Lower ball joints can be done without the MB tool
 

http://home.earthlink.net/~busfamily...lertoolpic.jpg

This is a pic of the ball joint I installed in my 83 yesterday. The tools pictured are an OTC ball joint press(which is the same as this Harbor freight press kit for $39 and the black receiver cup on the bottom of the steering knuckle which comes in this kit from Harbor freight for $69.99. This item is not absolutely necessary for this job but it's a nice kit to have for other ball joint jobs. Just like the service manual says, the old joint is beaten out of the knuckle from the bottom with a drift and hammer. The joint in mine was solidly siezed and required a lot of pounding. After the knuckle is cleaned, you remove the boot from the new ball joint and install it into the knuckle just like in the pic. The top of the press fits perfectly over the joint flange(where the boot sits) and the joint installs effortlessy with an impact gun. Once the joint is seated all the way into the knuckle, reattach the boot along with the wire clip holding it to the joint and install the knuckle assembly in the car. This sure beats spending close to $400 for a tool you might only use once and can't be used for u-joints like the OTC tool can! By the way, the upper ball joint can be popped without destroying the boot by using one of the tools in this kit from Eastwood. For less than $100 you get a set of 5 quality tools that you can use on any tie rod end or ball joint to quickly pop the tapered stud without the damage a pickle fork does. http://www.eastwoodcompany.com/images/P7097.jpg :)

Many thanks....
 

....for the lucid explanation. I have to do the job on my 1983 300SD soon and was thinking I would have to pay for the expensive OEM ball joint press.

I'm assuming that you can use a normal ratchet wrench (rather than an impact wrench) when tightening the press? Your thoughts?

Thank you.

No, an air ratchet wouldn't work. You need a really STRONG 1/2" impact like an Ingersoll Rand IR-2131 to seat the joint in the knuckle.

I think you just saved a lot of us a lot of money. Thank you.

ball joint press
 

Is the c-clamp body of the press made of aluminum or steel? I rented one last year, that looked identical to yours, and it was aluminum. I was afraid it was going to strip-out while installing the ball joints in a Ford truck. Did you buy this ball joint press/ kit in 2 pieces or as an assembly? I have been looking for a ball joint press for the last year and have found 2 OTC kits similar to your picture in pawn shops for $129.00 and $169.00. These have the steel c-clamp and come with 2 different donuts, for the spindle end, and 3 big sockets for pressing in the joints. They haven't flown off the shelf at the shops so I thought they were overpriced.

ball joint tools
 

I just checked harbour freight and the $69.99 accessory kit you mentioned earlier is on sale for $49.99. I could not tell from the picture what their c-clamp was made from. Let me know if the harbour freight c-clamp is steel or aluminum? Sounds like the right time to buy.

Hi, I have the Harbor Fr. press kit, it's not aluminum, it's steel as far as I can tell. (I hope not cast iron!:) ) I've used mine to press ball joints and U-joints and it works great...and I think it only cost about $39.99 at that time. Unless something has changed, I would recommend this as being worth the money.

What did you do with your spring to remove the steering knuckle? When I had my balljoint done the [very experienced MB] tech simply took the knuckle off and let the shock hold everything together (i.e., no spring compressor). It looked like a pretty scary situation, and despite his assurance that nothing would happen, I high tailed it back to the waiting room.

Ultimately, the nothing bad did happen, but I think I would use some kind of spring compressor just for a little insurance.

GregS
'84 300D, 173k
'90 300CE, 162k

Nice work Diesel, and thanks for sharing the info.............

My power went out last night, sorry for not posting back sooner! As far as what I did with the spring: There is no need to compress the spring to replace ball joints. Here is a pic from when the spindle was removed. You can see a jack-stand is placed under the lower control arm and that is supporting the entire weight of the car. The jack is under the control arm bushing without any weight on it, just a redundant safety measure. The only times you need to compress the spring are to replace the spring or the control arm(or it's bushing). I would NEVER allow a shock to take the pressure produced by the coil spring, it's just not a good shop practice.
http://home.earthlink.net/~busfamily...ljointjob3.jpg

With the setup I posted a pic of, it is impossible to put the joint in 'sideways'. When the joint bottoms in the spindle assembly, it is straight. I'm a relative newcomer here so maybe I should tell you guys who you're getting advice from. I'm a diesel mechanic for the state of Connecticut, ASE Master plus L2 electronic diesel engine diagnosis certified. I would never post a repair procedure I wasn't absolutely sure of the safety and professionalism of. :D

He just said the shock doesn't have any forces exerted on it. The lower control arm (and subsequent spring pressure) is being contained by the jack stand.

