Took the car in for an alignment and they told me the ball joints and tie rods were too bad to do it properly.

So I'm ordering them up and figured might as well do the whole lot if I'm going to compress the springs. Struts, steering damper, drag link, tie rods, control arm bushings, ball joints.

My issue is all of the brands of drag links look identical but are split by chassis number, while no other suspension parts are:

To Chassis # 1B022104/28051198
and
From Chassis Serial # 1B022105/28051199

However I'm not sure how to extract this from my VIN, or if this is another number stamped somewhere? Never came up against it before. Thanks in advance

__________________
1993 300D 2.5L Turbo

Look at the last 8 of your vin, is it before or after 1B022104?

Do the idler bushings for sure and the tie rod assemblies if you can afford them. Align it once and forget about it for a long time.

__________________
"Rudeness is a weak man's imitation of strength" - Eric Hoffer

PB964805


I wasn't sure what format this is in, is P after 1 or the other way around? They should stick to numbers or hex digits!


Good call on the idler bushings, I forgot them. I was planning to just do the rod ends on the tie rods, as the factory hex rod looks a lot nicer than the aftermarket ones. Or does it become weak with age?

__________________
1993 300D 2.5L Turbo

Looks to me like you are far after the production break.

Rod ends can be reused if they aren't corroded, seized or damaged. Soak them a few times with penetrating oil a few times before the alignment, the tech will appreciate that for sure.

My 93' 300E had non-serviceable ball joints, it was new arms or nothing. Find out before ordering. Honestly new arms is sometimes the way to go as it is a lot less labor/$$$ so the cost is a wash.

If you are doing struts, Bilstein is tough to beat.

Replace the strut mounts, they are cheap and easy to replace.

__________________
"Rudeness is a weak man's imitation of strength" - Eric Hoffer

That's what I was up to today, jacking it up and looking around. Looks like I have the old style serviceable ones. I've got a 20 ton press and a full machine shop so I was going to just change bushings and ball joints, as the arms look good.

The main concern with the arms - shipping. As a Canadian it's bad enough for the small parts, over $100 already. The new arms would be over $100 each to ship and that's tough to swallow.

I was planning on KYB as Bilstein are over twice the price. Never had any complaints about KYB myself though I know Bilstein are supposed to be more premium.

Strut mounts are already done as they were badly cracked when I got the car. I would have done the struts at the same time... but I was shipped rear struts by mistake

__________________
1993 300D 2.5L Turbo

Sounds like a plan. Side-by-side at equal cost I'd go with Bilstein but if is twice as much I'd also go with KYB. Have heard good things but have not used them.

Start juicing anything that needs to be separated early and often. The new parts will make a major improvement.

When doing the idler arm on some models the bushing and the bolt have to be removed and installed together so that the bolt and the bushing can be angled at the same time. Vertical clearance for the bolt can be limited.

Put the ball joints in the freezer overnight and don't remove them until immediately before installation.

__________________
"Rudeness is a weak man's imitation of strength" - Eric Hoffer

When re-assembling the inner and outer tie rods keep the threads equally inserted into the adjusting sleeves. In a perfect world both tie rod assemblies should be exactly or very close to the same length, I've seen them not even close due to sloppy assembly or something was bent.

__________________
"Rudeness is a weak man's imitation of strength" - Eric Hoffer

Thanks for the help! Unfortunately the odds are about even on any given day which will be colder, my shop or my freezer. I'll probably just end up heating up the socketed side.

I'm not even exaggerating, Canadian problems...

__________________
1993 300D 2.5L Turbo

Yeah I'm not sure how close they're going to be, I'm going to have to measure them and put them back the same lengths just to get it in to the shop for alignment.

Me and my friend are pretty sure we threw off what remained of the alignment when we pulled the giant dent out of the front bumper that came with the car, and likely made the front of the frame a bit wider in the process. And it was a giant dent all right, I'm sure that crash would have cut a lesser car nearly in half. Looked like they had hit some sort of post at speed.

__________________
1993 300D 2.5L Turbo

So I was taking a last look for anything else and decided it would probably be easier to just spring for new tie rods instead of risking dealing with seized ends.

The trouble is I see both "front" "right" and "left" tie rods available. Right and left just look like the adjusting nut is on the opposite end of the rod for convenience.

And the other trouble is that the only source I can order from to Canada stocks a motley assortment. Dorman left. Lemforder right. Vaico "front". All from different warehouses to mess up my shipping.

So... can I just buy two rights or two lefts? The Vaico claim to interchange with both 1243300803 and 1243300903, implying there's nothing different about the lengths or rod ends.

I hate suspension parts, I really prefer working on any other part of a vehicle.

__________________
1993 300D 2.5L Turbo

Tie rods are usually sold as inner or outer, two inner and two outer tie rod ends will be needed. Two inner and two outer will be two standard thread and two reverse thread, each side of the car gets one standard thread and one reverse thread.

In an earlier thread we discussed buying assemblies but the adjusting sleeve looked less robust. Would it be worth getting two assemblies and discarding the sleeves so that the components will be brand matched and there will be an extra sleeve if needed? I've no idea about the cost you are up against but it doesn't sound pleasant.

__________________
"Rudeness is a weak man's imitation of strength" - Eric Hoffer

Pull your rear axles and open the boots and inspect for rust inside the boots.
They are easy to open up, and ya just need new clamps if the boots arent torn.

__________________
John HAUL AWAY, OR CRUSHED CARS!!! HELP ME keep the cars out of the crusher! A/C Thread
"as I ride with my a/c on... I have fond memories of sweaty oily saturdays and spewing R12 into the air. THANKS for all you do!

My drivers:
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 560SL convertible
1987 190D 2.5-5SPEED!!!

1987 300TD
2005 Dodge Sprinter 2500 158"WB
1994GMC 2500 6.5Turbo truck... I had to put the ladder somewhere!

That's originally what I was planning to do, two inner and two outer rod ends. But after a closer look I'm concerned about potential corrosion / seizure / stripped threads etc. So buying the assemblies seems worthwhile to avoid getting stuck with the car up on blocks in my shop. It's usually a month to get parts here.

What I'm worried about though is they sell the assemblies themselves as a right and left assembly, but not from the same brand which is ridiculous. I wish I could buy from Pelican instead of Rock, but their shipping just doesn't work here with customs.

__________________
1993 300D 2.5L Turbo

Dealer OE used to be reasonable on tie rods, might be worth the ask.

__________________
"Rudeness is a weak man's imitation of strength" - Eric Hoffer