Hi All,

I am in the midst of giving my 72 220D a mild suspension refresh (new shocks and new ball joints)

I was talking with a mechanic who told me he replaces w123 lower ball joints with the suspension on the car, to avoid removing and compressing the spring.

He said that simply leaving the shock bolted up holds everything together.

My question is,

Can I do this on my w115? Replacing the upper ball joints was pretty easy and I'm wondering if I can just disassemble and use some tool to press the old ones out and new ones in on the car.

Anyone done it like that before?

My next question to the Mechanic would have been have you ever done that on a W115 Mercedes.See if you can open the Service Manual at this site W114/W115 Manual and info site
Mercedes-Benz Model 114/115

I looked at some pictures W123 instructions won't work. There is some stuff here.Lower Ball joint W115 LinksFast navigation Fast navigation Do It Yourself Links

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

What on earth does "with the suspension on the car" mean?

For sure, the steering knuckle on a W123 can be completely removed as long as the vehicle weight remains on the lower control arm.

However, a W123 and a W115 are two different configurations. On a W123, the lower ball joint is fit into the steering knuckle, not the LCA.

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When cryptography is outlawed, bayl bhgynjf jvyy unir cevinpl.

Ya, I went and did an image goole search and it is as you say different. The Lower Ball Joint on a W115 is in the LCA and it and it presses out towards the bottom of the LCA. I corrected my Post.

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

Personally if the ball joints were still good I would not change them. Even if the Boots shot I would clean them of and re-grease and re-boot if the joint were still tight. Replace when worn out.When I changed the Lower Control Arm Bushings in my W123 I thought about changing the Lower Ball Joints but they were nice and tight and function so I just changed the Boots.
I did not see any point in changing the Ball Joints if they were still good.

Over the last 4 years my Car has been badly dented in 2 parking lot hit and runs and an on the road hit and run and I had to weld up a cracked cross member. What that means is you can go through your car and replace lots of stuff that was still in good shape thinking you were going to be driving the Car for the next 10+ years and some accident or catastrophic failure can turn your Car to Junk and you wasted time, effort and money on it.

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

Oh I completely agree with this sentiment. I typically do not replace items until they are completely worn out, specifically on this 220D since it is more of a daily beater that I enjoy driving rather than a prized possession like my w123.

That being said, both lower ball joints are completely shot. It's to the point where I wouldn't be surprised if one of them actually broke while driving. Somehow they do not make clunking noises either! I'm assuming this is because the suspension design puts constant load on them?

It appears the front suspension is the same design as an R107. I did find some information searching online showing people pressing the ball joints in and out of the lower control arms with them on the car so I'm going to give it a try.

I'll let you guys know how it goes!

What were they using to press out the lower Ball Joints?

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

Just to update this thread for anyone reading in the future, yes - you can safely change the lower ball joints on a W115 without removing the control arm or the spring.

I detached the upper control arm and allowed the lower control arm to be held up by the shock absorber. Then for some piece of mind I placed a heavy duty floor jack under the control arm and jacked it up just a smidge to relive the pressure on the shock and those two little 10mm nuts that hold it to the LCA.

I was able to push the old bushing out pretty easily with a ball joint press kit rented from AutoZone. Had to get a little creative with pushing the new joint in since the hardware included in the kit doesn't quiet work for the W115. With a combination of the kit and some large impact sockets in my garage I was able to press the lower joint completely into the arm.

As it turns out the joint on the other side seems tight so I left it since just doing one side took me a good 4 hours. Most of that time spent fumbling in my messy garage -___-

Feel better about having all new ball joints (well 3 new ball joints) and safer suspension on the car.

In regards to the upper ball joints I used a combination of my dremel and drill press to get the old riveted joints out of the arms and install the new bolt on joints.

Was what you used as in the attached pic?

Attached Thumbnails

 

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

For the W123/6 there was the red neck hammering it in sand technique of removing the ball joint - it was championed a few years back =>

Red neck lower ball joint removal

I'm not sure if that could be adapted to the W114/5 chassis though

Here's a thread from MikeD for the W114/5

W114/115 subframe restoration

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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!

Yep! Although what I got from advanced auto had alot of different attachments and honestly I ended up mixing them with some sockets I had to get the job done.