I had the car at the dealership yesterday. They diagnose that the main drive shaft [edited out: rear axle] needle bearings are worn and that the entire drive shaft [edited out: rear axle] should be replaced. They said that MB does not allow them to rebuild the drive shaft [edited out: axle] --MB is concerned that it will not be done correctly (not balanced correctly). Drive shaft [edited out: Axle] is $700-plus, and installation about $850 -- my indie says he can do it for under $1300 (has to buy the parts from MB --so can't discount parts). -- my indie is the guy who couldn't find the problem in two weeks of trying.
What to do???
[note -- for clarity I corrected this post but left the previous errors in brackets so that the next posts make sense]