edwarde320

It seems I have an issue with the rear differential, it's vibrating more and more every day especially when turning. Sounds like it's going to break soon.
I don't really care about the all wheel drive and am thinking of removing everything to the rear of the transfer case and perhaps the rear driveshafts as well instead of spending thousands.
I can do the mechanical work myself.

Any technical reason why this wouldn't work??

Thanks...

rapidoxidation

What seals will need to be accomodated in the driveshaft/axle/transfer case absence? Can the transmission support itself without the transfer case?
Is the front half of the drivetrain built to withstand all the torque the engine/transmission can put out or is it engineered to use only some of it? You're well on the way to finding out. Let us know how it goes!

edwarde320

Thanks for the good questions! The torque question is really good. I'm pretty sure the not-oem 3 year old front drive shaft that was replaced when the previous one broke is suspect as well but that's easy to replace.

I was thinking of leaving the transfer case in place and just let the short output shaft of it spin removing the rubber interface to the rear drive shaft, the rear drive shaft itself and the back rubber interface to the differential.
If I remove the rear drive shafts I would likely modify rear boots to seal off whatever joints are there.

I'm going to get under it (again) in the next week or so and pull that rear rubber joint to do some isolation testing of the rear differential/driveshafts.

tjts1

A front wheel drive W211 wagon. This I have to see.

Your symptoms sound like your transfer case is failing, not the diff.

ps2cho

What an absolute hack job that would be. Junk the car if you’re unwilling to actually fix it. It’s worth nothing but scrap metal if you hack it up like you’re saying.

pay someone to diagnose the issue if it’s proving difficult...if they send you a big repair list just decline and say you’ll junk the car, pay them for the diagnosis time then fix it yourself properly.

not to mention you’re now endangering others on the road. How will the ABS and traction control change? Sounds like an absolute nightmare. I wouldn’t want to be near you in the rain.

kajtek1

MB are design as RWD cars and 4Matics transfer like 40% of torque to front. So even if you change the gears to make it working, the reliability will suffer.
Now about changing the gears. If you just disconnect rear driveshaft- the car will not go anywhere since it is non-lockable transfer case.
If you weld the rear shaft, the car will have double the original gearing, what will bring driveability issues.
Don't think it is doable.