Started putting more new parts in my E300d this morning.

Mounted the new Lemforder brand on the passenger side and then the new Mercedes brand on the left.

Noticed the Mercedes brand, old two and new one, appeared to be made with better workmanship and stamping. The sway bar mount threads were better formed and the spring ' perch ' has better forming.

I'm concerned the Lemforder brand won't hold the spring as secure for big pothole or road debris as the Mercedes brand.

The Mercedes brand has more of a ' cliff ' for the end of the spring. The Lemforder brand is more of a slope, not the quick rise of the Mercedes brand.

First picture is of the old spring in an old Mercedes brand control arm.

Next pictures are of the Lemforder brand.

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This site has a picture or the arm and there are 2 positions of the part and there is a magnifier to get a better detail. I cannot see any opening through the metal in the picture.
https://dok.ua/art-1097402-lemforder-321365

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

The pic came from the below site:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/350767183543

There may or may not be an opening in the metal in this pic. If so, the metal is bent over more than in in your pictures.

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

Thanks much Diesel911. I'll pull the new Lemforder control arm off this morning and place it next to my old Mercedes one, then take new pictures.

The pictures you loaded appear to show that spring perch formed properly. It appears to have an abrupt rise to the left of where the spring sits. Thanks for uploading them.
I've sent pictures to the company I purchased it from. Regrettably they don't answer the phone, so having to do it via their contact message option on their website.
But they're possibly understaffed due to covid.

Appreciate the extra effort to include pictures.

Is the magnifier option the ' zoom ' accessible from the 3 dots in the upper right of the screen or does ebay have an option for varying zoom?

To me, the Lemforder, I have, looks more like a quick cheap knockoff with little care for the consumer. Eyeballing the Lemforder slope to the left of the spring looks more like a 45 degree angle instead of a nice ridge that is almost 90 degrees on the old Mercedes one.

Also the spring doesn't feel like it matches the ' perch ' on the Lemforder very will. On the Mercedes it feels snug like it is expected to be.

Regrettably all of the Mercedes dealer websites I searched last night are showing ' discontinued ' for the right control arm. I'd rather spend $400 and know the part has been make to high quality standards for safety. But doesn't appear to be available.

A lot of parts today, even from good brands, seem cheaply made. Curious, if your old Mercedes control arm is in otherwise good structurally fine, you could replace the just the ball joint and bushings. It's been a while since I checked, but the parts were available individually and may offer rebuilding the old as an option worth considering.

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Stable Mates:
1987 300TD 310K mi (Hans)
2008 Jeep Grand Cherokee OM642 165k mi (Benzrokee)

I called a dealer this morning. The part is not available and they don't offer any bushings for it's repair.

I'm still waiting for an email or call from the company I bought the Lemforder from. I'm hoping they can check their stock for one that might be made in europe. I did check with another company I've used in the past, even though they advertise a new Mercedes brand, they do not have one.

Also checked with a company that shows 15 Lemforder's in stock. Regrettably they will not check for country of origin.

I'll start checking for good brand bushings, while waiting for the supplier to contact me.

Appreciate the replies.

The ball joint part number is 1243330327, there are plenty of suppliers with them on hand and fairly inexpensive, including Lemforder. As far as I know they fit all W124 models, some sites list your car but some dont, they all list for 94-95 E300. If I recall correctly there was a kitting part number change made for the 94-95 w124 where the control arms were sold completely loaded, not as replaceable bushings and ball joints, but the bushings and ball joints remained the same and are indeed replaceable individually. Some of the 94-95 control arms were delivered with a tack weld right at the base of the ball joint and the arm, but not all, either way, the ball joint is still replaceable independently for future maintenance.

With these cars it becomes ever more important to search via part numbers as parts kitting and availability becomes seemingly less available. The ball joints for example are the same across the W201, W124 and R129 cars, but you'll find unavailable for some models yet plentiful for others, for the same part. It gets confusing quick.

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Stable Mates:
1987 300TD 310K mi (Hans)
2008 Jeep Grand Cherokee OM642 165k mi (Benzrokee)

The control arms on the standard model 1995 E300D has the same old control arms from the earliest W124 that have replaceable balljoints. Their bushings are also the same old ones from the earliest W124 to the last.

The only cars with non-replaceable balljoints are sportline cars like the E420 and the E320 in the last 2 model years, Those cars have larger brakes and sit lower too.

I would have rebuilt the original control arms - they are quite easy too. As mentioned above, its wise to check the part number and kitting from MB itself, e.g. the front wheel bearings on this car are not the same as the early W124. They have different set numbers but cost about the same as the old W124/201 bearings.

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2012 BMW X5 (Beef + Granite suspension model)

1995 E300D - The original humming machine (consumed by Flood 2017)
2000 E320 - The evolution (consumed by flood 2017)

that spring will not come out of the control arm even when the suspension is fully hanging. 2 reasons for that.

