I posted about this in the regional forum but I know this one gets way more traffic. The local garage pointed out how bad the corrosion on my right rear control arm has gotten. I don't have the resources to DIY it.


Any sense of how many hours of labor I should expect to pay for? Would you just let the shop source the part or try to find your own? I've never replaced anything this major on the car before. And of course if you have a recommendation for who should do it, I'm all ears (northern suburbs of Philadelphia).

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1982 240D automatic
Odometer quit at 307K...about 325K now

Try and find a pair of good used rust free trailing arms that have good hub bearings. You might try asking vstech (moderator here). At one time he offered me a pair and said he had a supply.

We never did hook up so I didn't get them. I am still running on the ones I cleaned up and painted. Have to check them out one of these days. Area under the spring and shocks is I believe the weak spot.

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Graham
85 300D,72 350SL, 98 E320, Outback 2.5

I did all the suspension bushings in the rear of my 1978 300D, back in 2012 and as a one-person job, in a driveway, during the fall in the New Mexico high desert, it was a royal PITA, but it made the car drive so much better. Swapping in "new" control arms would not be any harder and you could take care of all the rubber back there while you're at it.
Phil Forrest

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1972 220D "Trudy," named by a friend.

"The 220D sounds good... I suspect it is the only car that you need a calendar for, rather than a stopwatch, when doing acceleration tests."
Tom Abrahamsson

Can you take a picture of the known corrosion on the Trailing Arm.

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

Here's the situation. It's not pretty.
1982 240D - herring’s Photo Gallery - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

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1982 240D automatic
Odometer quit at 307K...about 325K now

That's a lot worse than mine was. Pic below.

You might find my thread from about 7 years ago of interest. (it includes references to several other threads)

Repair Trailing Arm?

I never did hook up with a potential supplier of used trailing arms. I did do the temporary repair that I described.

back then I was 73 and having second thoughts about taking on job. Now, I am 80+ so no way I am doing it. But I do have a young friend with hoist who is an ace at W123 work. He could do it for me. But we would need a pair of good trailing arms. Border is closed, so it looks like no trip South this winter.

Meanwhile, my minimal repair still 'looks' OK after 7 years. Should have had a closer look when we put new axles in a few months back. But already spent over $4k on car this summer, so trailing arms will have to wait - again!

My rule is that I have to keep driving car for 1 more year for every $1000 spent!

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Graham
85 300D,72 350SL, 98 E320, Outback 2.5

You are right.

Both of mine had some holes in it and I went over a 3 inch high island in the road and that cracked the drivers side rear control arm across the holes.

On the other one when I welded up a cracked rear cross member I welded over the holes on the other side.

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

I replaced both my rear trailing arms on my 82 240d as they had rust similar to yours. I purchased two rear trailing arms off eBay for a 380sl. R107s typically have MUCH less millage than 123s and many weren't driven in the winter. I got two really nice rear arms. for around 150 each.

replaced them myself but if a shop was doing it id expect to pay between 4-6 hours of labor per side.

I got one from forum user upod. Rust-free from southern California.

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1982 240D automatic
Odometer quit at 307K...about 325K now

On mine on the right side I had to get the flex disc out of the way in order to get the inner control arm bolt out.
That required loosening the clamp nut up front and sliding the drive shaft forward off of the alignment pin.
When I did that it ripped the rubber on the drive shaft support. I learned the hard way you also need to remove the bolts from the drive shaft support and make sure it is free of binding so that you can move the driveshaft without damaging it.

Before letting someone else work on it have them inspect the drive shaft support and the flex discs. One reason is if they say your drive shaft support is good and later they rip it they should be buying you and installing a new driveshaft support for free. 2 would be one end is going to have the flex disc removed so if it needs replacing part of that job is already started.

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

Wow Herring, that's scary ! .

I hope you get this done and post about how the job went .

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-Nate
1982 240D 408,XXX miles
Ignorance is the mother of suspicion and fear is the father

I did then what I knew how to do ~ now that I know better I do better