A$$ End Wiggle - 87 300D

[a2t]

(1987 300D Turbo, 283,000 miles)

I heard a peculiar new noise today.

Peculiar old noises are fine, but peculiar NEW noises are particularly concerning in this car (based on years of experience). Since I was 30 miles away from work on my lunch break picking up parts I had to get back. So I turned up the AM radio and forgot about it for a while. On I-285 I was again reminded of the peculiar new noise. This time the radio couldn’t drown it out so I moved over to the far right lane and brought it down to legal speeds, and got into crash position. Soon after, the right rear tire let go in cloud of smoke and debris. As I was putting the spare one on I tightened the lug nuts a bit with the car raised and was surprised to see the rear tire move fwd a good inch or so by the torque of the lug wrench. Upon closer inspection I can see the whole rear tire is able to move pretty freely fwd because the torque arm (the upper front arm) has no bushing left in it at the subframe mount. You can almost touch the rear tire to the front of the fender well!

This 10 degrees of free play could explain the ass end wiggle Ive complained about for the last 10,000 miles. Im not a scientist, but it seems likely…

When I got it home after work I took the rear tires off. Thank God I even made it home. The tire on the left rear is corded on the inside over a 6 inch area, and the torque arm on that side is in the same condition. The other bushings look to be in OK shape (meaning they are there and don’t seem to have much play in them). I loaded 2 lug bolts into the hubs and used a crow bar to pry on each rear wheel hub to try to move it fwd or aft. They move fwd very easily but wont move aft at all.

So Im thinking I can get by with new torque arms, which are relatively cheap.

Are there any tricks to removing and replacing these? I was going to give it a go tonight, it looks pretty tough to access the bolt at the subframe, so I will probably need to remove the swaybar mount. I hope none of the bolts are cone shaped, especially at the rear wheel carrier because I do not want to have to press this out like a tie rod. I guess if worse comes to worse I’ll bring it to a shop. Any and all advice on this job will be greatly appreciated!