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I’m a collision repair instructor at a high school. A principal comes to me and says “you’re getting a vehicle donated” you always expect it to be a 92 cavalier with no engine etc. Well this fine thang shows up; 2013 GLK 350 4Matic suffering from the known front output U joint issue. Local shop would only perform the official Mercedes fix of replacing the entire transmission to the tune of 7k. Long story short, thanks to Makstrans
, I fixed it and bought the car from the Doctor who had already purchased a new 2023 GLC replacement and she is running and functioning perfectly. It is an amazing vehicle! Only downside it has 327,000 miles but I swear you would not know it.
Thank you. Doctor Lady drove it 300 miles per day round trip for over 10 years to her shift at the hospital and it has been Meticulously maintained! I didn't even have to add any washer fluid. The Only thing that is not working perfectly is the Tire pressure monitoring system is malfunctioning it seem every 3rd time or so you cycle the key.
I have read these are one of the most reliable MB models and this unit seems to be proof of that. Previous owner said it has never been down for any major repairs, just in for maintenance. Until the U-joint issue at least that is..
What is the “known output U joint issue “ you fixed? I had my front u joint + drive shaft replaced, but I see yours is opened up.
See that metal thing on the red blanket? That's the front output shaft housing on a 4Matic MB transfer case. There is a $30 (probably) u-joint inside that thing that just expires over time. Unfortunately, MB assembles this u-joint, places it inside this housing, and friction welds the whole thing together and calls it "Unserviceable." They won't even sell this part at all, they will of course sell you a whole new 7G Tronic Plus w/ T case for around 7k. Maktrans in the Ukraine (!) rebuilds these units and sells them for $500. I took a chance and ordered from them and it arrived in 2 weeks. I figured I had a 50/50 shot at them being legit but they are!
What is the “known output U joint issue “ you fixed? I had my front u joint + drive shaft replaced, but I see yours is opened up.
See that metal thing on the red blanket? That's the front output shaft housing on a 4Matic MB transfer case. There is a $30 (probably) u-joint inside that thing that just expires over time. Unfortunately, MB assembles this u-joint, places it inside this housing, and friction welds the whole thing together and calls it "Unserviceable." They won't even sell this part at all, they will of course sell you a whole new 7G Tronic Plus w/ T case for around 7k. Maktrans in the Ukraine (!) rebuilds these units and sells them for $500. I took a chance and ordered from them and it arrived in 2 weeks. I figured I had a 50/50 shot at them being legit but they are!
So an interesting tidbit: I assumed Maktrans would want my old Output shaft as a Core since I was under the impression they "rebuilt" these. Well, just got an email from them that said "we don't rebuild the output shaft you bought, its new," humm, well that's even better I guess. They've developed a source for getting something you can't even get from the manufacturer... I'd do good to not ask any more questions though or I'll have a Demitri and Vladimer show up at my door saying "you ask to many question"
Well this was cool! Its called a VMI (Vehicle Master Inquiry) Thanks Mercedes Benz of Collierville! If anyone wants to see what items a 327k GLK350 got over 11 yrs to keep it going. Spoiler alert: other than fluids and filters..Not Much!!
2014 GLK350 base model (active) ; 2001 E320 base (retired); 2001 Wrangler soft-top
Originally Posted by GLKattitude
Well this was cool! Its called a VMI (Vehicle Master Inquiry) Thanks Mercedes Benz of Collierville! If anyone wants to see what items a 327k GLK350 got over 11 yrs to keep it going. Spoiler alert: other than fluids and filters..Not Much!!
Great discovery ! I'll assume this is for the "donor" GLK you recently received (?).
It's fortunate this vehicle was obviously dealer maintained ... so shows complete history during it's previous life. A person could use this as a sort of "template" of a typical well maintained GLK.
Yes, this was an amazing discovery Thanks to legitstreetcars on YouTube. It can be tricky, you have to contact the actual dealership where most, if not all, of the work was done. In my case, this car has only ever been to one dealership it appears. ask for service department, some service advisors will give you push-back about emailing this to you so you just gotta get kinda lucky.
