The vast majority of Autozone parts are cheap asian knockoffs. At NAPA you will pay more but generally get similar to the same parts as online. I bought a "napa" distributor rotor there in a pinch a year ago for the 300E and it was made in Italy....has lasted way better than the made in Spain Bosch one that failed with barely a year of use.

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-diesel is not just a fuel, its a way of life-
'15 GLK250 Bluetec 118k - mine - (OC-123,800)
'17 Metris(VITO!) - 37k - wifes (OC-41k)
'09 Sprinter 3500 Winnebago View - 62k (OC - 67k)
'13 ML350 Bluetec - 95k - dad's (OC-98k)
'01 SL500 - 103k(km) - dad's (OC-110,000km)
'16 E400 4matic Sedan - 148k - Brothers (OC-155k)

Guys, obviously I would rather wait to get a manufacturer that I am familiar with but I need my car immediately. Either pony up what a shop will charge or me do it. I know if I have my car towed into a shop in its current condition that they will basically rape me on the price!

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1994 S350D
1995 E300D
1997 E300D

bought these joints from the local MB dealer and I was surprised to learn
that they were made by TRW - no further details were given. So much
for MB quality.

Since I will be doing this in the middle of a parking lot can anyone give me any tips to do this job as quickly as possible?

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1994 S350D
1995 E300D
1997 E300D

Just some standard advice:

Don't do anything until you get control of that spring. Use a good quality spring compressor - many of those commonly available are just not up to the task.

If you measure your original part's configuration, you may be able to approximate the new part's configuration and make it safely to a front end adjustment without a tow.

Can't stress safety enough.

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Codifex
1981 240D ChinaBlue (Got her running with a donor engine.)
1983 300DTurbo w/sunroof.
1984 300TD manual sunroof. (Electrical Gremlins)

BTW this car just passed its New York State inspection 10 days ago!

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1994 S350D
1995 E300D
1997 E300D

Trw is oe Mercedes. They didn't make every part they put on their car. Brakes where ate, or girling or whatever.

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Eugene

10 E63 AMG
93 300te 4matic
07 BMW X3
14 Ford F-150 Fx2

Thinking out loud about how to approach the repair where car sits:

1) Jack the car by the front crossmember high enough to get a jackstand under the right front pad. Hopefully the LCA doesn't extend beyond the point it contains the spring. You might follow along jacking the LCA simultaneously to keep the spring contained.

2) Remove the ball joint pin from the knuckle.

3) Use a jack close to the pivot of the LCA to get the LCA high enough to get another jack under the far end but still clear of the ball joint. You don't need to keep both jacks under the LCA but you want to support the LCA as far from the pivot as possible.

4) Press out the old ball joint socket, press in the new ball joint keeping the notch aligned with the index in the LCA.

5) Aim the strut and knuckle over the ball joint as you raise the LCA. Make sure the car doesn't lift off the jackstand!

An alternative is to raise the front of the car and raise the LCA so the ball joint socket is just under the ball joint pin. Lower the car/strut onto the LCA so the ball joint sections are reunited. Lower the jack holding the body then lower the jack holding the LCA. This should keep the ball joint in its socket. The weight of the car should keep the ball joint seated. Have the car rolled onto a flatbed then deal with it at home.

[edit] Get back there ASAP and douse the ball joint components with penetrant.

Sixto
87 300D

A. Your wife is clearly an extremely lucky lady.
B. Whoever inspected this car must have never lifted it off the ground, took your money, and let you leave having not performed any safety inspection at all.

