Hi Folks, whilst I have been a member for some time now, this is my first post. I drive a 75,000 mile 2006 ML320D.
On changing the front and rear diff oils in response to an increasingly present rumble particularly on over-run, I found a high presence of metal particles in the oil from the front.
Adapting the drain plug to include a magnet I ran the unit with new oil, some 2000 miles later the oil and plug were checked to find more metal particles, clearly time to make a repair.
Obtaining an 11,000 mile used unit I fitted that and stripped my original, the particles were comming from one of the two carrier bearings, whilst it was a timken bearing it appeared to be failing (photos to follow on a re post), on approaching a bearing dealer I found the type number to be a special for ZF who manufacture the diff, after some carefull measuring I found that an 85" thou machined spacer will overcome this issue (advice available for anyone encountering this issue).
I have rebuilt the original unit and retained as a spare, it is available to a genuine club member with fitting instructions and an uprated magnetic drain plug.
If you have this over-run rumble, check the condition of the diff oils and deal with it sooner rather than later, you may get away with some £50 of new bearings.
Regards, John. (Mbl: 07768 931843)
On changing the front and rear diff oils in response to an increasingly present rumble particularly on over-run, I found a high presence of metal particles in the oil from the front.
Adapting the drain plug to include a magnet I ran the unit with new oil, some 2000 miles later the oil and plug were checked to find more metal particles, clearly time to make a repair.
Obtaining an 11,000 mile used unit I fitted that and stripped my original, the particles were comming from one of the two carrier bearings, whilst it was a timken bearing it appeared to be failing (photos to follow on a re post), on approaching a bearing dealer I found the type number to be a special for ZF who manufacture the diff, after some carefull measuring I found that an 85" thou machined spacer will overcome this issue (advice available for anyone encountering this issue).
I have rebuilt the original unit and retained as a spare, it is available to a genuine club member with fitting instructions and an uprated magnetic drain plug.
If you have this over-run rumble, check the condition of the diff oils and deal with it sooner rather than later, you may get away with some £50 of new bearings.
Regards, John. (Mbl: 07768 931843)
