Front End Rebuild

[MikeCook]

While my girlfriend is out of town next month, I'm taking a couple of weeks vacation time to work on the 300SD with no distractions. The biggest job I want to get done is rebuilding the front suspension and steering. I have already repaired the idler arm. Here are the parts I am going to order:

Lower Ball Joint - Lemfoerder
Upper Control Arm Left - Febi
Upper Control Arm Right - Febi
Bearing Bracket Bushing Upper - Febi
Bearing Bracket Bushing Low - Febi
Guide Rod Mount Kit - Febi
Guide Rod Repair Kit - Lemfoerder
Control Arm-Sway Bar Bushing - Lemfoerder
Control Arm Bushing Kit - Lemfoerder
Tie Rod - Center - Lemfoerder
Tie Rod - Left - Lemfoerder
Tie Rod - Right - Lemfoerder
Guide Rod- Febi
Steering Coupling - OE

Is there anything else anything else I should look at doing while I have the suspension apart?

Thanks

[OlBrenner]

Make sure you have the proper type of spring compressor, got mine on eBay for $185 a few weeks back. To do the lower control arm bushings you'll want a small hand vice (4" c-clamp works too with a bit of work) to press them in. Here's a tip to get the old ones out. Use a small flat screw driver to pry up the lip of the thin aluminum sleeve and push it out the other end, then the bushings can easily be pried out with a decent size screw driver. Others have broken out the sawzall but that seems like overkill and breathing burnt bushing rubber doesn't sound like fun. The uppers are easy, do a few searches and you'll read about the pry bar trick on the sway bar. You'll need to take the lower control arm to a machine shop to have the old balljoints removed and the new ones pressed in. You can do it yourself if you have a press and special tool, not worth it in my opinion. Pay some grease monkey $20 to do it for you. You'll need a balljoint/tie rod remover (claw looking press). Basically most of the procedures have been covered in past threads, do a bit of research, make some notes and have fun.