Removing rear end

[jsaylor]

I'm about to pull the rear end off my '65 230 SL to replace rusted floor panel.  I plan on cleaning, painting... while it's out.
 :?:  What will I need to repair/replace and what sevice should I perform before I reinstall?  Anything I need to watch out for, be sure to do?

Thanks

Jim Saylor
Kauai, Hawaii
'65 230SL

[hands_aus]

Hey Jim,
There is lots of work that can be done...rebuilding the axle including replacing the wheel bearings, rubber mounts, rear brake flexible lines, new brake pads.. the list goes on.

My suggestion is do what you can afford and what needs to be done, keeping in mind that if you don't do it while you have the axle out eventually you will have to remove it again in the future.
If you can do the work yourself you will save lots of money on labour.
Upon advice from the MB service agent I had my rear axle rebuilt (bearings, rubber mounts etc) and drive shaft re-balanced with new flex joint and bearing, rubber mount, universal joints  when all I really needed was the axle rubber mounting replaced.
The job went from about AUD $1500.00 to AUD $4500.00 very quickly.
If your axle is in relatively good condition maybe you won't need to do much at this time.

Bob Smith (Brisbane,Australia)
RHD,1967 early 250 SL, auto

[jsaylor]

Bod,

Thanks for your input.  I will be doing the work myself and have ordered all the rubber parts as well as the bearings.
Thanks again,

Jim Saylor
Kauai, Hawaii
'65 230SL

[Douglas]

The rubber boot would be a good thing to change too, since the split boot repair kit tends to leak.

Douglas Kim
New York, NY
280 SL #016220

[A Dalton]

If you have it out , change the hanger pivot pin rubber bushing/mount. [ this is not the top mount, but the lower hanger mount that the pivot pin goes through]. The early ones had a two piece outer casing and had a fail rate , the newer version is has a solid one piece outer case.. much better.
 When replacing , make sure of the geometric measures /spacings and also that it is at right angle [ 90 degrees] to the left axle centerline.
 Lastly , align the diff. to the body chassis cenerline using an alignment tool [posted in the archieves]. This is the offset spec and it is 36mm to the right of C/L, +/-2mm. This adjustment is done with
the length adjustable cross strut.

[George Des]

This job is well within the rach of the hobbyist. My advice is to do it right and you'll just have to do it once. The rubber on the portion of your control arms that attaches to the axle itself will present somewhat of a challenge if the large nuts have rust welded themselves in place. If so. you'll have a heck of a time loosing these. Remembe they are stake locked in place with a lok plate. Heat will often help but just remember that there are four plastic/teflon bearings that will mosy likely be destroyed by the heat and will need to be replaced in addition to the rubber. It may be best to just buy a full repair kit instead of trying to replace individual parts like I did.  I'm fairly certain the repair kits will contain everything you'll need to do both sides. As I recall the kit costs about$150.00. I was able to  get away with individual piece replacement, but did "burn" up my plastic/teflon pieces in the process. Ray Paul was kind enough to break up a kit and sell me just these along with the rubber--this greatly reduced my cost. Make sure you change out the pinion bearing--there is a torque setting that needs to be observed here. The procedure is discussed in several of the available manuals including the Haynes. As someone else pointed out, do youself a big favor and use the solid rubber bellows instead of the split version. This is no big deal to do with the axle out and disassembled and will save you from having to play around with the staples and the almost certain leaks you'll get later. Your sliding joint is held in either with a 10mm hex head bolt or an allen head bolt. These have had a tendency in the past to loosen up over time causing the joint to flail around and to destroy the axle tube housing. I backed mine out, put some high strenght thread lock on the bolt and tightened back to the recommended torque setting. There are some differences between the rear axles on the 230sl and the other Pagodas. One notable difference is that there is no snap ring holding the right axle to the sliding joint, so the procedure of lifting the axle and pushing in on it until the snap ring catches does not apply in your case. One last thing, there are two different bearings for the rear axle--the sliding joint side uses a sel-aligning roller bearing--observe and respect this difference even though several source will tell you that the considerably less expensive ball bearing version can be used on both sides--remember "Do it right and do it once"



George Des

[jsaylor]

Well I couldn't help myself.
Pulled and dismantled entire rear end.  Wire brushed everything!  black epoxy primed all of it, including brake back plates, axle tubes, mounting brackets, springs...  Now I'm awaiting some parts and will reassemble all and refit.  I just hope it all makes sense when I put it back together.

Thanks for the invaluable input.

Jim Saylor
Kauai, Hawaii
'65 230SL