OK, I managed to replace the upper control arms and bushings. The car drives better. I noticed when working on it the lower control arm bushings need replaced. Question: Do the LCA bushings need to be replaced before trying to align the front end? This is on the 1984 300DT.

Well yes and no! (Mostly no)

It is often possible to get what seems like a good alignment but when things are worn parts move more than they should - so on the road with different forces applied to those applied during an alignment test the apparently "good" alignment has little effect.

If for example you are getting weird / bad wear patterns on your tyres and you try to "align them away" the chances of success with worn parts are slim.

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1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver
1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone
1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy!
1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing

I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior



Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits!

When you replace the lower control arm bushings, use the W126 bushings.
Suppose to be beefier or tougher than the w123 Bushings.

126-330-00-75



1985 Mercedes-Benz 300SD Base Sedan - Suspension, Shocks & Springs - Page 2

123-330-13-75



1984 Mercedes-Benz 300D Base Sedan - Suspension, Shocks & Springs - Page 2


Charlie


sent from my pos computer

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1) Not much power
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Anyone that thinks a 240D is slow drives too fast.

80 240D Naturally Exasperated, 4-Spd 388k DD 150mph spedo 3:58 Diff

We are advised to NOT judge ALL Muslims by the actions of a few lunatics, but we are encouraged to judge ALL gun owners by the actions of a few lunatics. Funny how that works

I wouldn't spend money on a store-bought alignment until I replaced the LCA bushings. But I would do a poor-man's toe-in adjustment w/ a tape measure. See youtube and google. I do that on all my vehicles and they drive perfectly straight w/ no tire wear. Since you know your parts are worn, adjust for 1/8" toe-in, so when driving and the front wheels rotate back slightly due to the play, they will be parallel, or you can rig a "front spreader" per M-B manual to take out the bulk of the play first. Of course, for FWD cars you adjust slight toe-out. The LCA pivot is mainly loaded in one direction (by weight of car), so I don't think it will move around much while driving, other than when taking hard turns or flying over speed bumps, and then you would hear clunks. If not circle-track racing your car, it "should work' until you have time to refurb the front end.

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1984 & 1985 CA 300D's
1964 & 65 Mopar's - Valiant, Dart, Newport
1996 & 2002 Chrysler minivans

Are you saying you will soon replace your lower control arm bushing? If yes, than don't do any alignment until it is done.

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1983 123.133 California
- GreaseCar Veg System

No, not possible to have a quality alignment when there are failing/failed bushings up front. Just as 'Stretch' pointed out. Any quality shop would look at it and say they cannot align it due to the failed bits.

If you need LCA bushings, may as well do the rest of the front end while it is apart. The W126 ones seem to last about 200k before succumbing to cracks and droop... at least on my W126s.

Do not forget new springs with spring shims, they sag with age quite a bit. This makes it difficult to align a vehicle too as the LF typically is lower than the RF when worn, skewing the rear of the vehicle up causing alignment issues. Also verify the rear suspension stuff is solid... with rear sag it seems to lift the front a bit in my experience.

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I'm not a doctor, but I'll have a look.

'85 300SD 245k
'87 300SDL 251k
'90 300SEL 326k

Six others from BMW, GM, and Ford.

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When my Lower Control Arm Bushings went bad within 3 days the edge of the front Tires were eaten up to the extent that the Tires were shot. So you could get your alignment and later have the bushings get worse and eat up the Tires and lose even more money.

Some have had the alignment done with what seemed to be good but old LCA Bushings and had the Bushings go out a year or so later.

So I said with those who say to replace the LCA Bushings first then get the alignment and get a bunch of years of good serveice out of it.

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel