not sure what you mean, you show the tool but not the nut. Do you mean the threaded bushing in the rear axle shaft for reduction of M12 to M8?? That one is 30 newton meters. The instructions are page 35-620 "installation of rear axle shaft"

 

Yeah, my chassis manual job 35-130 gives two values, 95 nm for first version (M 12), and 30nm for second version (M8).

 

job 35-360 (that's from W126 manual, may be same job on your chassis?)

you are looking for an end play of .04-.06mm when you tighten the nut. if you go too far you have to put a new crush washer in.



The other responses are for the bolt that hold the axle in. you are replacing the bearings.

 

The inner special nut needs to be tightened until the flange play is 0.04 mm, tighten 1/8 of a turn, wiggle the hub and measure movement, repeat until you are close. If you overtighten, you have to take the hub apart and replace the crush washer. (crushes only once)

The outside bolt comes in two dimensions, 12 or 8 mm, check size and torque accordingly. (95 or 30 newton meters)

I have learned the hard way, that the races have to be changed even if they appear to have no wear.

 

With the rear suspension disassembled, this is how I was finally able to set the rear hub assembly to the proper float. i.e. bolt the hub to a wheel, pin the wheel under the weight of your next project car, add a 6' long square tube as an extension to the breaker bar, then walk it around slowly and gently, taking lots of pauses to check the float as you tighten it down with the special hub tool on the end. Takes a lot of toque-down to crush the spacer, but as others have said, if you take it too far it won't bounce back and you'll need to start again with a new one.

I am quite sure the Germans that wrote the manual had other methods in mind, but sometimes ******* methods get the job done too!

 

I am quite sure the Germans that wrote the manual had other methods in mind, but sometimes ******* methods get the job done too!

Love it!

 

Thanks for the replies. Several of you listed manual pages which I don't seem to find. Mine is an 83 380SL.

The online manual for an 83 380SL has the following sections under Chassis and Body

35-010 Removal and Installation of Complete Rear Axle
35-040 Removal and installation of front rubber bearing of rear axle suspension
35-050 Removal and installation of rear bearing of rear axle suspension

Here is what is available under "Rear Axle"

Is there manual instructions under a different year that will guide me?




I suppose if I am going drive this car for a while I ought to buy the printed manual

 

You are probably looking for 35-130.

 

@PanzerPuff

Hot damn. Exactly what I needed. Thanks. I couldn't hind this section in the online manual

 

I have the paper manuals, three volumes including the engine. They cover every model ever made so you have to be careful you're looking at the right version. But with the paper I can use markers and margin notes, it is a real education to just page through.

 

Here is the electronic table of contents for the rear axle section for the 1983 380SL. I agree German taxonomy can be verwirrend. Let me know if you need a copy of any section below I will upload it.

35 Rear Axle

Bad Wheel Bearing?
Trailing Arm Bushing Replacement
Rear axle

35-010 - Removal and installation of complete rear axle
35-040 - Removal and installation of front rubber bearing of rear axle suspension
35-050 - Removal and installation of rear rubber bearing of rear axle suspension
Semi-trailing arm

35-110 - Removal and installation of semi-trailing arm, replacement of rubber bearings
35-130 - Removal and installation of rear axle shaft flange, adjustment of bearings
Inspection of wheel location

35-410 - Complete inspection of rear axle directional stability
35-420 - Checking semi-trailing arms
35-430 - Checkup of rear axle carrier
Rear axle center piece

35-500 - Differentiating characteristics, installation survey for rear axle center piece
35-520 - Removal and installation of rear axle center piece with rear axle shafts
35-530 - Replacement of radial sealing ring on drive pinion
35-540 - Replacement of radial sealing ring of rear axle shaft
35-550.1 - Disassembly & assembly of rear axle center piece, adjust gear assembly
35-550.2 - Disassembly & assembly of rear axle center piece, adjust gear assembly (cont'd)
35-560 - Reconditioning of differential
Rear axle shaft

35-620 - Removal and installation of rear axle shaft
35-660 - Exchanging rubber sleeves on rear axle shaft
35-680 - Removal and installation of ring-shaped weight on inner joints of rear axle shafts
Supplement B for Model 107.048 (560 SL )

B35 - Rear axle

 

I am in the process of removing my whining diff and would be interested in getting a copy of 35-550. 1 and 2s.

 

Those should be attached to this reply. Let me know if not.

 

Pleased to help.

Dont't worry about the long special tools list in the manual, you need the 4 prong special tool (that you have), a precision dial with a magnetic base to measure the slack, several crushwashers (just in case) and a long bar to lock the wheel hub when tightening the inside nut.

For the latter, I drilled 4 holes in an old brakedisk and attached a long breaker bar using two exhaust U-clamps.

I found it easier to remove the whole hub and adjust the slack on a bench, rather than on the car.