boneheaddoctor has the right approach. I piddled with my balljoints and drag lilnks, to fix sloppy steering issue on a '79 300TD. It still had some slop that was unacceptable. I finally took it to an Indy that would do the work with customer supplied parts, and had the upper control arms replaced at his suggestion, the car now handles like it should. New shocks too.
Later I had him replace the sway bar bushings (located near the firewall) took care of a grunting noise the car used to make. I should have had everything done all at once, even if I had to scrape to get all the $$ necessary.

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'95 E320 Wagon my favorite road car. '99 E300D wolf in sheeps body, '87 300D Sportline suspension, '79 300TD w/ 617.952 engine at 367,750 and counting!