tahan

i will start off introducing my self. i am a life time benz owner and auto technician/hod rod gear head(love it so much i went to automotive college lol) but it got boring so i left the automotive industry 4yrs ago to try something new and wanted to challenge myself so now i build spacecrafts for NASA.
after reading through the forums over the last few days its nice to see that there are people here that are always willing to help each other and this seems like a friendly/not many haters community!!
now that's out of the way........

a couple weeks ago i finally bought my wife a w212 that fit her needs/wants(except its not white or black) after 3yrs of waiting for the right one to pop up! during the 3yrs she drove my lsx denali like a boss while i drove the 77 Lincoln Continental Mark V(with no ac) that my grandfather bought new n sold to me 9yrs ago.

i have a family member(indy) that was at the auction and he had 30seconds to describe the car and place a bid over the phone for me..i told him no more than $20k..well 40sec phone call bought me a $17k car i didnt see or drive!... Tenorite Gray Metallic 2010 E350 4matic 70Kmileage black interior /black ashwood, nice clean gray seats(look almost white)!!!!
i was super happy but i knew it would need something expensive since it was such a beautiful clean unit with brand new wheels/tires and brakes all the way around..
i have never wanted a 4matic because of the horrible transfer case and transmission issues(shame on u mb).....but i have only replaced 2 w221 S550 4matic transfer case's out of mmmmh say the 200+ 4matics i have worked/serviced. so i was hoping for the best but expecting the worst!

when we 1st went to see the car it was perfect!!!! but to me since i consider myself an advanced automotive tech i only care about the paint n body +interior being perfect because everything is nothing to me but time and whole sale parts prices (unless some1 calls me when they find the good stuff that "fell off the back of a truck" it pays to have great friends lol )
the test drive was quick in short since i was pleased and more importantly the wifey loved it! it was on a rough road and she was driving. so we went back to the shop to get the papers n temp tags n off we went!

15min down the highway the wife calls n says sounds like the rotors have rust because she hears a swish swish swish sound....i said yeh yeh yeh the car has been sitting waitn to be sold n the rotors n pads are brand new so i said dont worry it will be fine n should rub out by the time we get home.

so we made it home everyone is happy (but im short $17k cash)before bed time the wife asked me to drive the car since i haven't yet (but really the tank was on E n i think she just wanted me to fiil her up) lol...my 8yr old daughter wanted to ride along since she had not been in the car yet. right before we walked out the door the wife said "listen to see if you hear that noise" ... i pulled out onto the road n right away i said "yup to good to be true" i asked my daughter what she thought it was (i was 90% certain i already knew) she said sounds like when you had a bad wheel bearing in your truck (550 awdhp N/A LSX denali) so i swung the steering wheel side to side to show her it isnt that!

next day put the car on the lift turned esp off n put her in gear raised her up n went around with the stethoscope n was happy to hear nothing in the front diff but sure enough the front output shaft bearing in the transfer case was noticeable, common growl sound...the car is so0o0o0o0o0o freaking clean inside and out and even underneath i feel its worth keeping and to just drop the xcase to replace the bearings! oh yeh when i went to the shop and i brought my scanner cuz my indy told he could not diagnose a bmw that is in immobilized mode, so i did the diag n found the steering column lock module was burnt up and full of corrosion which caused the trace in board to burn n break so he said he is giving me $1k back for the bad xcase in the car i bought from him plus he will pay title/taxes/registration fees so FINAL SALE PRICE FOR IS $13,480

i used timken bearings for the w221 xcase units and wanted to know if there is anyone else here that does their own engine/trans/xcase/diff rebuilds like me (the real deal stuff not r&r)and if you have any suggestions on better parts and part sources.

i will get pics of the car posted up so you all can tell me if its worth my time or to dump it n find another that prob wont be nearly as clean and have the ashwood with black interior n white seats that the wife loves. but also keep in mind that i work 130hrs lower average every 2wks n im already tired enough when im not making $ working + im always working on my big pig big power gm truck.......

im reaching out for motivation/inspiration....all comments/thoughts and opinions are welcome!

thanks you for your time!
tony

mleskovar

I don't have one. Never rebuilt one. But if you search I believe you'll find that it's a common problem and no one rebuilds them.....not even Benz dealers. It's and expensive trans swap fix. That doesn't mean it can't be done because obviously it can (it was built by someone/thing to begin with). It may be because the castings are wrong or machined wrong for all I know. Go ahead and be the first and write it up.