The only mystery on mine is the 100,000 mile blank spot right around Covid. Hopefully they at least changed the oil lol.
Almost 2K miles since repair, and this gal is still going strong. Possibly one of the better vehicles I’ve ever owned in terms of drivability, useability, etc..
I'm glad to hear that. I received the output shaft / helical gear assembly from Maktrans yesterday, and have my "new" (152,000 mile) GLK up on stands in the garage. I started late, but got the driveshaft loose and pushed back, the rear of the transmission dropped (with a floor jack limiting how far...) and the rear output yoke off (luckily my big honkin' impact wrench fit in the space vacated by the driveshaft). Drained the fluid (from the transfer case drain plug), and will start disassembling the transfer case later this morning. I'll be replacing all the bearings as well, and of course the snapped front driveshaft.
I am impressed (so far) with the Maktrans part. Feels and looks great, and I'm hoping it will last until my GLK has as many miles as yours.
So far, I'm loving the MB build quality, and the design (in terms of serviceability). Compared to my 5-series BMW, it's been "easy" (yeah, relative term, but still...). ;-)
Wow! I'm impressed with the service lifespan of these little truckies. My wife will be thrilled to hear of this, as hers is a 2015 GLK350 4Matic, with about 44K miles to date. Hers is almost broken in. . .
I am impressed (so far) with the Maktrans part. Feels and looks great, and I'm hoping it will last until my GLK has as many miles as yours.
UPDATE: Maybe not... the output shaft has developed some play (~1mm) in one plane, leading me to suspect one or more of the U-joint bearings inside the assembly (and therefore unrepairable) is failing. Not good news.
Worse, I've been emailing Maktrans for a week now, and haven't heard a peep from them. I even requested a return of the part (just to get a reaction) and so far, nothing.
I just wanted to pass this along ASAP since I know others with the same problem might look to Maktrans to replace the part, and wanted to let them know about my experience (though I hope it's just an internal communications glitch that they'll remedy to everyone's satisfaction).
Here's a video of the play in the new Maktrans output shaft (a couple weeks and maybe 100-200 miles total):
UPDATE: Maybe not... the output shaft has developed some play (~1mm) in one plane, leading me to suspect one or more of the U-joint bearings inside the assembly (and therefore unrepairable) is failing. Not good news.
Worse, I've been emailing Maktrans for a week now, and haven't heard a peep from them. I even requested a return of the part (just to get a reaction) and so far, nothing.
I just wanted to pass this along ASAP since I know others with the same problem might look to Maktrans to replace the part, and wanted to let them know about my experience (though I hope it's just an internal communications glitch that they'll remedy to everyone's satisfaction).
I really wouldn’t be too concerned about that myself, that’s not a huge amount of play. You could be detecting drive shaft to output shaft spline play. Does it still sound perfect going down the road? (No roar or vibes?)
It's not doing anything so wrong that I can feel it in the cockpit.
That said, it's a brand new driveshaft as well, and the play seems to be vertical at the face of the transfer case. If there was enough play in the splines to cause that much vertical motion, I'd expect there to be a lot of rotational slop (there is zero that I can feel).
Also, the play is only in one plane which would seem to indict one set of U-joint bearings rather than splines.
So this is fun! All you do is fill out the application and take it by a dealership and have them sign it. Yes they do call the dealership and check lol. These are supposed to go on the grill but I might put em on the lift gate.
2014 GLK350 base model (active) ; 2001 E320 base (retired); 2001 Wrangler soft-top
Originally Posted by GLKattitude
So this is fun! All you do is fill out the application and take it by a dealership and have them sign it. Yes they do call the dealership and check lol. These are supposed to go on the grill but I might put em on the lift gate.
Of course, and if I remember this correctly, you inherited the "high mileage award vehicle"
In stark contrast to folks like Al Zehrt, who bought a Honda Gold Wing (motorcycle) brand new, and rode it one million miles.
I don’t see this as any kind of personal milestone. It’s about the vehicle. It doesn’t take a Perry mason like yourself to uncover the fact that no, I did not put these miles on this myself. Thx for the input.
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... and who has well over a million miles logged overall.
