Fig. 205. Marks on the cardan shafts. The mark on the front cardan shaft should be located between the marks on the rear cardan shaft during assembly (shown by arrows).
1 - intermediate support bearing,
2 - lock nut,
3 - rubber cuff.
Removal and installation the cardan transmission
Original source of information: MercedesMAN
Raise the car or roll it onto an inspection pit.
Remove the exhaust system as a whole, remove the protective muffler splash guard by unscrewing the four mounting bolts.
Remove the parking brake equalizer lever (see fig. 206).
Fig. 206. Removing the equalizing lever of the parking brake cables, remove the parts shown by the arrows.
Place a jack with a wooden pad under the gearbox and lift the gearbox slightly.
Loosen the bolts securing the crossmember to the body floor.
Unscrew the central nut of the rear suspension support of the power unit and remove the cross member with the support assembly.
Loosen the front flange mounting bolts of the cardan transmission using a socket wrench with a ratchet.
Loosen the driveshaft clamping nut two turns and move the rubber cuff back.
Disconnect the cardan shaft from the final drive flange.
Loosen the bolts securing the intermediate support to the body floor.
Disconnect the flanges of the main transmission and the cardan transmission, lower the cardan shaft down. When removing the cardan transmission, it is not necessary to disconnect the shafts from each other. After disassembly, when assembling, align the marks on the shafts as shown in Fig. 205.
Check the condition of all parts if the driveshaft is to be reused.
When installing the cardan transmission, perform the following work:
Place 2 g of long-lasting grease into the cavities of the centering holes.
Install the cardan shaft assembly onto the centering pins of the gearbox and final drive.
Secure the intermediate support to the body floor without fully tightening the mounting bolts.
Install the bolts securing the cardan shaft to the gearbox and final drive. Always replace the bolts with new ones. Tighten the bolts to the specified torque. The tightening torque depends on the engine type and is given in the tables.
Install the rear crossmember and protective mudguard. Tighten the bolts to 45 Nm.
Install the rear suspension support, lower the jack and secure the support. Tightening torque 25 Nm.
Roll the car several times in the forward and reverse directions and tighten the clamping nut to a torque of 30...40 Nm.
Tighten the intermediate support bolts of the cardan transmission to a torque of 25 Nm.
Install a protective splash guard on the exhaust system muffler.