Greg

C'mon, theres a jack and a jackstand under the lower arm with all the weight of the car on it. It ain't going anywhere. If you really want to feel safe loop some chain through the spring, around through the engine compartment and padlock it together. Then it definitely won't go anywhere. That or have a seat in the Barcalounger and pay someone else to take the risk. Nothing in life is free and nothing of worth is without risk. RT

I'm going to have to take your word for that, I don't see too many head wounds where I work.:rolleyes: I'm not sure if you're busting my balls or if you really don't understand why the spring is not going to fly out of it's perch the way that I have the car supported in the picture. Here's a page from the factory manual, notice the circled text.

http://home.earthlink.net/~busfamily...nstuctions.jpg

Notice that the O.E. spring compressor is not even on the tool list. OK?

I don't get the reason why you think it is unsafe. It is not the jack that is providing the safety factor but the jackstand which is stopping the control arm from dropping down??? Are you afraid that gravity is going to fail and the car fly up into the air causing the spring to decompress? The shock is not carrying the load in the picture.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by mpnye
[B]Well . . .

"That spring as shown in the picture, still has enough pre-load to LAUNCH itself if the SHOCK comes apart, as the JACK will SLIDE along the control arm as the SPRING de-compresses. . ."

Unless the garage floor is slick with oil, or the control arm is not resting sqarely on the jack stand, this isn't going to happen. The whole weight of the car is pushing the jackstand into the ground, so nothing is going anywhere.

If you wanted to play it a little safer, just use the jack itself to push up on the control arm. The jack is probably more stable than a jack stand, and the ground surface- area over which it distributes its load is wider.

If you don't have enough experience to feel comfortable doing this kind of stuff, the just don't do it.

GregS
'84 300D, 173k
'90 300CE, 162k

To get back to the ball joint!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have the Harbor Freight tool and it is not like your tool. The opening in the "top" of the unit is not large enough to go over the ball joint completely. I had to modify my tool so it would work.
When you slip the HF tool over the ball joint the tool rests on the upper part of the ball joint( that is under the rubber boot) and this part looks like a seal. I did not want to damage this part.
To get the unit to work without damaging the ball joint I used the small sleeve that was included in the kit, yes I removed the rubber boot. THIS unit fits over the ball joint and seats against the flange of the ball joint that is designed to take the force of installation. I am going to have the small tube cut in half (actually a 1.25 inch section and the 1/2 inch section) and then the tool will work perfectly. Better yet I want to find a tube that has a 1 15/16" inner diameter, actually 2" will work also, just a little loose . I will need one that is 1.25- inches long and another that is 1/2 inch long. The longer one will fit over the ball joint and press the unit down into the steering knuckle. The lower one will press against the bottom of the knuckle to hold it as the ball joint is pressed in. The 1/2 inch unit allows the ball joint to fully seat. The ball joint does protrude a bit when fully installed.
I did install one of my ball joints this way. I wound up cutting a 45 degree angle on the top of the C shaped unit so it would clear the steering knuckle while I used the small tube over the top of the ball joint.
I did have to use my 500 FT Lb impact wrench to get it to install.

Having the Mercedes tool would be great, I have the Sir Tool coil spring compressor and it is great to have the correct tool. But I did not feel it was required to have the Mercedes tool for this job.

Just my .02 cents

Dave

I've got a question about the whole spring / shock safety thing.

When you jack a typical MB of this vintage up from the side, isn't the shock the only thing holding the wheel hub assembly (along with control arms and spring) together?

Ken300D

Well now I can just go piss up a rope. I was going to tackle the ball joint / tie rod installation on the 79 SD. But the head wound reference has me rethinking the DIY approach on this one. I have never done any work on any steering parts, and I believe that you gentleman have just educated me as to level of my incompetence in this arena. I think I'll stick to adjusting valves and rebuilding monvalves and the like. I'll be heading to the local professional for the ball joint installation. The contents of my cranium, while not a perfect example of fully functioning gray matter, undoubtedly is of more use where it is than it would be decorating my shirt.

Geez, guys, springs don't just fly out of there as soon as the spindle is removed. RELAX. Nothing was lost in the translation from German in the factory service manual. A support jack with shock in place is perfectly safe. If you have the shock out as well, then I'd add a safety chain to the spring to keep it from going airborne in the event of a freak failure.

