Mercedes W123 Differential Restoration

in this episode of restore it we're taking the differential from the mercedes and rebuilding it with new bearings seals and paint i'm going to leave the driveshafts for a separate video as mercedes hasn't made it easy to replace the boots with factory ones so that'll be quite a long episode in itself and that'll be out soon but first things first let's remove these driveshafts and dismantle this diff starting with the oil but before we do that i just have a very quick word from our sponsor when things go wrong with our cars be it the engine or suspension we take care of it however when something's off in the bedroom you just try not to think about it and we all know what happens when we ignore problems so let's take care of ourselves as much as we take care of our cars with roman you can get a free online evaluation and ongoing care for ed all from the comfort and privacy of your own home a us licensed professional will work with you to find the best treatment plan and if appropriate medication will be shipped to you with free two-day shipping getting started is easy go to getroman.com forward slash restore and complete an online visit if you click my link at the top of the video description you'll get 15 off your first order of ed treatment so if you've been putting it off change that today with get roman thanks to get roma for the sponsor let's dismantle this death foreign this mount on the back is going to be replaced with a new one from mercedes it just didn't show up in time for the video so you'll see that when everything's on its way back in to remove the drive shafts you have to undo a circlip that holds them in place to remove the pinion nut i first had to push back the tabs that were preventing it from spinning it turned out to be quite a pain and i was also waiting for the special socket to arrive so i couldn't remove it up next were the side seals they had to be tapped in and then carefully pried out once the seals were out of the way the large circlips could be removed with our special made up tool and then the bearing race follows for the future i've ordered the special tools you need to get these big circlips out with both the seals and the races out i could then remove the differential from the casing now all that was left on the casing was the pinion shaft bearing and seals to make removing the side bearings easier i used a puller and an impact gun with the new socket in hand i could use the vise and a breaker bar to loosen the pinion nut i then used a soft face hammer to remove the pinion shaft from the case making sure to put something soft underneath for the shaft to land on with that out i could then tap out the pinion sill so here's everything laid out and this is everything we'll be restoring or replacing if you've ever opened a diff before you'll know the smell is awful so before i contaminate the parts washer with that disgusting smell i used contact cleaner to remove most of the oil i then washed everything in concentrated degreaser to prepare them for the blaster with everything masked up i blasted them with medium glass the camera kept messing up here but you get the idea [Music] with the blasting done i could still see a few spots of rust that were protected by dirt not removed in the parts washer i used a rotary tool with a variety of bits to remove the rest of that rust [Music] [Music] just to be on the safe side i gave the main case a coat of rust converter which also acts as a first coat for paint everything was then masked for a final time to prepare them for paint for the parts i didn't treat with rust converter i instead gave them a coat of edge primer next was a light coat of quartz high build primer and then base coat and quartz crystal clear the clear coat was then baked at 60 degrees for 30 minutes to cure completely so here's everything restored and replaced all of the parts are genuine mercedes parts sourced from mercedes one of the pinion shaft bearings was still good and so wasn't replaced at the request of the owner to rebuild the diff correctly we're going to use this preloader tool from preloader.com to make sure the preload is set correctly which will make sure the backlash is also correct to begin the rebuild the bearing ratios were pushed in with the press hello the new shims and crush leaf were added to the pin shaft before the case was placed on top of the shaft so it could be tapped back in once that was done the pinion seal went in along with the dry flange the nut was torqued down until the preload was correct and then tapped into the dry flange to prevent it from spinning the new side bearings were then pushed onto the differential using the press they were then greased and it was placed back into the case the side races were dropped into place before the large circlips were added to the same side they came from once everything was back in the backlash was tested by putting yellow oil paint on the main gear where it contacts the pinion gear and checking the interference pattern is in the center of the teeth that looks about right to me the side seals were then tapped into place to finish off the bearing and seal saga as most of the small bits were cheap enough to just replace i didn't have a lot to do other than zinc plate the drain and fill plugs that were blasted not really thinking about it i applied a layer of gasket sealant around the rear case and installed it this will have to be redone because as we know to get the drive shafts back in the rear case needs to be off so for now just imagine the drive shafts are there the case was then torqued down and the plugs installed so so the four threads that mount the diff were then added by locking two nuts together and winding them in until the middle part was all the way in finally the oil breather pipe was torqued down and the restoration was complete coming very soon will be a full restoration of the driveshafts and then both will be reinstalled into the mercedes thanks for watching i'll see you next time you

Channel: Restore It

Views: 214,327

Rating: 4.91363 out of 5

Keywords: restoration, restore, mercedes, differential restoration, Restore It, differential, 2k, paint, spray, gun, 300SL roadster, blasting, degreaser, w123, parts, w123 restoration, car, mod, mods, repaint, respray, clean, old, new, it, rusty, remove, refurbished, refurbish, how to, how, guide, learn, fix, BMW e30, engine, audi, mini, vehicle, maintenance, VW, ford, dodge, chevrolet, toyota, Renault, Peugeot, Opel, LSD, Limited, Slip, Diff, final drive, open, closed, locked, welded, drift, lock, ratio, clutch, M Sport, E36, leaking differential

Id: lUHlxzO7E7Q

Length: 18min 59sec (1139 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 01 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/TimeCadet]

/r/w123 would love this