If the W211 E55 is similar to the E63, as far as rear suspension is concerned, then “just pulling” the axles would involve removing the Hub Carrier Knuckle on each side in order to remove each axle as there is not enough play in the inner boot nor enough room inside the Diff to sink the axle to clear the Hub. Perhaps, if you removed the Rotors, Brakes and Hubs it could be done, but getting those Hubs out are not easy to begin with, at least not on the E63.

When I put my whole suspension back together after renewing every bushing, including those of the subframe, I had already attached the entire rear subframe with the arms all torqued to the carriers before installing the Diff! Oops. I ended up having to loosen up my passenger side Carrier from the Lower torque arm, as I had not yet installed the UPD Toe Arms, then insert one axle in the driver side hub, then insert its inner end into the Diff whilst it was on my Tranny Jack floor side, then Installed the inner end of other axle into the Diff, raised the Diff on the Jack while lining up the outer axle with the Hub using one foot to push the Carrier outwards to allow the angle to line up the axle with the Hub! Once seated, then I raised the Diff to install. You gotta make sure each axle is then solidly seated on the inner side. Torquing up those rear Diff Bolts are Not easy either as there isn’t enough space between the subframe and the Spare Tire Tub to get a ratchet on. So I had to unscrew the Rear Subframe bolts, thereby having to wire brush each tunnel and remove newly applied Blue locktite, to allow me to have enough room to get a full sized Torque Wrench on those bolts! And even then, because I had only so much elevation of the diff to work with (ie-Not enough!) I could only get about 120Nm of torque on those puppies! Just shy of the IIRC 160Nm??

Would the whole c55 diff bolt up to an e55? What about other w203 gears, will work? I’ve seen ratios of 3.06- 3.46 from them. Is the only get that works from the c55? What about gears from an slk320? I’ve read they are 3.27 or 3.46, will they work??

In your opinion would it be a better option to mate Cherokee/Durango gear to e55 or us a bolt in amg diff?

i dropped one axle for my E63 at the hub/knuckle...since they were virgin...using a punch, hammer, etc was an absolute failure at 3 days of banging. had to eventually used a torch to loosen that thing up and it eventually came out with ease.

Sorry, I don’t know if the C55 diff will fit an E55. We bought the C55 diff for a different project and I have no knowledge of what fits what. I’m sure there are some other guys on here that have more experience with this that might be able to help.

thankfully i have a flat ratchet from harbor freight which BARELY fit. its as thick as a flat wrench and has a 3/8th and 1/4 on either end.

thanks!!

That’s why whenever I’m rebuilding anything “rotor & hub” related, I sparingly use copper anti-seize grease that usually comes with a built-in brush that always yields too much grease so you have to be careful to not apply too much! From thereafter, you’ll not have that predicament of having to bang away or use torches, unless of course you may be in a wet, salty climate, that’s another issue!