AND torque than the 617 does. I'd suspect the 617 with the 2.47 could be borderline dangerous...
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re: .... a 603 isn't a rocketship off the line.
Well, to the subject matter at hand, the other day I drove my '87 300D and was a bit tweeked as someone took forever getting their car out of a parking place at the entrance to a parking lot, so finally when they got clear I stepped on the accelerator like I do in the '79 with the 617 turbo engine in it and to my shock my Rt rear tire broke traction and I squealed a few feet up to the parking place - wow burning rubber in the diesel made me feel like a teenager all over again!
I felt a little embarrassed as I walked back to see the streak I just left on the pavement. I was a bit curious as this doesn't happen often, probably because I don't intentionally floor it that much but I didn't see anything that would contribute to the experience so I might go back and try it again as a controlled experiment. I'll follow up with the results here later.