It depends what bolts are used. The original bolts are larger and fit into the large holes in the wheel carrier. The new bolts (in the bolt kit from Meyle, Lemforder, etc) are smaller and would have ~2mm of play. That's when you use the thin sleeve, in the hole in the wheel carrier, so the small bolt fits snugly. The new replacement arms may also have smaller holes to fit the smaller bolts.

Remember not to tighten any bolts for links with rubber bushings, with the car jacked up! It must have the wheels in the "ready to drive" position so the rubber bushings are not normally under tension when at rest. This isn't easy, you'll need to get creative. This particular thread was discussing the outer support joint, which is not rubber, and the 22mm nut can be tightened with the car jacked up. Everything else, no can do.

:boat:

Are the front LCA bushings the same? Can they be done with the LCA on the car or does it need to be removed? I have the correct spring compressor and parts. Thanks!

Front control arm bushings are COMPLETELY different. Nothing in this thread will help you with front LCA bushings. Search the forum for threads on the front LCA.

If you have a W124 with replaceable ball joint (like the 1995 E300 in your profile), I would seriously consider buying complete replacement Lemforder control arms. Yes it will cost more, but it will save you a lot of headaches trying to R&R the bushings, and trying to do it properly. Each of the 8 bushings has a specific orientation, and it's not fun without the special tools. Photos of the front LCA's and bushing orientation are here:
Index of /images/W124_suspension/front_LCA_124-330-30-07

Pelican wants $187 each for the Lemforder front LCA's, I'd call and ask them to price match other vendors which have them for a bit less than $150 each. Whatever you do, only buy Lemforder or OE Mercedes, not any other brand.

If you replace the bushings only, it will be very difficult to do "on the car" without the special tools. Without the special tools, just remove the whole LCA. Since an alignment is required, take a close look at every other suspension & steering part and change everything old or worn so you only pay for one pricey dealer alignment. Avoid alignments from local shops unless they are Mercedes specialists and do MB alignments all day, every day. Alignment shops have a very poor track record of getting MB alignments done properly...

:boat:

Update on my above warning: Years ago I had bought a couple of Febi rear wheel carrier support joints (bushings) as discussed in this thread, before I learned that Febi gradually started reboxing junk parts instead of quality OEM ones.

Anyway, those Febi support joints lasted a whopping 20kmi over 2 years before failing. I was doing other work on the car and noticed excess movement in the rear suspension; sure enough, there was about 1mm of play in the Febi outer joints. Ridiculous. I removed both, tossed them in the garbage, and promptly installed Lemforders.

Click here for Lemforders from Pelican, $24 each (don't be tempted by the $14 Febis unless you enjoy changing them every 2 years).

Be careful out there...

:wheelchair:

someone posted a photo of the FRONT LCA bushings in the order they go in, trying to find it ASAP. thx!

Photos are here:

http://www.w124performance.com/images/W124_suspension/front_LCA_124-330-30-07/

:batman:

The Baum tool looks ALOT like a Greenlee chassis punch. Chassis punches crop up on E-Bay for $10 or $15. Maybe a longer bolt and use a big socket as the receiver, and that's about all you'd need. I have a bunch of these that I haven't used in years, have to dust them off and see.

Good idea!
 

That's exactly what I did the first time I had to do this job on my '87 300D Turbo, when I didn't have the proper tool. Chassis punches and sockets and washers and long bolts. It was crude and tricky to get lined up but it did work and cost nothing,

Jeremy

Got the left front LCA bushings done yesterday without much issue. I took some pics, will try and start a thread later.

The $80 spring compressor worked awesome after I used a Kent Bergsma video to figure out how to use it. Was able to get the old bushings out WITHOUT a special tool using 2 impact chisels at the same time on opposite sides- they popped right out. Installation with bearing press was pretty easy.

Car has no more horrendous squealing/creaking noise on low speed turns. Should have ordered the balljoint and done that at the same time but didn't think that far ahead.

Oh, was in a shop with a lift. It could be done without a lift just more time consuming.

I'm currently doing this job on my 94 E20 wagon and have a question about using the zdmak tool when pushing the new bushing in. I used the tool to get the old bushing out toward the rear of the car, i.e. the tool pushed the bushing towards the rear of the car into the larger receiver.

My question is about using the tool to put the new bushing in. The OP seemed to indicate that the bushing should go in from the rear toward the front of the car and that the tool would somehow limit the travel of the new bushing so that it isn't pushed in too far and out the other side.

I'm not seeing how the tool should be used to get the new bushing in other than to just pull it the same way I pulled the old bushing out, i.e. from front toward the rear. Can anyone advise if there is a different way to use the tool when pressing/pulling the new bushings?

There is nothing to stop the bushing during installation. You need to confirm position visually.


That is correct, the new one goes in the same direction.

Since the original pictures were eaten by Photobucket, check out the photos at the URL in post #5.

:balloon2:

Thanks, appreciate the feedback. I got one side done without issue, everything came out and went back together as expected. On the other side the bushing isn't budging, either that or the tool isn't lining up correctly. I've put enough torque on it that the receiver part of the tool is starting to deform

Good news is the one side went smoothly, so you know how it SHOULD work.

For the other side, remove the tool and try soaking the contact area with Kroil or similar penetrant, smacking the area with a hammer to help free up corrosion, and maybe hitting it with some heat as well. And, double-check to make sure the tool is perfectly aligned. I've never seen the OE tool deform, even when I was applying enough pressure to make me worried it might break... aftermarket tool is another story though.

:(

I finally got the 'bushing' out and the new one in. The driver side just took more patience. i took the tool off and reset it a few times to make sure it was aligned.

Other than patience and investing in the tool (I bought the aftermarket tool online for ~$100) I don't have any other advice on this job that hasn't already been given in this thread.

It's definitely nice not to have the constant squeak.

Just wanted to say thank you for this great writeup. I used it to replace the rear bushings on my R129 SL500. I used a different (cheaper) eBay tool that came from the UK but it worked great. I did the pushing from the front of the car, both to remove and re-install.