Usually Im the guy looking for the inspection places that don't do a good job for my various heaps of crap, but this is a genuinely dangerous level of incompetence, had she hit one of the 63 billion potholes in NY, she or someone else could have easily been killed rolling or crashing the car at highway speeds.

this is what they should have inspected-
NYS DMV - (Brochure) New York State Vehicle Safety/Emissions Inspection Program for Cars and Light Trucks

After you get this resolved, you need to file a NY state form VS-35, complaint against the inspection facility.
NYS DMV - Forms Download

here is a NY state information PDF of what to expect when filing a complaint. I think this is worth doing from the standpoint of keeping unsafe vehicles off the road because of places like this-
NYS DMV - (Brochure) A Guide for Consumers: What to Expect if you File a Complaint Against a DMV Regulated Automotive Business


As far as the car, the spring compressor is the big thing here, the safest and best ones to use are not cheap, and compressing the spring, removing and installing the ball joint is not really a checking my oil type repair in a parking lot. What can you get away with where the car is parked? can you do a repair like this there?

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This post brought to you by Carl's Jr.

It's not a problem with a spring compressor. Working on it without a spring compressor is dangerous.

You'll also need a ball joint press tool to get the joint out of the LCA, and then back in. I don't know if the free AutoZone rental tool will work.

I don't get the hate for TRW... they're not a bad brand, and if it's in an MB box with the star on it, you can bet it meets MB specs and will be top quality. Check the AutoZone box for a country of origin, I personally wouldn't want to use any Chinese suspension parts. In a pinch, use whatever joint you can get, just to make the car driveable again... then when you have time, replace the cheap joints with good ones. It's double work and double expense, but hey, you said you had to get it fixed NOW...

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Dave
Boise, ID
Check out my website photos, documents, and movies!

Waste of time. Read the link, they do not say the station will check ball joints.

Checking ball joints is not as easy as checking for worn steering links, you have to pry on the control arm while observing the joint for movement. For the replaceable ball joints, there is a factory tool that is used to check them for excessive wear (click here).

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Dave
Boise, ID
Check out my website photos, documents, and movies!

An online Dealer site showed the MSRP to be $32.
If you are lucky Autozone will get the joint from the Dealer.

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

Man after seeing this - I need to change out both BJs in my car too.

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2012 BMW X5 (Beef + Granite suspension model)

1995 E300D - The original humming machine (consumed by Flood 2017)
2000 E320 - The evolution (consumed by flood 2017)

I still doubt they lifted this car. with the amount of rust and pitting on the ball of that ball joint, theres no way there there wasn't a ripped boot there, that would have been self evident to someone doing the rest of the inspection.

If they were in there checking all the steering components, they would have seen that boot, and a good inspector would have then tested the ball joints and informed the owner

When I used to work for a truck shop in NY state, I would frequently set up the inspections for the other guy, who had the inspector's license for cars, with the car on a lift to take a tire off, and a long pry bar, before you lift it past 8 inches, you can easily stop and check the ball joints before lifting it chest high and taking off the tire.

I have no doubt that the car probably overall looks good, and the guy checked the lights, took a cursory look at the wheels, decided it was a mercedes and in good shape, scanned the NY registration, and stuck on a sticker.

its amazing how many places don't take safety inspections seriously when they have a license to do them.

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This post brought to you by Carl's Jr.

Who's a naughty boy for not checking his ball joints then?

I do this on every vehicle that comes in and even on an LOF service.
Often the inner wheel area is dusted with red rust, sign something is dry and wearing.

The joint is under constant tension so sometimes you wont hear anything, especially if the heater and ac work good. need to 'pry' the joint using the rim as an anchor point to see movement.

In some places ...especially UK, the yearly test...known still as the MOT for vehicles over 3 years old, they use a drive on 4 post lift with air powered 4 way movable pads the front wheels stand on and the pad movement shows up any joint problem.

I would endorse the German OE parts or MOOG as other a/m parts are spotty in quality.

This is the first one i have ever seen part company on a Mercedes. How many miles on the car ?

The old 1958 up Morris Minor 1000's would do this regularly. One corner in town was locally known as Morris Corner because of the adverse camber. It caused iffy front uprights to separate

I picked up several Moggies with the shop wrecker over the years.


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