Lots of good info there, ShiftNob. Thanks for taking the time to put that together for everyone.

 

David, thanks for making it it readable. Good job, Bud.

 

OOH, yeah... I don't recall seeing that in my service manual, I think I may want to take another look! I had to borrow a 1/2" drill to finish my exhaust, so as long as I am right there under the car, I will take a look at that! Thanks!

 

yeah! mystery solved. I found these 3 freaky parts in the trunk of my 107. Had no idea what they were. All 3 appear to be different sizes, wonder why. Are they the same size on both ends? im gonna look up under her tonight and see what they look like on the car.

 

Looks like one of them is already 11 years old.
I wouldn't use a "new" 11 year old rubber part.
Many different part numbers over the years.
Due diligence.

 

just checked underneath. rear looks good. cant see front. As long as they still make these Ill definately toss these old ones. thanks for the knowledge. daws

 

A most excellent piece, Nobby, thanks for scribing it.

Holy cow, those pictures of catastrophic flex disc failure are pretty frightening...but I'm happy to see the Hindenburg zeppelin design engineers apparently found employment again after that unfortunate Lakehurst thingy!

Good road,

 

Another great thread. I'm starting to collect so many bookmarks from this forum, it's getting difficult to keep them organized.

 

That one is in the encyclopaedia germanica.

 

That one is in the encyclopaedia germanica.

The EG is your friend.

 

Im in the process of doing flex disks now also.
Replacing the Center bearing and support also .
Is there a specific direction as to which way to install it on the shaft ?
Naturally the spring clip is toward the rear of the car . But should the center bearing being seated in the carrier face forward or to the rear ,or would it not matter ?
Correct me if wrong . But I would think the support race that the bearing bottoms out into in the carrier should face forward on the shaft.

 

I dunno. I put it back the way I took it apart.

 

Great work, nobby!

 

Well your better than I
I forgot which way I took it apart.
And you'd thnk Id remember after having it for 30 sumtin years
So ! Which way was that ??????????

 

I've never had one of these apart, or examined one in an M-B, but here are a couple things that might help. Examine the bearing as best you can. If it is an angular contact bearing, it is meant to accomadate thrust as well as radial loading and should be installed in the manner in which the bearing will accept the thrust load. If you cannot adequately see the raceways, look for a "loading slot" in the inner and outer races. This will look like a half-round cutout that allows the balls to be loaded on assembly. If present, that surface should be opposite any thrust loading. I would presume thrust on the drive shaft to be in the direction of the differential.

 

The car had been sitting up on horses for the past several weeks .
Replaced the shifter lever bushings ,Transmision mount , Flex Dics and Center bearing with carrier .
I stand corrected on which way it went in as the short section of driveshaft goes toward the front of the car . Thus the clip on the center bearing faces forward .
This would place the bearing against the race in the carrier facing toward the rear .
As the car squats during acceleration and the shafts stretches .The folds in the carrier rubber seem to stretch in a correct manor

 

FYI
I just changed front and rear and could not get the rear to telescope. Used large pry bar with more than medium force no go. Lossened carrier bearing no go. Rear needed fairly large screw driver inserted between each flange arm and flex disk on both the drive shaft flange and the rear end flange to get the old flex disc off. I'm sure it had been there a long time. Did not need to loosen carrier bearing mount.
Hope this helps sombody else.

 

Did you loosten the drive shaft collet nut. That big ~46mm that tightens the drive shaft halves together.

 

Can you say Never Seez ?
On all those under body nuts and bolts .
Even on the centering bushing of the drive shaft

 

Those little bushing nubs are a press fit into the flange they are supposed to be tight. Best way to remove to to put a 10mm drift pin (I use a tapered brass drift) in the bushing and wobble them out, just like the manual says.

 

And don't break it. It's stupid money for what it is.

 

rear flex disk attach

I am in the process of replacing the rear flex disk, and when I telescope the propshaft forwark there is another shaft that doesn't move???? Do I have to drop the exhaust and loosen the center coupling??????? How far do it go?

