Yesterday I set out to replace the upper control arms and sway arm bushings in my 300s. The '84 D R&R went perfectly and I had her back on the road in about three hours. I was feeling good and set to work on the '83 TD when the trouble soon began. Yeah the passenger side UCA bolt is siezed with a vengeance (I guess she felt neglected) on the old bushings. I did the obligatory soaking with "Liquid Wrench", rocked the bolt back and forth inside the deteriorated bushing and even gave it a healthy beating with a hand sledge. No Go Joe!! I searched the threads and found cutting and torching to be the preferred solutions. Cutting seems like a real trick to me. How to get the sawzall/hacksaw in any kind of workable position is what I wonder. I like the torch idea a little better. I found the following thread:

This is junqueyardjim from April 2005--

Finally got it done!
This was definetly not a job for the faint of heart. First I couldn't get the bolts out, but resolved that with a torch. I did burn some of the undercoat out and actually had a fire going on the plastic inner fender, which I will replace next summer when I replace the front fenders. But I only used a torch as a last resort, nothing else would move them out. I did spray in a new "under coat" and it seems like real tough stuff. Kept old wet towels on the top side and that paint all seems to be OK. I did have a bit of difficulty in getting new bolts back into the holes. The bolts I got were about an inch longer and after messing around with getting them into the hole and all the way through, I ground a nice taper on them, made sure the thread still started well and they went right in. I also found that it helped to leave the stabilizer sitting in its hole (in the arm) with just the inside bushing on, until I got both main bolts in. Thanks again to all those that sent me suggestions.

He doesn't elaborate though. It seems like he cut the bolts with oxy/acetylene and then had to replace them. I have just an acetylene torch with which I can heat (pretty darn hot) but not cut the bolts. I'm thinking if I get 'em good and hot, then I can bang 'em the rest of the way with my hammer.

Am I on the right path? Is my thinking logical? Any ideas other than cut/torch? Any help surely appreciated.

Try a longer wrench. Torque is an amazing thing.

I believe that his problem is the extraction of the bolt.........not the removal of the nut.

I just replace the UCA's on my car a couple of months ago and one of the upper bolts was rusted and stuck. I tried beating on it for a day or so and then got the idea of taking my trusty big C-clamp and a big socket to go over the bolt head and squeeze it out. It worked like a charm. It is hard to get enough swing with a hammer to move a bolt rusted to a bushing stuck in a hard piece of rubber sandwiched in a steel tunnel. A ball joint press might work too if you have one, but my big clamp was enough. Good luck!

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'82 240D Euro 68K and growing

Good idea with the C-clamp and socket Apache. A similar idea did occur to me and I think I'll give it a whirl.Since it's on the passenger side, I imagine I'll have to remove the battery tray as well as the air cleaner to have enough room to work. One question, were you able to just apply steady pressure and have it slide slowly out, or did it go with fits and starts and did you have to tap on the clamp at all?

Thanks to everyone for responses so far.

daddyO

I ended up cutting off both sides of the bolt and pulling it out via a tie rod removal fork. Not to say it was easy but it got it done.

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Jeff M.
Mercedes W123 DIY pages are now located here.
1983 / 1984 300D Sold
2000 CLK430 Cabriolet ~58k Sold
2005 Avalanche 4x4 ~66k

The "C" clamp method would seem to be a great solution to the problem. Both of mine were so difficult, but the drivers side would just not move and I literally had to melt out the aluminum control arm and bushing from under the fender on the drivers side. With good heat (soft red glow) into the bolt on the passenger side I was able to beat it out. I think the "C" clamp idea would be worth a trip to the rental shop though space is really limited on the drivers side. Removing the aircleaner and battery tray is then really a peice of cake. Also, with the battery tray out, you can see how much corrosion damage you might have down in that critical area. Mine was still very solid, but had a big area where the paint was gone and corrosion was in action and doing it's dirty work. So I had a nice little can of POR and it really did the job. I checked it a couple of weeks ago, and looks like I had just applied it. Great!

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Junqueyardjim
Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important. C.S. Lewis



1983 Mercedes W123 240D 4 Speed 285,000 on the road with a 617 turbo, beautiful butter yellow, license plate # 83 240D INDIANA

2003 Jaguar Type X, AWD. beautiful, good mileage,
Mom's car, but I won't let her drive it!

When I did mine, it popped and creaked as I tightened the clamp. I didn't have to put the super squeeze on it. I think that it is a matter of leverage more than brute force, for once. Once I squeezed the bolt down flush, I opened up the clamp and used a bolt I had lying around to squeeze it through the rest of the way. It never gave up and it protested almost all of the way out. I didn't have to remove the battery and battery tray on mine, a 240.

You will be pleased with the results from changing your UCA's. Mine were so bad that you could see that the wheels were leaning and splayed out of alignment. New UCA's corrected that problem although I replaced all of the steering rods, ball joints, and idler arm bushings too.

I just got in from changing the rear sway bar links tonight. A pretty easy and inexpensive job and now all of the clunking in the rear is gone. Good luck!

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'82 240D Euro 68K and growing

Success!!!

Thanks to all who responded to the request for help with the seized UCA bolt.
I ended up using a combination of methods to finally extract that cantenkerous bugger. First I applied the "big squeeze" with a ball jount press [yes I bought the Harbor Freight press (there is a retail store just a few miles from where I work) and I must say, for a $40 dollar tool, it really works well]. However, the squeeze alone wasn't enough. I ended up manuevering a pair of vise grips (after removing the shock) onto one of the bushings and then locked the pliers down. Then I took a wrench and rocked the UCA bolt back and forth until the bushing broke free from the bolt. Repeated the same thing on the other bushing. After the bolt could spin freely inside both bushing, I was able to push it out (fairly easily) with the force of the ball joint press. I'm glad this method worked, because I really wasn't enamored with the idea of melting parts with a torch. While I was this far into it, I went ahead and removed the steering knuckle (spindle) and replaced the lower ball jounts. Boy was that fun!! I laid about 500 ft/lbs of impact wrench torque into that press to drive those bad boys home. I was a little worried about pounding that hard on a cheap tool, but again it held up. Thanks again to all who replied.

Cheers,
DaddyO