Oil cooler hoses made all wrong, upper control arms not fitting in the chassis... Crap parts from Pelican and everyone else.
We spend a lot on parts per month. Not buying parts from these folks again.
My Porsche guys are dealing with the same. Crap parts.

Interesting. I just bought a refurb Bendix brake caliper for my 1981 300SD from Pep Boys. Had to file out one of the two holes for the bolts which hold it to the vehicle. My old bolt would not even go through the doggone hole.

These cars are getting old. Perhaps it's "pattern creep". Like when you cut a bunch of pieces of wood and use the previous cut piece to make your mark.

The problem I have is not knowing where they are made prior to purchase. When I open the box and it smells like a Harbor Freight store I get that sinking feeling the part came from China.
But, it's hit or miss. I purchased one URO brand bushing and it actually said "Made in Germany" on it.

This just happened to me. One side was done and I was looking forward to a faster install for the other. I took the front end apart last fall and got held up by the cold and forgot exactly how it goes back together. I've got all new parts except for tie rod which aren't very old.

So far the screwdriver just lets the nut turn. Of course this happened at the worst place - where the captured nut goes into from the inside and is more difficult to reach.

It looks like a sizable chunk of the wrench would need to come off and I'm hoping to get it apart without going that route. Any other words of wisdom besides staying relaxed until it's figured out?

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85SD 240K & stopped counting painted, putting bac together. 84SD 180,000. sold to a neighbor and member here but I forget his handle. The 84 is much improved from when I had it. 85TD beginning to repair to DD status. Lots of stuff to do.

Hell, that happened to me also when doing the front end on the 560 a while back.

Behr fan clutches are like that now... total garbage. Either stuck locked up or do not lock at all.

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I'm not a doctor, but I'll have a look.

'85 300SD 245k
'87 300SDL 251k
'90 300SEL 326k

Six others from BMW, GM, and Ford.

Liberty will not descend to a people; a people must raise themselves to liberty.[/IMG]

I also just had this happen during my suspension rebuild. The solution? Air hammer.

I tried a few of the above items, no wrench would fit in there, I tired prying against the square nut, but nothing would budge the initial friction. I ended up grinding a custom bit for the air hammer and had the nut out in less than 30 minutes after hours of trying alternatives.

Take a look at the attached picture with the bit against the nut, you will see that after you get a divot in place, you can use this to hold your bit while you slowly work it off.

Attached Thumbnails

     

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1983 Mercedes 300SD
1987 Mercedes 300SDL
2001 VW Passat 2.8 AWD
2007 OM642 Jeep WK 4x4

Unfortunately, I am working on the least accessible hole - the inside passenger's side. I think a cheap open end wrench with the head trimmed to fit into the stock hole will work without having to modify the body.

Edit: what worked I was working the forward of the 2 guide rod mounting bolts where the larger access hole is toward the center of the car and doesn't have much room. No wrench could be ground down to fit and neither a screw or pliers would get enough of a bite.

I was able to drill a hole in the side of the nut and tap a small drift into the hole. The drift kept the nut from turning and it was easy to unscrew the bolt.

Words of caution: Do not use a drill bit that is too big. There is not much meat on the nut. I started small and went up to ~3/16 I think.

Be careful not to drill into the bolt threads. The threads are 12mm x 1.75 in case you need that info but check with a thread gauge. Interestingly, the bolt is only 11mm while the threads are 12mm.

I reused the old captured nut and added locktite. Hopefully this refurb will out last the car and I won't need to do the job again. Actually, I'd prefer to out last the bushings and be in good enough shape to do the job in another 32 years.

I wasn't fighting rust. A new Lemforder captured nut failed during install. Rust may make the process more difficult.

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85SD 240K & stopped counting painted, putting bac together. 84SD 180,000. sold to a neighbor and member here but I forget his handle. The 84 is much improved from when I had it. 85TD beginning to repair to DD status. Lots of stuff to do.

How about trying a long hex head (about 4 mm or so) wrench slipped in the hole to wedge between the (no longer) captive nut and the channel?

That should "captivate" the nut again, at least temporarily, so you can remove the bolt without the nut spinning.

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78 W116 300SD 'Desert Rose' new as of 01/26/2014
79 W116 300SD 'Stormcloud' RIP 04/11/2022

I don’t think this would work. I tried a spade drill bit that I had which wasn’t in great shape but was still sharp. It didn’t bite. I then tried to use the shaft to jam up in there without success.

I think I’m going to try the drill approach. Try to drill a small hole in the flat, to relieve some stress, and then jam a small punch in there. Otherwise keep drilling it until the nut splits.

Even if the bolt is destroyed, they do sell new ones. And they’ll get lots of antiseize.


Ugh, what a time waster.

Anyone else find some good tricks?

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Current Diesels:
1981 240D (73K)
1982 300CD (169k)
1985 190D (169k)
1991 350SD (116k)
1991 350SD (206k)
1991 300D (228k)
2008 ML320 CDI (199k)
1996 Dodge Ram CTD (442k)
1996 Dodge Ram CTD (267k)

Past Diesels:
1983 300D (228K), 1985 300D (233K), 1993 300D 2.5T (338k), 1993 300SD (291k)

Do you have a stick (arc) welder? If so you may be able to feed that into the hole and apply a tack or two on the nut to secure it to the retainer. The concentrated heat on the nut alone may be helpful as well.

Good luck

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Stable Mates:
1987 300TD 310K mi (Hans)
2008 Jeep Grand Cherokee OM642 165k mi (Benzrokee)

Unfortunately not. The hole that is accessible is tiny anyway. It’s maybe 1/4” by 3/4”. I think I’m better off trying to drill it.

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Current Diesels:
1981 240D (73K)
1982 300CD (169k)
1985 190D (169k)
1991 350SD (116k)
1991 350SD (206k)
1991 300D (228k)
2008 ML320 CDI (199k)
1996 Dodge Ram CTD (442k)
1996 Dodge Ram CTD (267k)

Past Diesels:
1983 300D (228K), 1985 300D (233K), 1993 300D 2.5T (338k), 1993 300SD (291k)

There is a video on ************** where he deals with this issue. Might be of use

Kent bragsma

Yeah, I’ve seen Kent’s info.

Splitting the nut is the path I need to take. I drilled into the one side and tried to get it off with a punch. No dice. Would prefer to not destroy the bolt, may need to.

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Current Diesels:
1981 240D (73K)
1982 300CD (169k)
1985 190D (169k)
1991 350SD (116k)
1991 350SD (206k)
1991 300D (228k)
2008 ML320 CDI (199k)
1996 Dodge Ram CTD (442k)
1996 Dodge Ram CTD (267k)

Past Diesels:
1983 300D (228K), 1985 300D (233K), 1993 300D 2.5T (338k), 1993 300SD (291k)

IIRC the guide rod mount service kit comes with a new bolt - I have a couple extras I think if you come up totally short.

So are your mount areas rusty too? Mine were, I got them welded up last year.



-J

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1991 350SDL. 230,000 miles (new motor @ 150,000). Blown head gasket

Tesla Model 3. 205,000 miles. Been to 48 states!
Past: A fleet of VW TDIs.... including a V10,a Dieselgate Passat, and 2 ECOdiesels.
2014 Cadillac ELR
2013 Fiat 500E.