Background: '85 300sd 300k miles. All CV boots look original and are not torn. Assume original axles due to original parts elsewhere on car (flexdiscs, motor mounts etc). Vehicle has 16" aftermarket wheels with improper oversized tires (to be addressed shortly).

Last night I removed all the wheels, one at a time, to inspect the hub surface and clean/lube the fasteners. For the rear I used the jack points with my floor jack and let it hang enough to remove the wheel. When I was done I moved the car out of the garage, turned around in the street and backed into the drive for my morning cummute.

When I left the driveway this morning I was greeted with an ugly axle bang bang bang. Very loud and not a subtle tick or click. I parked it and checked the axle by hand (car on the ground) and the left side moved a small amount. Nothing appeared broken. It felt like the axle disengaged from the hub and was jumping in and out of the splines.

Is it possible the hub fastener has come loose and the axle came out -or- is it more likely the spider assemble came apart? It really seems unusual for a failure to occur with no warning at all.

I will check it out when I get home this afternoon. After reading a few of the axle/boot threads, I have a good idea what to expect when I tear into it. New boots were on my list but was hoping to put them off for a bit while I took care of other issues. Now it could be a whole axle instead. /cringe

Mike

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'05 E320 CDI
'20 GLE 450

Yeah, you probably popped a CV joint out of socket.
Probably best to replace, if it happened by jacking the car, it might happen again when you hit a good bump at speed.
One thing I tried a few years back while looking for the source of a slight drivetrain vibration - I switched my axles left-right. It didn't affect the slight vibration, but I decided to leave them that way. I surmised that I would get thrust wear on the opposite side of the joint surfaces, and maybe get longer life. So far so good, been that way about 40k miles, and seem fine after a total of 200k miles.

DG

I jacked it up and checked them really close this afternoon. It seems the axles are solid and nothing is snapped. Both sides are engaged properly to the rear end. Perhaps a grease injection will remedy the issue until I can get some properly rebuilt units.

I suppose they were making noise and I never heard it over the rattle and clatters. Driving slowly with the windows down I can hear the subtle ticking very clearly.

__________________
'05 E320 CDI
'20 GLE 450

I wonder if these would work. From a w116. They look the same but I don't know if these parts interchange. Advise?

__________________
'05 E320 CDI
'20 GLE 450

The axles have a bolt securing them into the hub and a clip securing them into the differential. Unless one of those is missing and you jack the car up faaar, it should never come apart....

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-diesel is not just a fuel, its a way of life-
'15 GLK250 Bluetec 118k - mine - (OC-123,800)
'17 Metris(VITO!) - 37k - wifes (OC-41k)
'09 Sprinter 3500 Winnebago View - 62k (OC - 67k)
'13 ML350 Bluetec - 95k - dad's (OC-98k)
'01 SL500 - 103k(km) - dad's (OC-110,000km)
'16 E400 4matic Sedan - 148k - Brothers (OC-155k)

So I opened up all the boots today and the stock gear lube that came out was as thin as water. Really used up IMO. I packed them with bearing grease to hold it over till I get replacements or a reboot kit. If I reboot I will probably swap sides to even up the wear. I used wire ties and tightened with my tie wrap gun so I can add more grease later if I need to without spending money on more clamps.

My neighborhood test drive was satisfactory. The problem joint was a little noisy until the grease moved around in it.

__________________
'05 E320 CDI
'20 GLE 450

Hmmm, the left ends on those 116 axles look funny, with the long pins sticking out. Didn't have those on my 126 axles. The 126 diff connection is just a flat hub, bolted to the diff with about 6 bolts. The wheel end hub looks similar to mine.

DG

Yeah, this vehicle has axles without the center section bolts. I am still new to MB's so I have no idea which version is easier to shim for the C clip lash. I am used to fwd's where you just jam the axle into the tranny and carry on.

I am definitely going to reboot these and replace the grease with some syn gear lube, if the joints are ok.

__________________
'05 E320 CDI
'20 GLE 450

Joints are made by Lobro...

It was orginally a grease- go and buy CV joint grease.



Michael