ctp

Hi folks.

Had some nasty noises emanating from the front diff, so I got a mechanic to take a look. It appears the ring and pinion have some significant wear and need replacement. I've been quoted anywhere between 5 and 10k to replace / repair it.

Does anybody have recommendations or experience with a diff rebuild in one of these beasts?

Cheers

Hamza Ali

I have a similar Issue, let me know how you went about this.

Lawrence1

$5K to $10K? Are they quoting you replacing the entire axle assembly? Seems unbelievably excessive. Are these units not serviceable?

Floobydust

I've done it and it is not easy or cheap. The ring and pinion gear alone is $1100. Add bearings, seals, and gaskets an things add up. In addition to the diff assembly, depending on the number of miles on your G and how long you plan to keep it, while thing are out, you should replace the CV joint boots, the king pin bearings, the wheel bearings, and all seals. Examine the diff carrier for chips in the diff lock teeth - replace if necessary.

The $5K range for all of that would be reasonable IMHO, $10K is on the rich side.

Another option would be to find a used axle assembly, but its condition would be unknown - you may end up with more problems than you solve. Also, I believe that the '08 and later axle assembly is different than the '02-07 ones, potentially making it harder to find one.

almostordinary

You may be getting fleeced.

Just found this entire front assembly on EBay

$5k shipped from portland.

There's no way this is a $5k labor job. If I needed to I could knock this out in a weekend in my driveway. With a lift it would prob be 6-7hrs max of labor.

Even at $200/hr that's only $1200.

I'd also call around re: servicing.

Here's a gear assembly, so I'd only assume you can rebuild it and save on replacing good parts.

https://www.ebay.com/i/254415208696?...0aAmAyEALw_wcB

Keep us posted and good luck!

-Ian

ctp

Thanks for all the responses

So 5k was for replacing the entire assembly plus labor. Then 10k was for labor because "Mercedes are hard to work on"


Yeah I did look up all the parts, and while spending close to 2k for a lot of them, it felt bizarre that there'd be another $8k for labor, kinda ridiculous. (this was more than one shop btw...)

Thanks for the breakdown Ian.

I still haven't had any leads, but I've been recommended a shop down in Portland that specialises in them so I will update here accordingly.

Cheers

shiann

There's a few long threads about axles/diff/tc rebuilds over on ClubWagen. Worth checking out as they have tons of great info and knowledgeable people commenting.

ctp

Brilliant, thanks. I'll check it out.