w124 ball joint press
 

This ball joint press looks very nice - Im thinking of making one myself with 2 1/2 inch thick steel plates.

with 4 bolts pulling this press sits square and will apply a lot of force.

Traggelenkpresse Mercedes 190 W201 W124 Presse Traggelenk Abzieher | eBay

Go for it and let us know how it worked out! Getting the correct dia sleves is key.

the plates and threaded rods are the easy bits - 20 for a couple of base plates and about 20 or so for some 4140 threaded rod and nuts (Im thinking acme thread)

Im going to see if a machine shop can mill out a few slivers worth of metal from some pieces of pipe to make the sleeves - looks like I only need to mill a seat into one small piece that will push the joint from the bottom.

If it goes smoothly Its going to be a nice joint press.

I believe you would have to notch the lower spacer ring used for removal. The point at which the ball joint area connects to the lower control arm is not flush to the two contact points on the sides used with original equipment special tool.

http://www.peachparts.com/diy/w124ba...s/image032.jpg

I translated the e-bay listing. hope it works.

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Charlie

I used it too.

ive already ordered a couple of 4x4x1/2" steel base plates with 4 holes. for pieces of pipe Im going to visit a metal dealer yard and see if i can get a few scraps of pipes.

I found the right size pipe in my scrap pipe fittings. take a ball joint to the hardware store to see what fits.

That is also in my head.

Reason to use this is that Ive seen a lot of postings of the HF tool bending out - 4 strong thread rods would prevent that.

would B7 be a good choice with equally strong nuts?

Surely (4) grade 8 machined threaded bolts wouild apply plenty of force?

I did the job and here are the results - my old joints were rusted in place - even the pinch bolt took some caveman methods to let loose - aerokroil and heat also helped.

the joints were the original factory items with a 1994 date. - the press worked flawlessly and the pipe pieces that I used as drifts were a perfect fit. btw these are 5x5 plates I had a freind at work make for me - the plates I ordered never arrived, the threaded rod is from mcmaster carr.

rusted to hell

http://imageshack.us/a/img69/6035/20130406172240.jpg

press working in action - I also used a 4 lb hammer to shock the thing loose in order to break the rust bond

http://imageshack.us/a/img20/492/img6677r.jpg

joint pressed out in 10 minutes of cranking - i cleaned up the rusty hole with some sandpaper and it came out looking new - gotta love MB quality.

http://imageshack.us/a/img259/6762/img6678o.jpg

the worn out joint - it had about 2mm up and down movement and was as floppy as a dead fish

http://imageshack.us/a/img692/4888/img6679c.jpg

New ball joint in place - lemforder item bought right here from this forum's shop.

Please always use either genuine MB ball joint or lemforder, the W124 and 201 are not the best design, there is a constant pull on the joint and it can be lethal if it separates. So please do not compromise - btw the Lemforder joint is very low cost in the first place and comes with a zinc plated bolt for corrossion protection.

Im thinking of spraying some body cavity wax on the pinch bolt slit to seal it up and prevent and water entrapment.

http://imageshack.us/a/img690/2743/img6680b.jpg

You are very brave to do that with the spring in place! Nice job though. I have spoken (via email) with that guy in Germany. Seeing as it worked out I might just go ahead and order one.

if you notice my jack stand under the arm its not even raised 1 notch and the spring is compressed quite a lot too.

So unless the metal square structure of the jackstand lets go Im pretty good.

This press is definitely lots better than the one screw C shaped one as you can really crank these nuts without fear and hit it HARD with a hammer too.

the cost in ordering was about more than a 100 USD, why not just make it, Im sure you can source a place that has some scrap steel plates and also find a place that can drill out holes for you.

meh. I've got a press...

much easier.
pump pump pump. POP! done.

mine is a cheapo 150.00 12 ton unit... I think they are 169 now. of course, you need a spring compressor also.

I think I jumbled my post - the 100 dollar sentence was for benedict who was speaking of the german guy selling it on ebay.

