I hope this isnt my imagination but is anyone else rebuilding their Front Ends at this mileage (250K)? I have a 1985 W123 300D and a 1987 W124 300D and my experience shows that they all need, if you want to use them for several years as safe everyday Transportation, some work in the following areas:

(a) Ball Joints, the covers are always split and torn by now anyway
(b) Shocks
(c) rebuild dry rotted Brake Calipers
(d) Some bushings
(e) Sometimes, bearings
(f) Steering Gear Boxes--most people leave this alone. I did, but i am told you should do something at this mileage like replace them, or take them apart and shift the gears one notch. I dont drive my Car with that much precison so I have ignored this..

I finished all this work on my W123 recently and when the guy aligned it, he was surprised
The reason I am amentioning this is on my W124 I get front end shuddering on braking but I dont think I have warped discs, I think somewhere in the front end geometry lies a badly worn component that causes the shuddering. I solved this problem on my Volvo 940 1991 by using Poly Bushings...