tahan

ive known its a very common problem and thats why im hoping to find a better solution than a very expensive transmission/xcase r&r..to me thats not solving the problem its just starting the ticking time bomb back to zero!
i will be sure to document everything, i doubt its any different from the w221 xcase. it will be interesting to see what i find inside! im hoping i can get to it soon before it grenades and contaminates the trans and takes it out with it!!!....

the issue from what ive seen inside these units is the bearing races are alil on the bigger size for what the actual bearing roll/cage needs....and plus the bearings are just way to small for the load/stress they see. mb shouldve held to tighter tolerances
i may just have to get the micrometer and vernier calipers out and get some bigger/beefier bearings in there to open up a repair/mod that will last more than 40k mileage! even if that means sticking it up on the machine table to bore the xcase housing for the bearing race. this will involve a lot of math and research which will kill me on the turn around time but at least i will feel better knowing i have bearings with tighter tolerances.

best thing going for me is i have more than enough designers/stress/mechanical engineers that i work with to build spacecrafts and access to all kinds of testing equipment and machine shops...it will have to be after hours work because i would hate to do this on NASA's dime + im sure the tax payers would not appreciate the r.n.d. investment to a mb transfer case lol

aquinob

Welcome aboard. If you do it, please take plenty of pix. There is not that much DIY stuff out on these cars yet, the w212 is just about to end it's current model status and as they get older and cheaper then folks like us will have to figure out what to do when they break (other than take it to the dealer). Good luck.

mleskovar

Save yourself and the taxpayers some time and money and talk to the people that actually fix them. I'm sure discussions with a few indy repair shops will give you the information you need. Considering the cost of the 'fix' I'm sure they've been down that road before with their customers.

Arrie

Man,

It is good to see there is someone who wants to tackle this stupid MB design issue. They clearly under dimensioned the bearing(s) for the transfer case.

When you take it apart you can see what the bearing size is. MB probably use *** bearings but there are others like SKF and of course Timken. You might be able to find a stronger bearing that fits in the same space.


I believe the problem with the bearing is that it is underrated for the axial thrust force and not for the radial force. When the bearing fails axially the shaft moves and causes misalignment at the gear mesh that then causes the noise. But it could also be radial failure. Without seeing it can't tell.

But I'm quite sure you can find a stronger bearing without boring it bigger for a bigger size bearing and Timken might be the best bet as they only make (at least used to) conical roller bearings.

Good luck and let us know how it goes.

a4ncar

Here is one rebuild on W163 http://www.benzworld.org/forums/w163...iy-repair.html

Good Luck and share the details as you progress...

tahan

a4ncar thanks for the link! i have done the chain drive xcases b4 and they are older and have more parts/info available... the plan is coming together and the task will be happening soon!!! the w212 is just still somewhat new compared to the chain style (as mentioned above)

MBNUT1

Good luck with the repair. Please share your learnings for the rest of us with E3504matics

tahan

working with timken to get ALL the bearings inside the transfer case! so far they claim they have almost everything from the catalog in stock but 1st they need me to take the measurements for the input shaft bearing to verify dimensions and to see if they even have it in stock.
i will post prices and part#'s when i get them!
now time to locate the seals and also the mirco/fine mesh filter in the fluid feed line...im betting mb sells this but only as part of the line assembly from the trans cooler back to the xcase......bout to fin out!!!

fosterelli

My brain is bleeding from this initial post.

Just some advice, if you're going to post something at length, and are asking for input/advice, use paragraphs, capitalization, punctuation, complete words, and proper grammar. You'll find the amount of quality responses you get will increase dramatically! I almost gave up because it was so hard to read.

That being said, props for tackling this.

I'm subscribing so I can learn from y'all and see what you come up with. Good luck and keep us posted!

tahan

tomorrow i will be taking the car to the dealer for the following options.....
- EVEN MORE $ back to go towards the repair
- they may buy it back in full
- mentioned it maybe possible to exchange it for a 2011 or 2012 rwd
- approve the extended warranty purchase
- or they kick me to the curb and say best of luck!

they have a car ready for me to(loaner)switch out with. i asked if they could put me one of the vehicles that could become mine if the exchange happens, and they told me they will see what they can do about that. my guess is they will put me in w213 in hopes that i fall in love with it and sell them back my w212 and drop another $30k lol

well see!!!

i am still a go for the rebuild/overhaul by things may change after they

a4ncar

Any update on path forward?

tahan

dropped it off last night. i hope to hear from them later today
i am also waiting on part#'s and quote from timken