Well I pryed it out, but the propshaft does not stay forward, something isn't right. I'm going to drop the exhaust and start from scratch. I was putting off the tranny filter anyway, guess it's time..

 

I am in the process of replacing the rear flex disk, and when I telescope the propshaft forwark there is another shaft that doesn't move???? Do I have to drop the exhaust and loosen the center coupling??????? How far do it go?

Well I pryed it out, but the propshaft does not stay forward, something isn't right. I'm going to drop the exhaust and start from scratch. I was putting off the tranny filter anyway, guess it's time..

Yes, I think you have to drop the exhaust to get to the 46mm nut that allows the shaft to move forwarsd enough to clear the pilot bushing. Be carful. The centering bushing is plastic and will break. I have read posts of someone breaking them and they are like $70 each.

 

You may not need to remove the exhaust system, just loosen it. I was able to get mine done by taking the rubber donuts off and lowering the tubes enough to get clearance.

 

I'll try that tomorrow morning, would make life easier, and I know if I drop that POS exhaust off, I won't want to put it back on, and don't have a replacement yet. I do have a 75 450 SLC in the back now, and might look at it and see if it would fit, I'd just have to shorten it a bit Thanks

 

Well I decided to drop the POS exhaust, and pull the propshaft, change the tranny mount, carrier bearing, tranny filter and fluid chage, (I had the parts in the garage, just didn't want to do it right now). While I was replacing the rear subframe mounts, I looked over and saw the crack in the flex disk:crybaby2:.
If you look at the exhaust, the only clamps you see are the cross over pipe, that's alot of fun to wrestle out of there... I hate the thought of putting it back in. It's times like this I miss living in Detroit....

Just want to mention that I have looked at the flex disks prior, and I guess I didn't rotate them full circle, and look at both sides of it close enough.

And that my friend is why I don't do burn outs in forien countries

 

And that my friend is why I don't do burn outs in forien countries

Chickenshit...

Just kidding...

Actually, our teenage highway driving probably was just as risky!

And may I say... holy shit! what a crack in that disc! YIKES!

 

And that my friend is why I don't do burn outs in forien countries

On the other hand.
The parts would have cost less here.

 

I declined to particapate the burn outs at the Fleetwood GTG, just didn't seem like a good idea at the time. Guess I might have been right..

 

Well, there was certainly no pressure to do it, you always gotta go with what you're comfortable with, besides, you were doing a fine job of driving through orange lights, so you were fully engaged in the fun anyhow!

Glad to see you got them off and looked at with the intention of replacement...

I have so much rubber to replace on my car, I amshudderoing to think about it.

 

Sincere regrets that you had to "go all the way" and remove the whole exhaust system. I couldn't remove mine, as the bolts at the manifold wouldn't co-operate.

But it's VERY good that you got to the discs before one of them failed. Don't feel too bad about missing the cracks, sometimes it's hard to see up under there because of shadows and light coming from off directions.

We're not pros at this, just enthusiasts. We'll miss something on occasion.

Scott

 

I was impressed when I dropped the exhaust. i broke both bolts on the right side, come to find out, the nut on top of the manifold is replaceable, they press into the manifold,and sit in a notched area to prevent rotation. But if the bolt breaks, you just knock them out with a drift and replace em....

 

That is cool, I did not know that.

 

I am impressed with the professional exhaust removal and proper decorum with beer bottle and black fuzzy dice.

 

Wow! I can't believe that I missed the Black Fuzzy Dice in the picture!

Great stuff rc!

 

Look what I found under the 450SLC parts car. Now I have a little cut and plice puzzle, should loose quite a bit of wieght with the swap. Also included a pic of the exhaust nuts, and manifold. Now let me add that the 380SL had stock bolts and nuts, the SLC on the other hand had *&^%&! bolts and nuts installed, took almost 3 hours on my back in the dirt to get those out, had to drummel cut one off, wish I had a set of torches, next on the list I guess.

OK CCtoronto, can u find waldo????

 

Is that him in the Folger's can behind the 380?