Both the upper & lower ball joints need replacing on the driver's side of my 85SD. I bought parts and started with the passenger side. The spring is out. Upper control arm is out. Shock and steering knuckle are also out. The eccentric bolt in the lower control arm will barely turn and won't come out. I barely managed to get it to turn 1 complete revolution with a breaker bar and jack handle extension for leverage. A hammer on the loosened nut only buggered the threads requiring a file and die.. It is stuck.

The LCA bushings seem tight and bushings don't appear cracked. All of the ball joints and rubber on this side were good and didn't really need to be replaced. I'll install new parts anyway since I'm this far. I'm tempted to leave the lower control arm bushings on that side alone and move on.

The left has much more play in the LCA bushing/joint, upper ball joint is completely shot and the lower ball joint is still functioning but is easier to move than a new joint and all will be replaced.

The question comes down to: what is proper diagnosis for lower control arm bushings? Am I safe to ignore if the bushing & joint are stiff with no play?
Thoughts on the LCA bushings? I have a spring compressor so I'm really tempted to leave well enough alone so I can drive the car.


I changed the guide rod mounts a while ago. They are relatively new and will stay.

__________________
85SD 240K & stopped counting painted, putting bac together. 84SD 180,000. sold to a neighbor and member here but I forget his handle. The 84 is much improved from when I had it. 85TD beginning to repair to DD status. Lots of stuff to do.

Never mind. I removed the other side without any problem and see how it's supposed to be. I'll leave this side until there is a reason to change it.

__________________
85SD 240K & stopped counting painted, putting bac together. 84SD 180,000. sold to a neighbor and member here but I forget his handle. The 84 is much improved from when I had it. 85TD beginning to repair to DD status. Lots of stuff to do.

When you do get to the point of changing it, I've had success with a "saw-z-all" type of tool to cut off the eccentric bolt ends so that the lower control arm can be removed, and then you can use whatever destructive force is required to get the remains of the bushing out.

You will need to cut between the metal of the car's subframe and the metal of the lower control arm, basically right through the end of the bushing, in order to get the LCA out.

__________________
Respectfully,
/s/
M. Dillon
'87 124.193 (300TD) "White Whale", ~392k miles, 3.5l IP fitted
'95 124.131 (E300) "Sapphire", 380k miles
'73 Balboa 20 "Sanctification"
Charleston SC

Everything is back together and the car steers like a new vehicle. It goes down the road straight at whatever speed I want. James Dean repaired the cruise and I'd even consider taking this car on a long trip - As soon as I fix the AC, turn signal and a few other things.

Gas is enough cheaper and any distance over 1,000 mi pays to rent a car with higher mpg and cheaper fuel.

__________________
85SD 240K & stopped counting painted, putting bac together. 84SD 180,000. sold to a neighbor and member here but I forget his handle. The 84 is much improved from when I had it. 85TD beginning to repair to DD status. Lots of stuff to do.

Have you had the car aligned? That stuck eccentric bolt may have caused the alignment tech some grief.

__________________
Respectfully,
/s/
M. Dillon
'87 124.193 (300TD) "White Whale", ~392k miles, 3.5l IP fitted
'95 124.131 (E300) "Sapphire", 380k miles
'73 Balboa 20 "Sanctification"
Charleston SC

I have a "lifetime" alignment from Firestone. It's a mixed blessing. I can go on the machine whenever I want but some techs are idiots. One Firestone tech gave me the car back with both camber bolts maxed to 1 side (ie: //) and noted in their computer and on my copy of the specs "car cannot be aligned".

Our indy doesn't have a machine.

I was able to rotate the stuck bolt 360* but couldn't remove it. I decided to leave it since the control arm had 0 sideways play with the spring out and everything disconnected.

The rear end is almost in the center of what the machine has for specs so I'll leave the rear bushings alone unless someone has a better method of diagnosis and there is a reason to do otherwise.

I'm going to fix a few more things on this one then do the other car. I'm torn between changing all bushings and ball joints and changing only what's worn. This 2nd (84SD) follows the road crown & I don't like driving it.

Anyone have comments on the 84?

__________________
85SD 240K & stopped counting painted, putting bac together. 84SD 180,000. sold to a neighbor and member here but I forget his handle. The 84 is much improved from when I had it. 85TD beginning to repair to DD status. Lots of stuff to do.