There are some really good threads out there of cv axle removal/replacement but I wanted to document my experience with it. Im currently in the middle of replacing the drivers side boots due to the inner boot tearing.

I'll start with parts. I picked up Genuine Mercedes boots and clamps. The MB boots have the part #'s stamped on them. The clamps are oeitiker and they have the size in MM stamped on them. I noticed the W204 parts diagrams do not show alot of the part #'s but they are the same as the W221 which does show the part #'s.






First thing i did was remove the center cap of the wheel so I can crack the axle bolt free. I bought the CTA E24 socket since my regular E24 socket did not seem to fit all the way on. Used my 16" breaker bar with a 24" length of 3/4" structural pipe. I found the pipe at Lowes on clearance awhile back for a few dollars.




Can see the difference inside the regular vs CTA socket.




Heres how my regular E24 socket fits on the axle bolt:







After the axle bolt was loosened I jacked up the front from the front middle jacking point so both front wheels are off the ground. I want to be able to spin the wheel/axle in case i have to line things up. The MB manual says to mark all the parts of the cv axle so it can be put back together the same exact way. Remove the wheel obviously. Then I removed the axle bolt completely.






Then I unbolted the brake caliper and hung it up out of the way from the strut spring. Unbolt the speed sensor and pull it up and hang it out of the way. I was surprised how easily it just pulled out. Then remove the two nuts for the bottom of the strut. Thats all I unbolted, the caliper, speed sensor and the bottom of the strut.



With the strut unbolted the wheel carrier can tilt out at the top. This puts stress on the cv axle inner boot so be careful if you are not replacing the inner boot or it can rip. I have a spare scissor jack i used to support the wheel carrier. Before removing the axle I marked the axle shaft orientation by wrapping it in painters tape and marked a line indicating the top. Also made a line on the rotor indicating top. I want to put the shaft back the same way and i'll explain why later. Then I used a hammer and a 1/2" extension turned the opposite way to gently tap out the cv axle from the wheel hub. It came out pretty easy with light taps.








With the cv axle tapped out of the wheel hub I then sliced the inner boot. My plan is to remove the axle with the inner hub still in the car. Im doing this because I dont want to mess with removing the intermediate shaft as we all know the drivers side cv axles are usually stuck to the intermediate shafts. I didnt take photos of cutting the boot but its straight forward. Then I pulled the axle out towards the rear of the car. As I was removing the axle i made sure to pay attention to where the three bearings on the inner joint are oriented, I want the bearings going back in the same exact position on the star.

As I removed the axle I saw the condition of the grease and was happy I decided to do the work and not hold off. Water dripped from the boot along with chocolate looking grease. Now i am in the process of cleaning everything to remove all the old grease. I will update as I get things done.










Heres what the ripped boot looked like.




The grease in the outer joint looks much better. There was nothing wrong with this boot but figured while its out its best to replace it. Im guessing this is the original axle 15yr old rubber:

 

I had planned on removing the shaft from the outer joint and then sliding both boots on that side but I could not hammer off the star/ball cage. The manual says use a drift and wack it off while its in a vise, i dont have a vise and was not making any progress so gave up. Instead I removed the inner joint star using a 3" puller I recently bought. To pull the star off there is a clip that has to come off. Removing the clip and pulling off the star with the 3" puller is pretty straight forward and took 2 minutes to do.



The old boot is in very good condition and probably didnt need to replace it but for the low cost might as well.




Packed the outer joint with grease and put the boot on. Have one of the clamps done still have to do the smaller clamp. The manual says the outer joint takes 140g of grease. There was some grease still in the joint so I used 120g new grease, figure that should be around 140g. I spent awhile packing the grease in the joint so it was full. Clamping the large clamp was difficult and took alot of force.

Heres the info in the manual I was going off of:

 

Brilliant write up 👌

 

I had totally forgot the outer hub has a hole in it thru to the axle bolt. This is how I had planned on knocking the shaft free from the joint and I completely forgot. I had noticed grease was in where the axle bolt goes and finally remembered. Oh well.




