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Or, if it wasn't for bad luck, I wouldn't have no luck at all...
I'll chronicle the whole saga when it's done, but for now, I have a "mystery item" challenge.
I was knocking the outer CV joint off the axle and it landed face (greasy) side down on the workbench. I had cleaned up the bench beforehand, or so i thought. When i picked up the joint I found the piece in the photos below. It wasn't completely covered with grease, and I hadn't noticed it when looking at the joint before it came off, so I'm almost 100% sure it's not part of the car, but I figured I'd call time out and ask the audience. Can anyone identify what this piece came off of? It appears to be pot metal and shows signs of having been hit with a blunt object, which, coincidentally, was what I was using to knock the joint off...
With all the hammering I could have knocked something off the shelf and onto the fairly clean bench.
John, I have yet to do this job (family visitors and holiday stuff y'know...) so I haven't tried to do my outer boot yet.
I just deleted my (overly optimistic...) guess, and will add this photo (kind of making it obvious what the part is)...
With that part missing, you're going to have one ball bearing out of play (and possibly causing other mischief). Sorry, but it looks like you're going to need a new axle...
I guess I'd better break down and buy a brass drift after all... sigh.
I guess I'm going to have to take the joint apart. As far as I can tell, that part is unscathed. (I agree, it looks lot like that .) Besides, it's much harder than the piece I found.
A hint of what's to come: The video shows a brass drift, so I bought one. (I had a couple, but they were way too small). After waling on it and getting nowhere, I consulted the WIS. It says "Drive ball joint off front axle shaft at inner star (10a, arrow). Use suitable drift (steel)." So, I used a king sized punch, to no avail. Then, I changed the angle of the axle in the vice, tapped it back to be sure it was against the stop and not the snap ring, then hit it with the brass drift again and it went.
I got frustrated when I found the "piece" and quit for the day. I'll clean the grease off the "inner star" tomorrow, and hopefully convince myself the bit is unrelated.
The construction is the same as some of the SAAB axles I worked on back in the 70's and 80's, although these are smaller. Maybe weight savings, or better materials, I don't know. However, the SAAB axles were easy to take apart. One whack with a dead blow hammer and the outer joint fell off, and remove the snap ring on the three legged trunnion on the other end and it slid right off. Wouldn't budge on this one.
I ordered a three-drift set - the largest being 3/4" in diameter (and about 10" long IIRC). Hopefully that'll do it. I'd planned on using an air hammer with a flat "drift" attachment, but I guess that'll only be in a real pinch (as in "everything else failed).
I also have a 10-ton hydraulic puller - I'm not sure I could work out a way to make it work, but I might have to see if I can cobble something together to do that.
Hope you find the CV joint intact in the morning, and realize that the piece is from a Saab, and has been stuck in the cabinet above your workbench for a few decades! ;-)
Right now I can say that the trick is to get the drift as close to the line of the axle and not drive it on an angle. That is what finally broke it loose for me. Also, if it's going to break anything, that would be the position least likely to cause damage. Here's the picture from the WIS:
The arrow is supposed to show where to hit it.
I don't know if a puller would work. It takes a sharp blow, not a steady pull. If you could get a bolt same thread as the axle bolt, with a very long threaded section, you could screw it in and it will press on the end of the axle shaft. If pressing would work, that would do the trick as it would press directly on the center of the shaft.
What we used to do with the SAAB axles is hold the shaft vertically with the joint town, over a bucket, and whack the outer housing of the joint with a 48 oz dead blow hammer. It usually came off first try. These axles seem to have tighter tolerances between the splines, so they don't move as easily. As I said, the three legged trunnions would slide off under their own weight with the circlip removed whereas the Mercedes one wouldn't budge. I figure heat or a press would have been necessary.
I've been mulling over that "approach angle thing" as well - clearly, hitting it where shown in the diagram is going to put the maximum amount of stress on the "star". I'm thinking until the drift is almost totally parallel with the axle shaft, it's not going to matter too much though, still putting the stress on the very "point" of the "star".
