Negative INFINITY Camber: a new reason that causes this - Page 2 - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

mespe · #16 03-31-2013, 06:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Diesel911

On the W123s the Metal on the Rear Trailing Arm might not even be a full 1/16" thick.

That looks like just the undercoating peeling off,,,

vstech · #17 03-31-2013, 07:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mespe

That looks like just the undercoating peeling off,,,

... I don't think the trailing arms get undercoating...

Diesel911 · #18 03-31-2013, 10:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mespe

That looks like just the undercoating peeling off,,,

Open the picture, copy it and past it to Paint. After it is on paint you can enlarge it and get a better look.

It has no undercoating on it.

vstech · #19 03-31-2013, 10:45 PM

sev, if you can't find any 123's or 126 first gens, let me know... I've stockpiled several good quality trailing arms...

JamesDean · #20 04-01-2013, 12:49 PM

You can use 2nd gen non-sls cars control arms as well. Thats whats on both of my 300SD's right now. The lastest arm was from a 420SEL.

If your mechanic wants only two hours of labor to remove the arm I would jump on that. It took me about 5-6 hours to do it. I think ALLData reported the job to be 6.9 hours but I think they dropped the entire subframe. I didnt look at it that deeply.

You will need 24mm wrenches and socket, two of each.

The basic procedure:

1) Remove shock
2) Remove spring
3) Remove caliper
4) Disconnect sway bar link
5) Drop subframe at mount point. Remove 50cal bolt and its two stubby helpers
6) check subframe mounts..probably dead. my Sd's were like putty
7) Remove outside bolt near subframe mount. Brace nut with socket wrench and use other socket wrench to remove bolt. Use breaker bar or impact.
8) Remove inside bolt near flex disc. This is considerably more difficult. We used a 24mm socket on the flex disc side and a 24mm wrench on the opposite. We then took two floor jacks and braced the ends of the tools. Using the socket side floor jack we jacked up/down about 30 times to get the bolt freed up enough so that I could go under and brute force it.
9) Remove parking brake cable (cut in my case..)
10) Remove old arm, might take some prying/beating

Reverse it for installation. I also highly recommend that you clean up the old arm and recoat it with some stuff. This is also the ideal time to replace shocks and springs. My shocks were only 3-4 years old but the springs were 30. So new springs!

Newly coated arm: http://i.imgur.com/H5A6SEZ.jpg

Stretch · #21 04-01-2013, 03:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JamesDean

...

Newly coated arm: http://i.imgur.com/H5A6SEZ.jpg

Nice but shame about the heat shield.

(I know why you left it untouched though!)

JamesDean · #22 04-01-2013, 04:04 PM

Yeah I was going to have it replaced with a nice new one from MB but in order to replace it the bearing has to be removed and at that point might as well replace the bearing...so a $60 repair order jumps to 100+ and it just wasnt really worth it lol.

Stretch · #23 04-01-2013, 04:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JamesDean

Yeah I was going to have it replaced with a nice new one from MB but in order to replace it the bearing has to be removed and at that point might as well replace the bearing...so a $60 repair order jumps to 100+ and it just wasnt really worth it lol.

Indeed and once you've removed the hub you then find the block that reacts against the ends of the parking shoes is held in position with two 7mm allen head bolts. Even where I live I found it hard to find a 7mm Allen key - everything here is metric (ask for Whitworth and they'll just glaze over) - I can imagine that it would be an internet only purchase in the US...

JamesDean · #24 04-01-2013, 04:20 PM

HA! I actually do have 7mm allen things! Somewhere. I've got a lot of tool kits.