The grooved nut holding the pinion came off alarmingly easy, hardly took any torque at all...

Next question: How do I get the inner ring of the front roller bearing off the input shaft so I can change the crush sleeve? Do I need to make a special puller for this?

The contact surface for the seal looks okay, no wear which I can feel with my nail. Only a small segment has the oil return thread, I think this is how it should be.

Karsten

It is hard to get it off the pinion shaft.
The crush changes I have done have been from the back with the pinion out upon reassem.
That's why it is so import not to overcrush the sleee.

Why would you want to change the crush ? Did the pinion nut have too much load on the bearing???

On the oil return, you can just hash it at 45 degrees w/sandpaper [80 grit] to get them clened and recut.

I just thought it was relatively simple to change the crush sleeve, so I wanted to do it.

I have seen plenty of warnings against dissembling the differential, so I would prefer not to do this if possible. I guess taking the pinion out would mess with the whole alignment of the differential?

Should I just tighten the grooved nut to 20 kg/m and check if the torque requiered to turn the pinion is within specs?

The book states grain 180 for the oil return thread?

Karsten

Sorry .. typo on grit .. 180 is correct
Also, nice job on the tool rig .. I like the epox trick... I should have mentioned that some guys use a thick 1" , 1/2 drive socket and cut the pins on it .. that allows for breaker bar useage and you can then use a 1/2 to 3/8 adapter so you can use an in/lb torque wrench on it for spec load. [ more on that below]
Yours looks so good, if you put a part# and paint it up, it would look like you bought it..nice to see there are a few of us tool-makers still here !!

The only time you would want to change the crush is if it were tightened too much. Once that happens , it can not be stretched back , so you have to use a new one .
If you indexed the nut before you took it off , you return it to that mark and all is well.
The problem with that is you are only back to where it was and that does not mean it was correct to start with .[ bearing wear , or worst, someone in there before you]
So , here is the correct way if you have torque tools:
You tighten nut to about 100ft/lbs. [ starting point] Now , you take wheels off ground [ axle tubes level/brake off]and you turn the flange by the nut with a in/lb torque wrench. You see how much force [ in inch/lbs] it takes to turn the pinion.
The spec you want is 24/26 in/lb BEFORE the nut starts to turn. This is the bearing load. An easy explanation is the same as if you were tightening a front wheel bearing. As you tighten the wheel bearing , the tire is harder to spin.. same deal with the pinion. So , you tighten the nut a little at a time [ I use about 1/8"]until it takes 24/26 "/lbs to turn the pinion. Then you know you have correct load on the bearings. There is no way that you can just tighten the nut to a certain ft/lbs and know what the preload on the bearings is , so you have to go back each time you tighten and recheck the load . The torque reguired to get there is usually anywhere between 100 and 150 ft/lbs on the nut .. but you won't know that til you test the turning force with "/lbs torque test.
The confusion guys have is "Turning force " and Tightening torque" are two different measures. and the required Final Tighten Torque of the Nut is totally dependent on the Turning force spec of 24/26 in/lbs.
I am sure you get this and I only write it up for followers of the post.
One can now see that if the nut is tightened too much, [resulting in premature bearing wear/noise],the crush sleeve shortens as the bearing load gets too high and can not be reversed by simply loosening the nut .. it is KAPUT ...you have ruined it , you Dumbkoff !!!!
This is a tricky job and not recommended for weekend worriors.. except you and me ..
End of story...

He, yes the epox trick worked really well, I got close to a press fit on the tollerances. Tried with speedmarker and engraving pen to start with, but it was almost impossible to get the markings right. The tool has a 26 mm hex at the back side, so I can easily interface to it.

Okay, I got it on the torque settings. The 24 in/lbs is close to 2.7 Nm, right? Sorry we are spoiled with metric here in Europe

I have to get a smaller torque wrench, my smallest starts from 10 Nm.....

Karsten

Yeah , metric is cool... but , here I am in USA
It is best to use a torque wrench where what you are looking for is about 1/2 way on the scale/capacity, just for accuracy..
.. you knew that too..

8.85 conversion factor

Regarding your axles, I have the axles out of my early 250SL at present. The insertion length of the splines looks the same as yours (in fact the axles look identical).

V,
What color is you .043 ?

What aboult the length of the axles...
Tnx

Arthur,

The car is Signal Red, DB568H, with Caviar Tex #116. You may recognize the car from the Pagoda Group site.

Both axles measure 671.5mm from the flange face (where the wheel bolts on). The axles have never been out of the car before. That measurement corresponds exactly with my 1969 Technical Data book.

Yes , now I do. Did not know your sig over there..

Does your data show any axles w/different length . L/R ??
Tnx

Yes, the 230SL and 600 show different lengths, left and right. In my 1963 Technical Data book all models have different axle shft lengths, left and right. From my info it seems the W113 received an updated rear axle when the W108 came out, thus both axles became the same length.

Also, the changes making both axles the same length apply to the W111 chassis as well. I should have mentioned that because the thread started with that chassis. I other words, a W111 250 should have equal length axles, whereas a W111 220 likely has unequal length axles.

That is what I figured.
Does the 108/280se-4.5 show same length as the 250/043. ?
I don't think that book will cover them.

I have a set of them [ just axles/bearings]. The right has the the cut for the retainer clip on the end, but I do not think that makes a difference for interchange to the earlier style.
Tnx

K,
One last part I forgot to mention ... while you are at it , take the breather vent off and clean the filter well.. these are infamous for blockage and are a main contributor to pinion seal leaks.

This thread should probably get moved over to 'Vintage' , just for archieves sake..

I did search the archives and found comments about the breather vent, so I will clean this also.

Otherwise things are progressing, ordered the little torque wrench and got a tool to get the inner wheel bearing seals out of the axle tubes. They are pretty stuck there.

The right axle half is sand blasted, next is to fix a small rust hole in the shock mounting bracket. I'll insert a small piece of steel into the hole and weld it. It can be done so it is not possible to see afterwards.

My new pinion seal has the contact surface further back than the old one, this is great, since cleaning revealed some wear.

Well slowly getting there, looking forward to mount everything by now

Karsten