These clamps are giving me a tough time. The manual says to close them so the gap in the ears is 2.5mm or less. I'm only getting 3.5-4mm measuring with my cheap plastic calipers. And im using the Lisle pliers with a breaker bar on the handle. Looks like with the Lisle pliers the cam that moves in to press down the top of the ear may be preventing the sides from closing in more? I noticed on the original clamps the top of the ear is bowed out so a tool like the Lisle was not used, they probably have some hydraulic machine that does it in 2 seconds.






I have 4 pliers I bought. The Lisle but they are only front jaw so due to the limited access under the car for the inner boot I wanted side jaw pliers. Bought a cheap $2.99 side jaw pliers that seem good for light duty work they will not be able to clamp these clamps and will break most likely. Bought the Oeitiker single action side jaw pliers and they are junk, clamping bevels all over the place and I will be returning. Bought the Oetiker compound side jaw pliers thinking they would be the best and while they are very nice, machined nice, seem durable and heavy duty im just not getting the force needed to close the clamps more.



Oeitiker single action side jaw. Bevels are too far in and cant get a grip on the clamp.



Oetiker compound side jaw. Nice pliers:



I ordered another tool to try and use. It has a bolt to tighten down on the ears. Should be delivered today with Amazon same-day.




Grease capacity in grams for each joint. I have the 204.081.

 

Good thing i bought extra clamps because I put the small clamp on the outer boot too far in. Theres like 3 grooves at that area on the shaft and the boot didnt look right so i looked at photos and it was off. This is why I take alot of photos as I go.




With the outer boot on I put the bearing holder back on the shaft. Put the small clamp and boot on for the inner joint before this or else you cant put the boot on later. This went easy just tapping it on with a rubber mallet. I dont have a vice and didnt want to rest it on the bench so I just held it in one hand vertically. Then when it was flush with the end of the shaft i used a 13/16" socket and 2lb sledge, 3 good hits and it was on all the way. Install the clip back on the end. Prior to removing the bearing holder i made a few scratches on the holder and the shaft so I can put it back in the same orientation. Not sure if this matters but why not put it back the same way.











With that done I cleaned and greased the 3 bearings. I labeled them 1-2-3 and the way the axle came out bearing 1 was right at the top, 2 was to the left and 3 was on the right so it was easy to remember. Put them in small bags to keep from getting dirty. Then I test fit the axle back in the car just to figure out the best way to do it without damaging the new boots. Then packed the inner hub with about 60g grease and installed the axle with bearings. Getting the axle back in while keeping the bearings from sliding off was easier than I thought but I did get hung up and had to move the axle around before it finally went in. Had to pull down on the wheel carrier a bit to get the axle splined end over the brake caliper bracket I left on. When in I packed the rest of the grease. I put in 120g like the manual says to and it wasnt as full as I thought it would be.





Came in for a break and look thru photos and realized there was rust still on the inner hub so spent some time cleaning with a wire brush. This took awhile because i didnt want to get anything in the grease. I should have done it before.

Then it was time to install the larger clamp at the hub. I was dreading this because there was no way I could generate the amount of force needed to close the clamps. I did some research, which i should have done before even starting the job, and see these clamps are Heavy Duty 167 clamps. I just have a cheap plastic set of calipers so not sure if the clamps are 0.8mm or 1.0mm but they are the 10mm ones. According to the chart it takes at least 5000N force to close them and the Oeitiker compound side jaw pliers is good for around 2000N if im lucky. I do have the Lisle tool for use with breaker bar/torque wrench but there is no way it will fit in the wheel well with the car on jack stands, I dont think straight jaw pliers will even fit due to the subframe.

I'll post what I found because its interesting.






Prior to installing the axle back I had tested to see if the new clamping tool from Amazon would even fit. Used the old boot and a new clamp to check and it did fit just barely.





And it did end up working. I went very slow, one turn of the wrench then stopped and inspected everything to make sure the jaws werent sliding off. I held the tool as I turned the bolt because it wants to twist. The ear started looking a little funky so I backed off the bolt and repositioned the tool 3-4 times. It actually came out good, the gap is at 3mm and I stopped because I didnt want to push my luck.

