I have a bad LCA bushing and lower ball joint on one side. This is apparently a fairly expensive job and I would like to ensure I am having the best available parts reinstalled rather than standard aftermarket replacement stuff.

Are these parts available with any improvements from OEM such as greasable ball joint?

Thanks.

What car?

Sixto
83 300SD
98 E320 wagon

W123, 1979

Lemförder/Lemfoerder/Lemforder lower control arm bushings and lower ball joints are resonably priced and of good quality.

There is no lower ball joint that has a grease zert on it. If you want to add grease you need to remove the boot spring and then insert the grease under the boot and replace.

This is the standard Lower Control Arm Bushings
1233301375 lower control arm bushing kit
LEMFORDER 10962 01

You can use a lower control arm bushing for a W126. However, it is different from the strndard one and there has been no discussion of what happens if you replace only one side.

1263300075 W126 type Lower Control Arm bushing heavy duty for W123
(126 330 00 75 / 126 586 00 33 W126)
LEMFORDER 10990 02 (1099002)

Changing those parts is going to change your alinement. It is entirly possible that if you change only one side and get an alinement and then have the other lower control arm bushing go out and ruin your alinement.
If it was me I would change both bushings. (I guess in a way I was lucky I had both of the lower control arm bushings rot out at the same time.)

Repair Links
Fast navigation Fast navigation Do It Yourself Links

__________________
84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

Change the upper at the same time. It is 1 bolt more. Order both upper and lower bolt in case they have to be cut out. You don't want to pay shipping on bolts only. Consider the guide rod mount as it is likely old too and much easier with parts on bench.

The only thing left are sway bar bushings and tie rods. Tie rods are easy and my sway bar bushings looked new at 200,000 might.

How are the brakes? They come off in the process and may as well be renewed.

Now you'll be done with 1 side and start thinking of the other and wish you'd saved the $70 alignment charge by completing the job.

The PO of my car didn't fix things fast. More like 1/2 fast. I almost have it straightened out. Your car will drive like a Mercedes if you do all. Otherwise more like old tired junk. Not that I have any thing against junk. I just don't like to drive it.

I agree with the previous post.. might as well do both sides, I'm guessing if one side goes the other is probably not long off. earlier this year I did balljoints on two 240d's, once you get the process it goes really fast. Rented a balljoint press at autozone. second 240d probably took 3 or 4 hours to do both sides.

I didn't think the parts are expensive, just labor if you pay someone. I haven't replaced the LCA bushings, just the lower ball joints. I would buy the better W126 bushing. There are posts w/ many photos. I don't see how the choice of bushing would change alignment. Regardless, unless you adjust the elliptical washer to the exact same clocking, that will certainly change camber and toe-in. The later is the main concern.

Once finished, use a tape measure to find difference across wheels on both sides. You want Daft - Dfwd = 1/16". That is "toe-in". If parts are a bit worn. M-B wants you to push on the wheels (rotate outward) to take up any play before measuring, and even shows a loader tool for that, but 2 helpers could do it. Indeed, I would measure first before touching things, as you would be surprised how many cars are driving around with bad toe-in, wearing out the tires and causing wander (if any toe-out). Normally, one adjusts the tie-rods to correct toe-in, but perhaps play w/ the LCA washer instead. Then pay big bucks for a professional alignment, if you prefer, and hope they do something useful.

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

Total parts cost for both sides was ~$500. That included upper & lower ball joint, control arm bushings, guide rod mounts, bushings that go in the guide rod carrier, sway bar bushings, upper & lower control arm bolts (1 each). I think the spring compressor was extra and the rubber that goes on the top of the spring was extra also. I didn't need tie rods and reused those. I also didn't need sway bar bushings on either car and left those in the parts box.

I sanded to clean rust off of the sway bar end and hit it with POR 15. Local indy says sway bar bushing labor charge is more than most would want to spend on a car that old. Buy the bushing and decide whether or not to install. They are cheap.

Be sure to lube the screw on the spring compressor. It will work much better.

Likewise, brakes had recently been done. I wish I'd bought better, low dust pads. I will the next time anything comes apart or if brake squeal comes back.

Order extra valve cover gaskets, fuel filters, oil filters, window slides etc to fill the order to free shipping.

__________________
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.

False economy to do part of one side.

