I have a nice 1982 300sd with about 120,000 miles and have recently started to experience a dull clunk in the driver front wheel well. The clunk happens when I back out of the driveway and simultaneously turn the wheel counterclockwise to the fullest. I can recreate the clunk at a stop when I turn the steering wheel counterclockwise as well. I can lightly feel the clunk through the floor and brake pedal.

Any suggestions?

Could be several things, but check the rod that attaches the lower control arm to the back of the wheel well.

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'83 300D Turrrbo 295K miles

Yep,,, guide rod bushings. Do a search.

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95 SL500 Smoke Silver, Parchment 64K
07 E350 4matic Station Wagon White 34K
02 E320 4Matic Silver/grey 80K
05 F150 Silver 44K

I had seen a couple of posts about guide rods and thought that was probably it. How urgent is repair?

I had bad guide rod bushings, and the feel of the clunk was similar to what you describe, but the clunk came whenever I hit the breaks, especially when I hit them and then released quickly.

If you can, have someone else repeat the conditions under which you feel the clunk while you stand outside the car. If you see that the wheel is falling back and lurching forward along with the clunk sound, then you know it is likely the guide rod bushings.

I was told by people here and by my mechanic that they had never seen one just let go, but personally, I would check it out to find out what it is, as I think there are other front end components that it could be as well, and some other ones could be more critical.

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I took off the driver side front tire and found the culprit. It is the outer tie rod that is shot. I ordered a tire rod assembly and will put it in this weekend. Looks like a pretty straight forward job.

It is, when you pull the old one, line up the new one as close as you can, install, get an alignment. If the ball joints spin before you reach the proper torque, 40 Nm, place a 6mm spacer, I use an open end wrench, torque down, loosen slightly, remove spacer, then torque down again. This will "seat" the ball joint.

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83 SD

84 CD

Thank you toomany MBZ...I will let you know how it goes.

it seems I am having the same problem except my clunk is when i turn right only at a speed faster then 30km

Have you checked the tie rod ends? I removed the tire and was able to diagnose the problem by grasping the hub and moving it from left to right. The clunking in the tie rod was then obvious.

I recieved my new tie rod assembly today and installed in about 1 hour. I was careful to adjust the tie new tie rod by using a makeshift jig that was created by the old tie rod. I took her for a test drive and the steering is much tighter...and obviously no clunk.

WooHoo!!

An alignment is next, unless you like unnecessarily buying tires.

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83 SD

84 CD