 

Before doing the smaller clamp on the inner boot I wanted to fit the axle back into the wheel hub. I didnt want to damage the boot so I installed the two bolts for the bottom of the strut. Having that scissor jack comes in handy for supporting the wheel carrier as I lined up the bolt holes. Then the axle slipped right into the hub very easy. Hand tightened the axle bolt as I secured the last clamp.

That clamping tool is great. 10mm wrench to turn the bolt and the clamp was done in less than a minute.

The manual says before installing the small clamp to stick a screw driver under the lip of the boot to purge any air in there, I just pushed the boot back past the grooves and heard air movement, then pushed the boot over the groove.



Just have to reinstall the brake caliper and speed sensor then torque everything down. That clamping tool saved me and could not have finished without it.

 

Got everything back on and buttoned up. The torque specs for the two bottom strut bolts and the axle bolt are the same 88ftlbs then 90 degrees. My caliper bolts are the smaller 28mm length so they were 25ftlbs. I cant find a spec for the wheel speed sensor bolt so just snugged it on.


Axle bolt you torque once then release the bolt then torque it again followed by the 90 degrees. The 90 degrees was tough and felt like the bolt may snap.







Not sure if I mentioned this before how i was reading thru threads and someone said to get the cv axle off the intermediate shaft they drilled a hole thru the inner hub and then sprayed some penetrating fluid in there and the axle then came off the intermediate shaft. Looking at the hub there is a cap in there and I think the part # is on the parts diagram. Im not 100% sure since I never removed that cap or ordered a new one.

 

This is super nice, thanks for taking the time to put it together.
Have done the passenger side a couple of years ago but I know driver side is a bit more complicated, this is very helpful.

 

I'm doing the passenger side today before the cold weather gets here. The only thing different so far is having to unclip the brake pad wear sensor from the wiring harness.

i think this cv axle is newer and has been replaced at some point. This one has the MB sku label on it where the drivers side did not. The wheel bolt was not on very tight at all and broke loose with little effort though I was using my long handled set-up.

Not sure if i will pull the entire axle out or cut the inner boot and leave the inner hub in. We shall see.

Heres the small leak in the outer boot, I think I dropped the strut on it when replacing it causing the damage.

 

Unbolting the bottom of the strut was a pain since I used so much blue loctite when last putting them on. I poured a little acetone on the threads and used a wire brush to clean them off. Finally got them out.

I tried tugging on the inner hub and it wasnt easily coming out so i cut the inner boot and pulled the axle out.




Used a small hack saw to cut the clamp off.




Axle is out ready to clean and put new boots on. There happens to be a missing section on the sku tag on the axle so im using that as my "top" for orientation. Im keeping track of where the bearings go so i can put them back the same way 1-2-3/middle-left-right.



The bearing can be cleaned by removing the inner part. There are notches on opposite sides that allows you to pull them out. There was some gunk in these areas on mine.







Remove the clip for inner star. Wear safety glasses. Mine shot off.





Pull off the star. Its a pain with a cheap puller.




I realized one side of the star inside in chamfered, this side goes down onto the shaft if you forget with way it goes back on.




Removed old boots. Cleaned out the old grease and install new outer boot.




Dont forget to install the inner boot on the shaft before reinstalling the inner star. On the drivers side I coated the splines for the star with grease and I was able to tap it on easily with a rubber mallet, this time i forgot to grease the spline and it took my 2lb hammer to get on. I should have put a little grease on.

 

Check out the 9 min mark of this video, never done it this way but looked pretty easy for him

 

I left the inner hub in because I didnt want to mess with the oil seal in the differential. I installed the axle back in the car and it went just like the drivers side just a little quicker since I had confidence in the clamping tool I used. The thing works great. I had order another one just in case it broke but it held up fine in great condition.

Started raining a little so skipped taking more photos. There was nothing new that I didnt show up above.