This afternoon I opened the differential from my 92 190E. The back cover was definetly leaking and the axle seals seem to have some leakage too. I have 2 spare seals here. I know that in order to replace those, I need to remove the circlips holding the axle flanges to the differential. However, if I look at how the diff is made, it seems that the 2 stub axles are the only thing holding the differential in place in the casing. I do not want to have to re-shim the diff as it wasn't noisy and doing this is a lenghty procedure. If I remove the axle flanges, can I just put everything back after that without alignment?

The differential housing is supported on the side bearings that are on the outside of the necks of the diff housing; the stub axles slide in through the inside of the necks of the diff housing. Removing the stub axles does not disturb the side bearings. The circlips (aka, C-clips) that retain the stub axles are on the inboard ends of the stubs, next to the spider gear pin.

...and to add - removing the flanges doesn't mess up any adjustment within the differential.

The only point to remember is that there are shims used to make sure that the C clips that hold the flanges in place are "snug". I say snug - these clips need to be really tight so that the flanges can not wobble about (and mess up the tightness and meshing of the smaller differential cogs in the cage)

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1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver
1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone
1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy!
1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing

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