Anyone know how to tell what length my axle is? Local Napa can get me ONE of the two they have listed after 1230 today. One is listed as 24 13/16" length, the other is 26..something. The shorter is all they have. The other is not available anywhere in the supply chain.

I hate to be nearly useless, but I am juggling work as well. Does anyone know what list of tools I need to round up? Not sure if the inner joint is removed with a "tri-square" tool as per Porsche/VW/etc. The outside I believe is a single large nut. Not sure what size.

I assume I can undo both ends of the axle, drop the inboard end and slide out the outboard end. Anything I am missing?

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85 300D 3 pedal. Current project.
83 300TD (need rear wiper assembly dead or alive)
84 300SD Daily driver
85 300TD almost 400k miles and driven daily.
98 E300D *sold
86 300SDL *sold and made flawless 10 hour journey to new home.

The 300SD axle is just under 27 inches long, so that longer hard to get one is the wrong one for your 300TD, sounds like they have the correct shorter one in stock for you fortunately. 24 13/16ths sounds about right for a 123 chassis


Depending on what type axle it is, you will have to pop the diff cover and remove a circlip inside the diff that holds the axle in position from that side. Some have an external bolt flange on the diff side, but that will be obvious when you look under, and there is a specific name I can never remember, homokenetic or some such that differentiates them. Someone who knows im sure will post and correct me.

If you don't see that bolt flange, you must remove the diff cover to get the axle out.
I think the diff bolts are either a 13 or 14, and a hooked dental pick or small pliers are useful for grabbing the circlip inside. On the outside there is a longish hub bolt that is 10-14mm (sorry) and a punch and hammer will be useful to drive the splines out of the hub. Also a pry bar might come in handy

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just a word of warning, I had a similar vibration failure on my 300D a couple years ago, where the car started hopping and jumping, and the axle had heated up enough that it was nearly impossible to remove easily, the joints were really sluggish to move, and i could not compress it to get either side out of the diff or hub. I ultimately had to cut the dam thing in half to get it out.
It could be bad, just for contingency planning on your end

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