E300 (W210) Front suspension rebuild- upper control arms

[kwmccauley]

I found many posts about lower ball joints, lower control arm bushing replacement, etc. Not much to be found about upper control arms & upper ball joints (which I bought as a new assembly) The bolt and nut that holds in the upper control arms seem very tough to get at. I am doing the right side (passenger first). I have the air cleaner box out and that gave me access to the bolt head. Not clear how to get to the nut on the other end of the bolt. Seems many things have to get moved under the hood to get access. Any advice for the passenger side and drivers side (next) appreciated.
Thanks,
Ken

[kwmccauley]

To access the pass side (right) upper control arm attachment bolt and nut is is necessary to remove the air cleaner box and at least the cover of the electronic control box (the one with a label that says BATTERY LOCATED UNDER BACK SEAT). Once the cover is off, it is possible to get a 16mm box wrench in there to hold the nut while you turn the 15mm bolt head that hides under the air cleaner box at the top front of the wheel well curvature.

If you do this job and replace other things such as lower control arm bushings, torsion bar end links, etc......the manual says to tighten to torque spec only once the car is in the ready to drive condition with the car's full weight on the wheels.

More info and pictures will post once I have everything complete.

Ken

[Mojool]

let us know how it goes. i replaced both upper control arms on my w123. the inside bolt was rusted to the metal 'sheath' so it wouldn't slide out. had to put a cutting torch on it . but, yeah..i had to remove the air cleaner to get to the passenger side, even tho i have a different model than you.

did you have to replace the lower arm's ball joints? there are several tips to doing this. let me know...