Quote:
Originally Posted by Strife
Hmmm...well, I think I found the source of my noisy, binding steering on the 380SL.
Taking it off was not exactly by the book. Pulling out the old lower bushing from the idler mount was horrible; Then, cleaning out and grabbing the metal insert and debris was also nasty. I sanded the inside of the tube with 800 grit to get the rust off of it.
The top bearing looked OK, and I left it in because I did not want to risk removing it, which might have permitted me to take the bolt out without removing the starter. Maybe next time 
My upper and lower A arm bearings look like this also, and one squeaks. I intend to replace the uppers in a few weeks.
I strongly suspect that once the "sealing lip" of these bushings is compromised, they decay quickly. |
As I'm getting ready to replace the idler arm bushings on my 81 380sl, I don't understand why you had to remove the starter on your 380sl to remove the bolt that holds the idler arm on. Did your bolt go in through the top of the sleeve?. Looking at mine, the bolt comes out from the bottom, so I don't see any need to remove the starter, unless I'm missing something?
Just curious: how did you loosen that bolt? I put a long breaker bar on mine, and couldn't budge it. So I stopped out of fear that I'd break it off.
So, any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks