Whew ! .
You've been a busy boy , sounds like she'll be ready for lots more happy, economical and SAFE driving .
-Nate
Blaise wrote:
>
> Well, there's truth in the addage "There's nothing more expensive than a cheap
> Mercedes"!! A year ago I removed the rear windshield & replaced the seal to stop
> water getting into my trunk. I also replaced the trunk seal for good measure as
> it was showing evidence of yielding to the elements in the near term. A few
> months ago I started loosing power on slight inclines & discovered the dreaded
> black fuel fungus had taken up residence in my fuel tank. It was BAD so I
> decided to drop the fuel tank and get it boiled out at the radiator shop.
>
> While draining the tank I noticed fuel dripping from the left rear control arm.
> Fuel supply line was nearly rusted through where it goes over the control arm
> and had broken during efforts to remove the tank. The fuel return line & brake
> line were in similarly bad condition. Better to make this discovery in the
> driveway at home than anywhere else! I also had the opportunity to observe that
> the CV joint boots were badly torn, devoid of essential lubrication & also in
> need of replacement. Not knowing the condition of said CV joints I determined to
> order two new axles & replace the entire units. After the old axles were out I
> could inspect the CV joints to decide on their ultimate fate. Of course at that
> time the weather here in the NE was beginning its seasonal decline into winter
> which would put said projects on hold until spring as I have no indoor
> facilities to accomplish these efforts.
>
> At Christmas a friend with a two bay tractor trailer garage who uses one bay for
> his manufacturing business had me over to see his shop. Taking note that he has
> an entirely empty bay I asked if I could bring my ailing old 300D into the bay
> to do some repairs that would otherwise have to wait for warmer weather. We
> decided I could trade assistance to his business in trade for accomodations for
> the Mercedes.
>
> I plumbed a 1 gallon empty oil jug into the fuel system under the hood as a
> short distance fuel tank (since the fuel tank had not been reinstalled & the
> fuel lines had not been replaced) & drove the 3 miles from home to the shop. In
> our spacious, heated & well lit accomodations the axles were readily removed and
> the fuel lines removed & duplicated (yes, I did use a bubble flare tool to make
> the connections for the master cylinder and the rear Tee connection). In
> removing the axles it was determined that it would be prudent to replace the
> axle seals in the differential. The pinion seal was also found wanting. Since I
> don't have the tools to remove the pinion shaft seal & check and reset the
> pinion shaft preload I decided to drop the rear and get it to a small
> independent Mercedes shop to accomplish this.
>
> I didn't feel secure under the car attempting to remove the differential while
> it was on jack stands so I built a set of stackable, interlocking wooden
> cribbing boxes to support the car and also several to put under the floor jack
> to raise the car about 20 inches off the ground giving me more ample room to
> work and providing a rock solid, non-slip support for the car. In removing the
> four nuts securing the differential to the frame I needed an 18" cheater pipe on
> the 1/2" drive breaker bar to loosen them. When I thought all was going smoothly
> the seemed to get hard to turn again & then came out more easily. The exposed
> ends of the studs were so badly peened & rusted that I actually removed the
> studs from the differential case. New studs & nuts will replace them on
> reassembly.
>
> After removing the exhaust pipe as a unit and beginning to remove the drive
> shaft I discovered that my tool box lacked the 41mm & 46 mm wrenches to loosen
> the nuts that secure the front & rear drive shaft sections. Order from Ebay. The
> rubber of the drive shaft support bearing was almost completely disintegrated
> and the transmission support had many radial cracks in the rubber so these were
> ordered & that task added to the work order. Also noted the absence of both
> automatic transmission shift linkage bushings. Thankfully both flex discs were
> in excellent condition.
>
> While getting the rear wheels off to remove the axles I noticed that the left
> parking brake shoes had only a paper thin coating of brake material and on
> inspecting the right side I found only the badly rusted remains of the brake
> shoe minus any vestige of brake material. I added those to the outgoing order
> for rear wheel bearing/seal kits. I have removed the wheel hubs, seals &
> inner/outer bearing outer races. The bearings are in good condition at 250,000+
> miles but since everything is apart and the crush washer needs to be replaced on
> reassembly it just made sense to replace the wheel bearings and install new
> grease. The hubs & the differential are going tomorrow to have work done at the
> shop and then reassembly begins!! Until then there are some sections of floor
> pan to replace, trunk wheel wells to patch and various other rusted nastiness to
> fix. I see a MIG welder in my future...I'm not happy pop riveting to repair body
> panels and even though I can stick weld thin metal with 1/16" 6013 rods the MIG
> makes it so much easier.
>
> The FSM that I downloaded with help from the group, the Peachparts forum DIY
> archive and questions answered here have been really helpful in getting this
> far. Thanks to all. Now, if I can just get it all back together!!!!
>
> Blaise
>
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