Mercedes driveshafts, with few exceptions, are of the two-piece design. This design of driveline completely eliminates natural frequency vibrations commonly found in many one piece driveshafts.

Mercedes driveline designs since the mid sixties use rubber flex discs to connect the transmission to the driveline and the rear of the driveshaft to the rear axle. These flex discs absorb torsional vibrations from the engine/transmission and reduce shock load to the driveshaft and rear axle. The driveshaft is supported by a ball bearing, encased in a soft rubber cushion. This cushion also dampens unwanted driveshaft vibrations, and to some extent both the flex discs and the support cushion can be "tuned" to the specific arrangement of chassis, transmission and rear axle.

The front half of a Mercedes driveshaft is connected to the rear driveshaft with a universal joint and a sliding spline. A universal joint is a precision bearing, which allows for small angle changes from engine/transmission movement. Mercedes driveshafts use an extremely precise design of universal joint with considerable torque carrying capacity for it's size.

The Mercedes universal joint is quite interesting. Unlike most designs, the roller bearings are contained in a thin shell, stamped from an exotic alloy sheet metal 1 mm thick. It is formed accurately enough to not require subsequent machining and is heat treated sufficiently by the force of the stamping to not require subsequent heat treating. The thinness of this bearing cap allows a large cross and larger roller bearings to be utilized, greatly increasing both strength and bearing life, while keeping size and weight low.

The rear of a Mercedes driveline is much the same as the front and is connected to the rear axle by another flex disc. Mercedes driveshafts also utilize an extremely strong tubular section. It is made from a special steel and cold- worked for additional strength, which saves weight compared to other designs of drivelines. The tubing is inertia, or friction welded, to the ends allowing very fast and accurate manufacturing of Mercedes driveshafts.

This design is found on just one other car, a Lexus and is unargueably the most sophisticated design produced today.

The only problem with this design of universal joint driveshaft is that repair is difficult and relatively expensive. Years ago, Driveline Service of Portland, Inc. developed unique tooling and fixtures to correctly repair Mercedes driveshafts. We created a proprietary universal joint, made to exacting specifications, that allows subsequent repairs to be performed inexpensively and the initial purchase price of our remanufactured Mercedes driveshafts to be quite reasonable.

It requires extensive tooling, extremely accurate machines and a fundamental understanding of roller bearing theory to properly restore Mercedes driveshafts. Additionally the employees at Driveline Service of Portland Inc. that remanufacture Mercedes and BMW driveshafts do nothing else. Very few driveline specialists possess the knowledge, machinery or personnel to properly repair a Mercedes driveline.

Another interesting feature of the most common Mercedes driveshaft design is that the front driveline is centered directly off the transmission main shaft and the rear shaft is centered directly off the pinion shaft. This driveline design causes Mercedes driveshafts to rotate with the smallest amount of radial run-out possible of any design on the market. This design of driveshaft centering is only found at present on Mercedes, Lexus, Alfa and BMW driveshafts.

Driveline Service of Portland takes advantage of this feature in our remanufactured Mercedes driveshafts. We created dedicated tooling and balancing equipment that controls the maximum eccentricity error of our balancing within .0076mm. This is literally an order of magnitude better than the typical driveline specialist and approaches the limit of commonly available bearings. The extreme accuracy of our processes and the specialization of dedicated employees allows us to warranty our remanufactured Mercedes drivelines for a longer time than Mercedes warranties theirs.

In summary, Mercedes takes great advantage of state of the art techniques and designs in the manufacturing of their driveshafts. Driveline Service of Portland, Inc. with a bit of "Yankee ingenuity", has improved on the serviceability of a great design without any sacrifice in performance.

If you would like more information about Mercedes driveshafts or Driveline Service of Portland's proprietary line of remanufactured driveshafts for Mercedes automobiles please contact us by any means below.