Do you recall the name of the drive shaft repair place in Tampa, Dan? I have a vibration at speeds over about 55mph on my '83 300D which I hope will be cured by replacing a bad axle and noisy differential. The differential I got locally was unbolted at the flex disc which looks newer than the one on the car. Are there any kind of alignment marks or special things to watch out for if I just bolt the drive shaft on to the flex disc that's already mounted on the differential? Thanks, Gerry '83 300D and 240D ---------------------------------------------- From: "LWB250" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > I had a 250LWB, which is a 123 chassis that's been stretched (by the > factory) for use as a taxi. This particular chassis, due to the length, > has a three piece drive shaft, meaning two flex disk, two center bearings, > and three sections. > I don't recall what precipitated the problem, but it developed (or may > have had it when I got it) vibration at certain speeds. I found a bum > center bearing and carrier and replaced it. No joy. I replaced the > second center bearing and carrier. Still no relief. I R&R'ed it, checked > the marks, reassembled, nada. > This took place over the course of several months. By the final time I > R&R'ed the whole thing (I was getting really good at it!) I found what I > suspected was a bad U joint. Knowing that the process for replacing MB U > joints was a very specialized one, I went to my local drive shaft repair > house and talked to them about it. > "Heck, there's nothing special about that - we do it all the time!" > They had to ship it to their Miami location, since the shop here in Tampa > didn't have a balancer that could handle the length of my shaft. No > additional charge to do this, just a couple of days and it was back. I get the shaft in pieces, load it up, take it home and lay it out on the garage floor for reassembly. Guess what? They didn't put match marks on the pieces. Damn. > I called them up and was assured that it didn't matter, as they had > balanced it as separate sections as well as a complete shaft. What? They > also said that if I installed it and it still had vibration to bring it > back, they would rebalance it, and send it back with match marks. > That's ultimately what happened. A real PITA, but after nearly two years > I didn't have this horrendous vibration around 10 mph that sounded like it > was going to tear open the floor just above the second center bearing. > I still have a box of the locknuts for the flex disk bolts as a > reminder.... > Dan
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