I had time this weekend to replace the snapping axles in the '92 300D 2.5. The boots on the original axles were not cracked, briken, etc., but they were definitlely catching and breaking loose at times, so I ordered a pair of new ones, $70 each. When I got them, there were two different axles, with different part numbers - A210 350 84 10 and A129 350 41 10. I figured one fo them needed to be returned, so called Rusty. He checked his information, and said that Mercedes says they are interchangable. I thought this was good news - no waiting for an exchange to get the right parts to proceed.
The A210 350 84 10 axle looks very similar to the originals in the car. The A129 350 41 10 axle has a tothed ring on the wheel end, that looks like it might be input to a sensor that measures rotation. Seems that this axle is for cars with ASD and/or ASR, and is the native axle for a 300SL, 129 chassis. I thought, OK, so if it's interchangable, so what. When I started to tighten the axle nut, and the spline was being pulled into the hub, I noticed that the hub would no longer rotate - I wasn't having to hold it to keep it from turning. This was not a good sign! I took the axle out, and saw that the ends of the teeth were slightly smashed, looed in side the hub carrier, and saw marks where the teeht had been. I decided that the quickest way to get the car drivable again without re-using the old axle, was to grind off the teeth, which I did. The result was that part of the axle was 0.03" larger in diameter than the original axle. I figured that was close enough, installed it, and the hub, axle, etc. turns freely. The car drives fine now. Attached pictures show the difference between the two axles, and the marks instide the hub carrier. Lesson learned - regardless of what MB says, an A129 350 41 10 axle is NOT directly interchangable with the original axles in a non ASD/ASR 124 300D chassis! -- OK Don CONSERVATIVE, n. A statesman who is enamored of existing evils, as distinguished from the Liberal, who wishes to replace them with others. The Devil's Dictionary Ambrose Bierce -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Axles 124 email.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 62655 bytes Desc: not available URL: <http://okiebenz.com/pipermail/mercedes_okiebenz.com/attachments/20091213/1cec785a/attachment.jpg> -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Bearing housing email.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 54903 bytes Desc: not available URL: <http://okiebenz.com/pipermail/mercedes_okiebenz.com/attachments/20091213/1cec785a/attachment-0001.jpg> _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com For new and used parts go to www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