1 is that the spring is trapped with the cone in the center of the arm perch.

2 is that the total length of the spring is quite a lot and the limit is set by the strut/damper so if you hit a pothole big enough to tear off the strut/damper completely and somehow the control arm went completely vertical (to dislodge the spring) you have bigger problems at hand.

The 2nd part was written by me trying to remove a spring from a junkyard W124 without the compressor. That was an exercise in rigging, safety rule breaking and all combined.

The control arm had to to vertical downwards to let go of the spring.

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2012 BMW X5 (Beef + Granite suspension model)

1995 E300D - The original humming machine (consumed by Flood 2017)
2000 E320 - The evolution (consumed by flood 2017)

Thanks for the replies and part numbers. They match what I found on the partsouq website using my Vin. I put those part numbers on another new thread I keep updating.

I agree rebuilding the old is my best choice. Just would take a while to achieve that with my basic tools. If I pay someone labor to help, and shorten the time, that brings the cost back up to control arm prices.

Mercedes part prices are just a little over $200 for the bushings and ball joint. Others are much cheaper.

So will have to think on it for a while.

Pictures show springs in old control arm and new Lemforder one. The Lemforder has a pronounced lean and was more difficult to find a sweet spot.
The Mercedes old parts fit together like a key in a lock. Definitely made for each other. Other photo shows fairly well that there is not a good ridge left of the spring got the Lemforder but a good ridge for the old Mercedes one.

I have a bit of time to figure out what to do with the control arm. Planning on pulling the driveshaft and replacing center parts and both flex discs plus transmission mount. After that will do injectors, delivery valves, hoses, cooling fans, water pump, fan clutch and a few other things. Hopefully this will be my last major effort on this car.

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I agree with Zulfiger. If your car is like the 1983 W123 I disassembled, the spring won't relax even if you do a Dukes of Hazard launch. Since I was taking off the whole front end, I decided quicker to skip the spring compressor and just unbolt parts. With the upper ball joint disconnected, the LCA dropped down much lower than normally possible, but the spring still had compression and the ends were secured, even though bowing out. It made a scary bang when the upper ball joint came loose, but I had it secured with chains, otherwise could have been a nasty attack-of-the-spring.

Hopefully, they primed the inside of that LCA sheet metal. I have seen photos of 2000+ M-B where the LCA rusted thru to break apart, usually when turning hard at low speed. By that time, M-B had gone to round tubes formed from sheet-metal and not protected inside. They can look fine on the outside but are corroding within. Not a concern in my W123 cars since the LCA's are solid forged steel, and painted.

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

I stumbled over some pictures from a russian website where they sliced W124 and W210 control arms, both NOS items. The W124 were fully primed and flooded with a wax.

The W210 was as if they sprayed primer after welding shut and had no wax at all. Hence the reason they rust and snap at the balljoint boss weld.

My reason for this stumbling on that site was when I was refurbing the control arms on my old W124 I couldnt figure out how the bushings came apart and oriented back in. (came to know you just use a big chisel and hammer as they showed) - it was some shop which sold refurbed parts in exchange for original parts.

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2012 BMW X5 (Beef + Granite suspension model)

1995 E300D - The original humming machine (consumed by Flood 2017)
2000 E320 - The evolution (consumed by flood 2017)

I'll be saving the control arms and the left and right tie rod assemblies. Plan to look for ' good ' brand bushings and ball joints to rebuild them.

After a lot of reading, watching the few related videos, forum comments, and my experience with my two old control arms - I agree that the spring has virtually no chance of coming out as long as the strut and possibly sway bar is connected.

I plan to install the Lemforder for temporary while I'm sourcing the bushings and ball joints for my old ones.

While searching for similar threads I did find comments about springs breaking close to the bottom end, within about 2-3 inches. The fit in ' perch ' might contribute to this if the seat was not pressed properly. Seems the high and low spots might stress the spring more at those locations. I think it was springs on a newer control arm with ball joints that are welded.

Bit of a thread hijack, but I think this is relevant. I'm going to rehab my rear suspension soon and I'm opting to press in new bushings. I've chosen to go this route as opposed to buying new components because (1) it's cheaper; (2) I have access to a hydraulic press; and (3) I believe the original factory parts are of much better quality than most anything I can buy today.

With that being said, are the ball joints used in the rear tie rods the same as the ones used in the front?

Many thanks

Corvo Gold
1987 300TD, converted to manual shift.

Well donkey ballz... I was about to pull the trigger on a pair of Lemforder front LCAs (mainly because it reduces my down time and I don't have a press of any sort). But I'll be looking into refurbing my original LCAs now. Thank you for this info!



I thought Lemforder was THE "go to" brand?

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1991 300D 2.5 "Rocinante"
2002 Golf TDI "Teen Spirit"
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1984 300D
1966 Mustang I6 3sp
1985 Mazda RX-7 GSLSE
1982 Toyota Supra
1977 Datsun 280z
1971 Datsun 240z