Took the car (85 300D) in for new control arm bushings. Was quoted $170 for labor, which I agreed to. Figured it was cheaper than a spring compressor. Asked if it would be easier to do lower ball joints too, since they would have the arms off. He said yes it would. I told him to do that too. Parts were provided by me. Just got the call, for a total of $783. The main guy wasn't in there, I'm going to talk to him tomorrow morning. Last time I had ball joints pressed in, it was like $20 per side in, and out, for a total of $80. Am I wrong for:
#1 feeling like he should have cut me a break on labor since they already had the arms off.
#2 If not, does it take 6 hours to do two ball joints?
#3 Is this just a Mercedes thing, we must like to be raped because we have the star?


Things like this torque me to no end, and is the main reason I do as much as I can myself. I'm hoping this gets resolved to my satisfaction.

Let me say beforehand, that I don't have a problem with paying to get the car fixed, I have a problem accepting $600 labor for two ball joints.

LCA's I'll let someone else do as well. UCA's, easy. I'm wondering if just replacing the entire LCA would be cheaper, has all bushings, ball joints on it, just swap out, lower labor cost. Ball joints rather easy off vehicle.
Hope things work out.

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83 SD

84 CD

There is no possible way that a mechanic can do LCA bushings in two hours. I'd bet the book time is probably double that.

So, he figured out that he's deep in the hole after he got into the job and decided that the ball joints had to make up the difference. Of course, removal and reinstallation of the spindle and the ball joint within the spindle probably took a bit over one hour..........say two hours max.

But, he's way underwater on the time for the LCA bushings and had to make up the difference.

The total job should have been about six hours labor. He can beat that time if he's very good, but, he pockets the difference, not you.

You never know. In my case some rocket scientist WELDED the ball joints into the LCA, it too my 275lb weight, a 6 foot cheater bar, a broken vise and a friend to pop the welds and the joints out. I agree there is no way in the world that the LCA bearings could have been in and out that quick. hr4s per side sounds reasonable. $10 he didnt crimp them properly either.

Where did you take it? If it wasnt a MBZ guy you can bet he didnt have the right spring compressor.

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http://superturbodiesel.com/images/sig.04.10.jpg
1995 E420 Schwarz
1995 E300 Weiss
#1987 300D Sturmmachine
#1991 300D Nearly Perfect
#1994 E320 Cabriolet
#1995 E320 Touring
#1985 300D Sedan
OBK #42

That sounds about right, thats a lot of work. More so on an older car because everything is rusted together and needs to come apart with a sledge and torch.

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

I wonder if he meant two hours per side.. That would make much more sense based on what was said. Guess I need to get a better understanding of exactly what's going to happen when I talk to them. Nothing was written down as an estimate of charges (totally my fault here ), so I'll probably go pay and maybe argue just a little. I'll bet it's going to be a better ride with the new bushings. Hattie, I remember the days of rust from when I lived in Wisconsin, but here in Virginia, not too much rust to worry about.

ImBroke,

I'm just up 460 from you in Windsor. What was the shop? Are you generally happy with them working on your diesel? PM if you prefer.

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Muleears
'07 E320 Bluetec 133K my DD
'04 Jaguar XJ8 VDP, 34K
'10 Hyundai Accent 60K Grocery Getter
'02 VW Golf soon to be on the road again
'97 E300 Diesel Son's DD
'61 VERY tolerant wife

Hampton Roads, VA USA

Gone but not forgotten:
'67 250S 95K
'86 300SDL
'87 300D Turbo, 364K! R.I.P.
'98 E300 Turbodiesel, 213K
'02 S420, 164K
'01 Prius 138K

I can see a shop doing the job with the control arm in the car. Pop the spring, pull the bolt, remove and replace bushing, put the bolt back and install the spring.
Need the right tools and be motivated.

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1980 300TD-T (82 Turbo and Trans) 159,000 Miles "Jackie-O"
1983 300SD 272,000 Miles "Aristotle"
1987 Jeep Wagoneer Limited - keeps the MB's off the ice and out of the snow
1994 BMW 530it

How are you going to R & R the bushing...........if it's still attached to the spindle?

"Motivation" would definitely be the operative word.................

I was discussing the changing of the lower control arm bushing which can be done by leaving the opposite end of the control arm in place ( I have done it) and therefore speeding up the bushing change.

It would seem that is the direction the shop took to do the work for $170 while the car owner had thought the front end was being torn apart and therefore couldn't cost much more for the additional work he wanted to do, while in fact that additional work now required the front end to be torn apart.

Although I have not tried / done it I have been told that the ball joint can be done with the spindle and control arm remaining in the car. I don't know the time savings and ease to a DIY'r but if I was running a shop and I could save 15 to 30 minutes per car, per mechanic, that will either make me more competitive or put more $$ in my pocket. I have experienced both.

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1980 300TD-T (82 Turbo and Trans) 159,000 Miles "Jackie-O"
1983 300SD 272,000 Miles "Aristotle"
1987 Jeep Wagoneer Limited - keeps the MB's off the ice and out of the snow
1994 BMW 530it

How do you manage to press that bushing out of the LCA and then press in a new one............I understand that it's difficult to do outside the vehicle.........much less underneath it????

Made a sleeve out of pipe. That sleeve rests on the control arm and has a threaded bolt going through a piece of metal that crossed over the sleeve and through the bushing. A washer which fits inside the control arm followed by a nut. Impact wrench on one side and wrench on the other, took about 30 seconds and the bushing is drawn out of the control arm into the sleeve.

A aluminum vise (weighs 2 lbs) to squeeze press it in.

My car was high enough up to drop a trans at the time so there was lots of room to roll around on a creeper....but remember we are talking about a shop with a lift. so no issue for them at all.

No doubt done in far less than 2 hrs with a coffee break in-between "IF" done
in some form...as I described.

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1980 300TD-T (82 Turbo and Trans) 159,000 Miles "Jackie-O"
1983 300SD 272,000 Miles "Aristotle"
1987 Jeep Wagoneer Limited - keeps the MB's off the ice and out of the snow
1994 BMW 530it

Well, BigRed is correct. That's how he told me he did it, with the arm in the car. The ball joints are Alldata'd at 3.1 hrs per side, so I'm feeling less ripped off now. Still doesn't seem like it would take that long to do, but I'm not going to argue with them. Either way, I get the car tomorrow, after the wife drops me off, and start saving up the money to rebuild the rest of the front end. I feel the expensive stuff is now done. He did tell me that I had a nice car and could see why I'd spend the money to keep it on the road. Maybe he was feeding me Kool Aid at that point?? lol

G*dd@mn genious...

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1989 300E 144K

We are talking about the LCA bearing (according to the FSM) right? Where the LCA connects to the frame?

__________________
http://superturbodiesel.com/images/sig.04.10.jpg
1995 E420 Schwarz
1995 E300 Weiss
#1987 300D Sturmmachine
#1991 300D Nearly Perfect
#1994 E320 Cabriolet
#1995 E320 Touring
#1985 300D Sedan
OBK #42