I was thinking it might actually be better to try to span a couple of those "points" with my drift, hitting it lower / closer to the shaft, but don't know that my drift would be up to that.
I'm also thinking that an air hammer (flat tip) might actually be less dangerous than a dead blow with a brass drift, but can't say for sure. You've got me spooked. ;-)
I haven't been able to work out any solution for using a puller (since you have to pull the entire joint and axle stub off, and brace against the main axle shaft "below" that. I've envisioned tools that could do the job - all of them would require something that would grip the axle shaft firmly, giving a solid base to push against.
One thing that occurs to me (that I've never read / seen) would be marking the axle shaft at the "star" (or maybe some measured distance up the shaft), so you'd have a reference to know when you have the outer joint properly seated (and can stop hammering on it). I suspect that'll be the easier process, as my plan is to just thread in the axle bolt and use it as a "disposable drift" (the boot kit includes a new bolt). I might even be tempted to put a slight angle on the inward-facing radius of the C-clip - leaving the OD the same, but giving it a bit more of a ramp when reinstalling it. Doesn't seem like there would be any downside to that (since the outward-facing radius would be unchanged, so it won't affect its ability to keep the CV joint attached).
Well, after stressing over it for most of the morning, I decided to face the music.
I didn't bother to disassemble the joint as the piece wasn't covered in grease when I first found it, so it couldn't have come from inside. It's all back together now. I made a couple of changes to the procedure that I think are worth considering when you do it. I'll write it up later, but now I have to wrap things up. Huge neighborhood Independence Day party starts at 4:00.
Oh, I think the mystery piece may be from a broken fitting for wiring into a box.
I found grease that looks to be coming out from my W204 front passenger side outer boot. I think I damaged the boot when I was replacing the front struts, dropped the strut and the bottom edge must have pinched the boot. Its not that bad, cant even really find an opening so must be a pin hole. I ended up buying the boot, clamps and circlip at my local MB dealer for around $16. Bought two packs of GKN axle grease from FCP, manual says it takes 140g grease. Bought the Lisle clamp tool also to hopefully get them tight enough, 2.5mm.
I was going to try replacing the boot by leaving the axle still in, like mentioned get a long bolt where the axle bolt goes and press it apart. I saw someone on here with a W211 do it without removing the entire axle.
Just a quick update, since the job is still not completed...
I had to disassemble the inner joint since, whole wrestling the outer spline out of the wheel flange, the inner joint got pulled out too far and one of the bearings slipped off of the trunion. Not all bad, though, as I didn't have to pop the inner driver off the shaft that passes through the oil pan. The flip side is, I didn't have new clamps for the inner boot.
Anyhow, I got it all back together. I used heavy duty tie-wraps instead of clamps. Went for a short test drive and all was well. Later that afternoon I took a 25 or so mile trip. When I got home I peeked up in the wheel well and there as grease everywhere...
Got it all cleaned up today. (95 degrees again with a dew point around 80.) It was clearly leaking from the inner boot, but there are no holes and the makeshift clamps were still in place. The only thing I can think of is in the 95 degree heat, pressure built up in the boot and pushed all the new grease in the boot out of the big end. I found worm clamps like we used to use on SAABs and ordered a few. Only $6.50 for 4 clamps and $12 for shipping...
Irony: I had used a tie-wrap on the small end of the outer boot, and it had slipped out of the groove, leaving a gap. However, grease isn't thrown to the small end of the boot, and there was no sign of any leakage there. These boots are much stiffer than the ones we used back in the 70s-80s and flexing the boot puts a much heavier stress on the clamped part. Tie-wraps used to work just fine back then...
The original Mercedes clamps are Oetiker and the size is stamped on them if you wanted to use originals. They are fairly inexpensive at the local MB parts dept, at least mine anyways.