It is all labor. If you are able to remove the spring (buy the tool and resell at slight loss if limited budget), you can pull it all apart and have a shop R&R the ball joints and LCA bushings for you. You reassemble and eyeball the suspension for the ride over... or a tow if really out of whack.

I agree on doing guide rods at same time unless done recently. They are never easier than while the LCA is out of the vehicle. If you have a hydraulic press, you can install them easily. If not, farm out to a shop.

TRW for upper arms.



No clue on book rate, but I could do an entire front end in a few days easily now. That includes taking my LCAs to a shop to R&R them. I wasted nearly an entire day trying to press that bastard in straight. I own the OE ball joint press, so no issue there.

Good luck!

__________________
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.

Liberty will not descend to a people; a people must raise themselves to liberty.[/IMG]

I used threaded rod and large washers to install everything except lower ball joints. I farmed out the ball joints but knocked them out with a BFH and cleaned up the knuckle so all the indy had to do was install the ball joint.

Buy fine thread rod. Hardened would probably be better but wasn't necessary. Grease anything you're trying to press in.

Now is the time to do brakes if they are even close to needing work. I did wheel bearings too.

Front end is in wonderful shape.

__________________
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.

Interesting idea!

It is worth the $40 for me to pay my frame and alignment place to R&R them. No hassle! BJ and GR are easy for me.

I am about to do this on my SD here, it will be my fourth or fifth W126 front end. Should go quick.

__________________
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.

Liberty will not descend to a people; a people must raise themselves to liberty.[/IMG]

I can't stress enough how buying extra control arm bolts may speed things up. One each was stuck on the 2 SDs that I did. I spent a lot of time trying to get them out. In the end, those that were stuck were removed with a sawzall in a few minutes. Buy new metal cutting blades, start the cut into the metal part of the bushing. This will keep you out of damaging the body. Pull the trigger 1 time letting go when the bolt is cut through.

I used a 3/4" drive scocket that fit the rim of the LCA bushing and was bought cheap from Northern Tool. Washers were used to shim support for the crown of the bushing. You don't want to push exclusively on either the crown or the rim of the bushing.

Use 5/8" fine thread rod thorugh the socket, washers & bushing. You need a thick, flat washer on the other side of the LCA to pull against. Grease the metal part of the bushing, start it straight and crank it in.

The FSM says to remove the bushing by cutting through the bushing and knocking it out with a punch (or screw driver) and hammer. That worked very easily.

The bushings in the guide rod mount come out with a BFH and go in with washers ant threaded rod. You can also remove them with washers pulling into a piece of plastic water pipe of the correct diameter sourced from the junk bin of the local hardware store. Hopefully, it's free and you won't need to buy an entire 10' length of pipe.

__________________
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.

If you replace the lower ball joints yourself, search for the pishta's excellent thread "Redneck Balljoint ...". When I used the Autozone C-clamp press (free loaner), I wish I used of Rollguy's idea to rap the bolt as you load it. I could see the thick C-clamp flex and was afraid the frame would crack. I resorted to heating the spindle w/ a torch. Probably depends on the exact diameter of your new ball-joint. Mine was slightly larger than the old one. To use a hydraulic shop press, you need a custom tool which is basically a thick pipe w/ side hole for the spindle's arm to clear. Some people fabb'ed one.

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

I rebuilt and replaced every part on the front end of my 1983 300d. The most difficult part is removing and reinstalling the front springs. You should replace the upper arms, lower ball joints, LCA bushings, etc...
There is a lot of labor involved, a lot of time worked. What is your time worth? I sent out my lower ball joints to be pressed out and the new ones installed at a MB shop because he had the tool, $25 each. I did everything else. I will say after installing w126 control arms bushings, I went through 2 sets...I followed the advice of using a threaded rod along with washers and sockets, I ended up messing them up. It is easy to install the inner portion of the w126 bushing, but to install the caps, you will most likely destroy them. I ended up purchasing the tool for the w126 LCA bushings. There are 2 special cups that fits perfectly over w126 endcaps so you cannot damage them, took 2 minutes to install them. Looking back, I would have just installed the w123 bushings. And use the Lemforder parts, especially the ball joints and LCA bushings because those are the hardest to install and you only want to do it once.

You won't destroy the end caps if you press on the rims and support the cap. A $6 socket shimmed with washers did the trick for me. It took a while to figure out but was easy once I did.

__________________
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.