I've got a 2011 ML 350 and the actual gear that gets turned by the motor is stripped/ground away. Short of buying a used steering column and disassembling it to get the gear, does anyone know how I might find the actual part number of the gear (see picture #2) and where I could buy it? Picture 1 shows the actual motor, its worm drive gear is in good condition. Picture 2 shows the gear that is damaged and needs to be replaced, and picture 3 shows shows where the gear is located in the steering column and the yellow arrow points to a 10mm allen head which I assume is the threaded shaft that goes up and engages on the bad gear, and you can see a brass block around the threaded shaft. I haven't done this yet, but I wonder if the 10mm end can be turned to manually adjust the column height? Appreciate any assistance in this! Thanks!

 

Just a follow-up in case anyone ever finds this and needs an answer. I won't say it is impossible to change the gear, however it is a lot quicker to just swap out the entire steering column. That is what I ended up doing. Had the gear not been fused in place on the shaft I may have been able to remove it, but finding a replacement would have been another battle.