It appears the outer boot kit is the same in the W204 and the X204, and also the W211 which is where I found the part #'s. I dont think the X204 has the same inner boot parts kit as the W204 so im not sure about those part #'s. .
I looked again and the GLK shares the same outer boot with the W221 axle. Its how i figured out which part #'s to buy. Only to realize the clamps are stamped with the size and the boots are stamped with there part #'s as well.
Looks like there is some type of coating on the original clamps, can just make out the size on them..
I got the kit from FCP Euro, with clamps, so I'm reasonably sure that it should all work. My plan was to pinch the clamps with a large pair of wire cutters, but I started overthinking things, and decided to spend a few bucks to get this kit:
I figure it's worth a few bucks to have the right tool, as well as a few spare clamps. I also have a CV boot clamp kit in my motorhome, with a double-wrap clamp set and special tool. They've worked well in the past, so I could always fall back to that option as well.
OTOH, if heat will push grease out of a "normally seated clamp", I'm doomed (it's been in the one-teens here for weeks now). :-)
I got the kit from FCP Euro, with clamps, so I'm reasonably sure that it should all work. My plan was to pinch the clamps with a large pair of wire cutters, but I started overthinking things, and decided to spend a few bucks to get this kit:
I figure it's worth a few bucks to have the right tool, as well as a few spare clamps. I also have a CV boot clamp kit in my motorhome, with a double-wrap clamp set and special tool. They've worked well in the past, so I could always fall back to that option as well.
OTOH, if heat will push grease out of a "normally seated clamp", I'm doomed (it's been in the one-teens here for weeks now). :-)
Wire cutters bad (for the clamp and the cutters). Plastic tie-wraps are a non-starter. Hopefully the pliers you ordered push down on the top of the section you're squeezing together.
Big nippers work fine. The key is they have to be parallel. The top has a formed stiffener to keep it from bending, and it works. The problem Is I don't think the big nippers will fit in to the wheel well. (refer to factor #1).
Plastic (nylon) tie-wraps definitely do not work with these new boots. They worked fine back when I was making a living at fixing cars, but the new boots are too stiff, and you just can't get the plastic clamps tight enough without a special tool, which I don't have. I suspect if I did they would work; the specs are in the right ball park if you can find the ones with a metal locking tab..
I never used these types of clamps before and had nothing in my tool collection that seemed would work so I bought the Lisle 30800 CV boot clamp pliers. They have good reviews and the metal looks a little thicker compared to the less expensive brands on Amazon. Some reviews for the cheaper brands said they broke or just didnt work well so i didnt want to risk it. They also have the cutouts to stick a breaker bar on the handles if needed. Plus the package says made in USA.
1) For tools I use all the time, buy quality tools
2) For tools I've never needed during the last 50+ years of twisting wrenches, Amazon or Harbor Freight makes sense.
3) If the tools relating to #2 are something that I think I'll be using regularly, refer to #1
In the middle of the job - getting the outside joint off the axle ended up being "interesting". I have no idea why, but the c-clip that holds that section on was in pieces when I was done, and the splines toward the outside of the axle (toward the now-removed joint) are pretty buggered up (though the joint can still slide over them, so it should be fine, as the load is taken by the thicker part of the splined axle toward the center of the car).
I have been searching for that part number - or a reasonable facsimile but haven't come up with it yet. Waiting on a call back from the local MB parts department, hoping for the best. I even took apart an old rear axle out of my 5-series BMW to look for a workable clip, but it used more of a cir-clip (designed to be taken off with cir-clip pliers). FWIW, I was able to knock the joint off the BMW axle in about 10 seconds. Oof.
As near as I can tell, the part number for the clip I need is 203-994-20-35. Now it's "just" a matter of putting my hands on one (ASAP... my car's up on stands in the garage).
Welcome to the club! What should be a straight-forward job turns into a week long project...
I hope the damaged splines will still hold your new C-clip! You don't want the axle coming loose at 140 mph!
07-05-2024, 04:54 PM
