Bad Flex Disc
 

Pictures of my rear flex disc that was bad.
:EDIT: 1985 300SD disc failed at 250,000 miles.

More pictures
 

of bad flex disc.

Bad news when one of those puppys lets go, so I'm told.
Thanks much for the images.

Front Flex Disc
 

In reading my manual for the 280TE, it says you must off center position the forward flex disc (trans end). In other words the bolts do NOT center on the holes in the disc. Is there a reason for this? :confused:

How many miles were on this vehicle and what vintage was it?

Also - I'm still looking for your temp display, going to look about tomorrow. :)

Sorry.
 

Look at the first post, I edited it in. :o

Ah... makes me think that I still should consider replacing mine just as PM anyway...

Important thing to check several times a year......and not after the driveshaft tries to recontour the center tunnel.

I wonder how my flex disks look...

...that little extra power...my constant right foot on the floor...and occasional downshifts to drop speeds into the legal sector probably don't help much :)

I checked them when I got the car...time to check them again.

Whunter did you notice any vibrations...oddities...anything?

Is a sign of impending doom a kind of subtle clunkiness that occurs when braking from say, 35-0mph with minimal-moderate brake pressure? Or are those the balljoints complaining?

Some do, some do not
 

Some do, some do not.:confused:
In the 1980's, I had one that gave no warning, picked it up from customer fifteen miles away, broke going into the service garage bay.:eek:
It may show vibrations and other oddities at high speed, moments before reforming body metal.:eek: :eek:

Flex disc
 

Here's my 10 dollar thought.
PLEASE!! Change those flex discs at 10 years without fail!
They are easy to change and can be purchased at other places than the dealership. The dealer price is $130. And only $2 for each (set of two) rubber bushings for the shift linkage.
On a 1991 300SL it was told to me that the airbag activation mechanism is directly linked to the drive shaft!! If the flex disc fails completely it can deploy the VERY expensive air bags. This 'disc' is composed with rubber therefor it is strongly advisable that you take a look at the strut mounts as well. Here's the deal; All the rubber components only last so long before they 'dry-up' or otherwise decompose. The thottle linkage on this car has a rubber bushing that holds the very end of the thottle cable to the 'carburator' (if you will) and costs about $3. It takes less than 10 minutes to install the new (plastic) one. Throttle linkage... cable pulled thru in an intersection and there I was stuck in idle and needed to wire this thing together to limp home. Ordered the part via UPS next day air and installed it. A $3 part puts an $80,000 machine out of comission.
Again I'd like to mention... Check ALL of the rubber components at this time. It will save you a fortune! The damage that can be done might well constitute total loss of the car, whereas the cost of all of the rubber parts are only around one thousand dollars.
$6 for the rubber grommett for the antennia and the trunk was all wet, yup! CD changer is right there.

YES, the flex disc gave out in my car. It broke, while spinning around it ripped the oxygen sensor cable out, vibrated, banged, and stalled the car. Towing, loss of work time, the cost of resetting the codes, etc. And even at this it's clear that I'm LUCKY!!
......An ounce of prevention (PM) is worth a pound of green paper :)

Yikes
 

Brandon and I just changed the transmission in my 76 300D. The flex disk that came off looked way worse than that and it only had 129K. But then again this car is totally (#$%^&@) for a car with only 129K. Blown head gasket, fried tranny, injectors pee fuel like an alchohlic, and it leaks fuel like a 2 year olds diaper. Not to mention has an infection of Algea good enough in its own to harvest and make bio-diesel out of. The new flex disck we put on from the other tranny isn't so hot either. I'm going to be changing that really soon here.

Pictures of the old one please.
 

Pictures of the old one please.

I left the tranny at Brandons. I'll e-mail him and ask him if he can take a picture of it.