w123 upper control arm dos and donts? - Page 2 - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

vstech · #1 10-19-2013, 10:10 PM

... noises are more often caused by LOWER ball joints...

sleepstar · #2 10-19-2013, 10:19 PM

yes . i'm having the lowers done at a shop because i dont have the tools necessary to do them

vstech · #3 10-19-2013, 10:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sleepstar

yes . i'm having the lowers done at a shop because i dont have the tools necessary to do them

you can save some SIGNIFICANT money doing the lower's yourself... I and others rent the tools needed to pull the spindle for lower ball joint removal..

ichris93 · #4 10-19-2013, 11:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vstech

you can save some SIGNIFICANT money doing the lower's yourself... I and others rent the tools needed to pull the spindle for lower ball joint removal..

I removed the spindles and brought only the spindles somewhere. Still cost me $45 a piece to remove and have no ones installed

Diesel911 · #5 10-20-2013, 01:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ichris93

I removed the spindles and brought only the spindles somewhere. Still cost me $45 a piece to remove and have no ones installed

That is a lot. In different locations People have said $20-$25 each.

If it is true there is a lot of Rick Folks in Florida perhaps the Labor Rate is High there.

winmutt · #6 10-19-2013, 10:22 PM

Have a helper and have some leverage. I seem to remember needing a good 4 ft or so of leverage. Some times I think it even took multiple pressures. Watch your fingers!

vstech · #7 10-20-2013, 01:01 AM

ahh, that's good then. I figured you were taking the car to the shop to have the joints swapped... SCARY!

cooljjay · #8 10-20-2013, 10:38 PM

^^^^ my uro tie rod boots completely rotted in less then 5 months......but the other tie rod assembly bought at the same time and is also uro is fine.....and I had uro on my other Benz for years with out an issue.....but my current experience.....I will not use any more uro parts

sleepstar · #9 10-20-2013, 10:57 PM

definitely would not buy anything uro that was related to the safety or comfort of the car. i ended up with URO window runs and the quality is maybe 25% of mercedes and the window is already rattling again after not even a year.

the UCAs are lemfoerders purchsed right here on PP

patbob · #10 10-22-2013, 01:00 AM

Don't put a jack stand under the LCA or knuckle. Both will be able to move and to tilt. I can't imagine a more dangerous way to support the car for this job. I put a jack stand under the "frame" so the car is securely supported, then use a bottle jack under the knuckle or LCA to raise it the inch or two as needed to ease the job.

The internal stops in the shocks are sufficient to prevent the spring from hyperextending, but parts fail, and that'd be a pretty nasty failure to be surprised by, so don't assume it'll just work.

I can't do the hammer thing to pop a ball joint for my life, and I never did much like the forks, so I got one of those ball joint poppers from NAPA. It squeezes on the ends of the threads of that ball joint, so back that nut off just far enough to prevent the tool from mushrooming those threads (makes nut easier to remove after popping joint), but not so far that it'll pop off and go flying when the joint separates (just in case).

From the factory, the Mercedes engineers decided it would be a good idea to install one of the bolts that hold the UCA to the car backwards, so as to make the job as hard as possible. If you're unlucky, you'll have to pull other, unrelated parts (brake booster?) to remove the bolt. If you have to do that, please reinstall the bolt the correct way for your own future sanity. More than likely, some previous sane mechanic has already done this for you.

When installing the UCA, I find that raising the knuckle a bit to put upward pressure on the UCA ball stud helps add enough friction to get the nut on without spinning the ball.

To avoid pre-stressing the rubber UCA bushing, don't fully torque that bolt until after you've dropped the car back onto the ground and bounced the bumper a few times.

sleepstar · #11 10-23-2013, 08:01 PM

i was able to do the passenger side today. the UCA that was on the car was meyle...i looked at the previous owner's invoice from the mechanic and he was charged $120 a piece for the UCAs... 7 years ago?! did meyle used to be high quality back then? i know they are crappy now. that doesnt include labor. wow.