Driveshaft sticky U-joint question
 

Hi, I'm replacing my drive shaft support bearing and support bracket as part of other work I'm doing on my W123. I noticed that the driveshaft U-joint is sticky what seems to be in the perfect center of the joints.

And by sticky I mean if I move the parts around - they are smooth until it centers, then it feels like the joint is falling into a groove of some sort. This is the same for all 4 directions of movement.

Does anyone know if this is the special design of the U-joint or a really bad wear? The old bearing was pretty lose and noisy - could have been original from 1982. The support bracket rubber was completely torn up.

Thanks.

You cant just replace the U joint, MB says you must replace the entire drive shaft:eek: I just did a center support and believe I remember my U joint being "sticky" in the center.
A GOOD drive shaft could replace the U joint if need be .

Mine was the same way. I replaced the support/bearing/boot/flex discs, and put it back in. No issues so far (almost 3,000 miles since then).

Same here, mine seemed to want to stay centered. It still felt tight, it just hung up at one spot. I replaced the bearing and have had no problems or noise at all.

The u joint rarely if ever flexes in normal operation on a w123. Dont worry about it.