Sharing.......

Since I will be replacing my right rear ( mine is RWD not 4-matic ) CV axle shaft, I would then be able to teardown the old one for fun sake.
I been reading about CV joints, I want to learn more of it and found some interesting information.

Here is Kent showing older style MB rear axle CV shaft and what he said make total sense :
Pay close attention at minute 3:30


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And this video is good too, below :

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This is W212 CV axle internals



Kent ( mercedesource) older style example CV axle does not have/use the item #2.





Item #1 wear zone for right rear CV drive shaft is A, for left rear CV driveshaft is B.
That is what he meant and the prospect of equal the wear by swapping CV axle between left and right. W212 both rear CV drive shafts are the same for L or R.





As for the ball keeper item #2 & #3, wear pattern, video below is quite clear :


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I also learnt about two kinds of CV joint, plunging and non-plunging.
I honestly do not know W212 uses which one, but even non-plunging can move in-out too.

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As with our propeller shaft using universal joints or U-joints/Cardan joints, clocking/phasing is also required for CV joint.



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For those requiring to pull out their RWD CV driveshaft someday , the locking C clip or snap ring on our W212 is rather easy to insert or remove the drive shaft male spline from the DIFF's female spline.




This is the C clip / snap ring. It will reside at the end of the spline, there is a cavity for it. This will be DIFF side.

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The c-clip/snap ring in NOT like other's where they have so much over-hang, example is video below :


Ours is tight fit and of only very little projection/protrusion and is not full circling the spline c-clip cavity. Approx only 300 degrees coverage.


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This is how the c-clip/snap ring locks into the female spline tapered recess ( DIFF side )





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Here I am pushing out the CV shaft spline out of the female spline using plastic interior tool, overcoming the resistance offered by the c-clip/snap ring.
This is to simulate we are pulling CV shaft out by hand.


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The above "rotating cage assy " is from my own car, where it been replaced by Quafei LSD , ABT type. Like a Torsen. Thus I can use it for experiment.


Hope this information will be useful someday for someone.......

 

Here is a good write up on what wear out CV axle internals.....
Attached as PDF, it is from https://www.schaeffler.com/en/divisi...-technologies/.

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