Driving at 65 the other day I lost the dust cover that goes on the driveline just in front of the center carrier bearing. When it ripped off I thought I was losing the driveline from the noise....

My question is this:
What would cause it to rip loose? it split into three pieces (of which I found 2) and besides hitting something in the road that may have bounced up and hit it is there another cause for this happening? I did not hear anything hit the underside of the car but maybe that is all that happened.

Thanks for the input...

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'99 S420 - Mommies
'72 280SE 4.5 - looking to breathe life into it
'84 300SD Grey - Sold
'85 300SD Silver - Sold
'78 Ski Nautique

I am not very familiar with your model. On mine, the exhaust heat sheild does a good job of protecting the center support. The frame floor underneath still shows the factory undercoat without much dirt. With the age of your car, the rubber was probably just rotted out and came free. THe rubber boot on my '87 was not in really good condition when I replaced the mount. It was cracked and tore pretty easy.

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Brian Toscano

Been there, done that! I thought something SERIOUS was happening underneath. These cars in the 20 year old category now, rubber rots with age. I never replaced the rubber boot and it did not seem to hurt anything.

Good luck,

Down here we have " suicide Armadillos" which throw themselves againt the bottom of the vehicle....but I don't know if you have any critters up there with those " issues"....

Naw, it was midmorning I think I would have found body parts under there too...

__________________
'99 S420 - Mommies
'72 280SE 4.5 - looking to breathe life into it
'84 300SD Grey - Sold
'85 300SD Silver - Sold
'78 Ski Nautique