For me this press is less than 22 bucks tops including the 3 ft threaded rod and nuts from mcmaster carr and it gives you the chance to replace em in situ. Not everyone has the spring compressor handy.

Seems illogical that it could be "much easier" if the alternative method involves the additional steps including compressing the spring, disconnecting the front sway bar, marking the LCA eccentric bolt positions in order to restore them to their original position, removing the two eccentrics and the LCA and then repeating all those additional steps upon reassembly.

I have two tools for R&Ring the 201/124/129 ball joints a screw type press made by Baum and a hydraulic powered tool from Germany, once the wheel carrier is separated the old ball joint can be removed in a minute or two and the new one installed in a minute or two, the wheel carrier reinstalled and shock reconnected in 5 or 10 minutes at the most.

I think this DIY four screw tool is probably a bit slower because one needs to turn four nuts as opposed to a single screw, but because there is less related parts disconnected it seems quicker and less work than removing the entire LCA would define "much easier".

I agree with you that this seems easier than pulling the LCA, but how to address the control arm bushings? If your ball joints look like the ones in the picture chances are your control arm bushings are toast too. That will require spring compression and removal of the LCA to address.

I also am worried about using a jack stand to hold back that charged spring. Just looks scary from the photo.

Vstech and I just did the LCA job on my wagon, in the pouring rain, last Thursday. It's more like pump, pump, pump, BOOM then a few unrepeatable words of surprise when it lets go so be prepared.

Yes this tool is slower than the single screw type and much slower than the hydraulic type - but for the DIYer - its pretty reasonable - I was done with both ball joints in about 3 hours which included a lunch break, phone calls and pictures too.

The average DIY person tackling the W124/201/129 joints faces the dilemma of somehow trying to steady the C shaped generic press while trying to torque it and if the joints are rusted up it has been known for the press to open up making it useless. This one is very steady in place.

That spring is way longer than that, and the jackstand is just sitting there with no lift supporting the arm while another pair is supporting the front jack points of the car. So unless the car starts to float or the metal of the jackstand bends Im pretty good.

btw when I changing the struts on this car I used a jack under the LCA - which slipped whilst the strut was out - causing the LCA to go downwards unsupported, The anti roll bar limited the down movement of the arm which kept the spring in place.

If you tackle this job and dont feel comfy you can choose to tie the spring to the arm and car with a chain or nylon band used to tie goods on trucks - I did not have those handy.

Later on Im going to get a spring compressor to do the bushings, I'll probably use this same press, they last a very long time on the W124, specially the updated ones used in the later models like I have.

Nice press! If I were to make one, I would use 3 bolt instead of 4.

Doesn't the ball joint press Autozone loans for free (net) do the job more quickly?

Sixto
87 300D

the autozone press does not work as is, you need to grind the bottom space piece to clear the bulge in the control arm. It also is known to spread apart if used on highly rusted ball joints. To make use of that you need to make a special spacer piece on a lathe and a grinder. Even then the C press is known to spread apart making it useless.

In my press Im using a very thin pipe socket that just clears the ball joint at 1/8 inch and sits flush on the boss - The other pipe socket rests on the thicker joint collar and everything is held very tight and square between the plates.

The first joint I did was rusted solid - so I loaded up the press really tight and hit the top plate hard with a hammer, it broke the rust bond and then the joint easily pressed out in 5 minutes of cranking.

and this costs almost nothing when compared to a shop and has way less swear potential or injury risk as compared to the C shaped clamp

Threaded rod comes in 1" size too.

I really like your invention! I used the 10lb hammer method to change mine, but your setup is much better.

A suggestion would be to cut some pipe spacers to go over your threaded rods between your top metal plate and nuts to push the nuts up close to the end of the threaded rods. This way you could use a deep well socket and an impact wrench to apply the torque instead of having to crank with a wrench.

VSTECH,
just wondering if you still have the ball joint removal tool and spring compressor for a 1992 MB 300E? Are you renting it out and how much? I live in Norfolk Virginia.