I just did a full front-end rebuild on my 123. The free rental tool from AutoZone works great and did I mention it's free? Here's a photo of the press in use on the 123 spindle:

http://www.meimann.com/images/mercedes/W123_suspension/ball_joint_press1.jpg

For the record, I bought a Klann spring compresor (that the OE Mercedes tool) and it works great. I had to pull the springs because I was also replacing the lower control arm bushings - there's no way to do it with the spring installed. Oh, and "mpnye" seems to have a habit of posting inflammatory remarks on other threads as well, so just take his comments with a wee grain of salt and you'll all sleep better. :rolleyes:


Regards,

Tahnks for the soothing words. My problem on the SD is that it is pulling severely to the right and is obviously needing some major attention. I am just so unfamiliar with this part of the car that I am intimidated. Not even sure where to start. I guess I'll learn more about diagnosing this and go from there.

One thing I will warn you about is removal of the old joint (on the 123 anyway - never done a 126.) You'll need a BIG vise to clamp the knuckle into, and then a sledgehammer with suitable drift (I used a 30mm socket) to beat it out. It takes massive pounding though, and if the knuckle isn't secure, the impact just moves the whole knuckle instead of pressing out the joint. An actual hydraulic press is preferred but most folks don't have one floating around their garages... ;)


Good luck,

This is a 116 SD. I'll have to see what I can find out. The archive has given me a good bit of info. on how to start to figure out which way is up.

Here are pictures of the modified tool from HF

Dave

Mr. Morrison, thank you so much for posting the picture in this thread, I really appreciate it!!!

After I got mine apart I had a local MB shop press in the new lower ball joints for $30 a side and they used the MB tool. I figure that was about the same as a Harbor Freight tool that I would have had to modify.

This has been gone through before many times:

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/diesel-discussion/142212-lower-ball-joint-replacement-question.html?highlight=ball

You can safely do this job with an autozone ball joint press free rental.

Danny

yeah- but you dont have any new tools now. only a lighter wallet.

Removing old ball joints
 

Just thought I'd pass on a tip that worked well.

I just did this job on ball joints that had spent 30 years in midwestern brine.

Prior to removal, I "cored" a hole from the bottom in the ball joint receiver with my gas axe {oxy/acet torch}, which made it easy to knock the male portion of the old joint out from the bottom. One might also try drilling a fairly large hole, perhaps 1/2". BJ material is VERY hard, so plan on a lot of time to drill a hole big enough to put a substantial punch through.

Once the hole was cored, the stiffness of the ball joint female "ring" casting is MUCH less, and can be knocked out with a regular hammer and a few swift taps.

On the first one I tried, without heating, I hammered for AN HOUR with a 10 pound mallet and 1" rod; while I succeeded in mushrooming the head on the hardened steel punch, and peening the female casting so badly that the male portion would no longer rotate, that sucker NEVER moved out of its bore in the steering knuckle ... which forced me to look for a "better" option.

BEWARE: REMOVE THE GREASE BEFORE HEATING AS IT WILL EXPLODE! DON'T ASK ME HOW I KNOW. This is easily accomplished by cutting the retaining ring on the joint with a cutoff tool, which breaks the grease seal and allows room for heat expansion.

You can never have enough new tools:rolleyes:
I have to say that in antisipation of doing this job I was expecting it to be a lot harder so I did buy some new tools. (guy toys :D)

same here..

we did one side with a homemade tool that was just like the MBZ tool, but it was not hardened steel or iron?

the other side I took in a spare spindle and had them press it in. The SA was like "how did you get here if your spindle is in your trunk"

my response," skillz sir... skillz"

...but with the dealer in my part of town wants at least an hour minimum, and they charge $98.00/labor hour and they would not install any part that came outside of their parts department, lower ball joints costs $47.60 excluding tax....

I am planning on starting the project tomorrow, and I was wondering if an air hammer will do the trick to drive the old ball joint out of the spindle? Has any body tried and has success with this approach?

I held a large socket against the bottom of the ball joint and gave it 3 hits with a mall hammer and it popped out.

I went to an independent MB shop. I did call the dealer when I started and they wanted some ridicules price to do this.

some other options / tools / pics
 

Here is a write up I did - might help:

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/diesel-discussion/179284-write-up-ball-joints-lower-control-arm-bushings-tool-review-pics.html?highlight=ball+joint

Thanks for all the inputs, Gentlemen!!!

One quick question: What are the torque values of the ball joint lock nuts for: (1)upper control arm ball joint, and (2)lower control arm ball joint and the lock nuts for the (3)bracket that holds and attaches the rubber bushing of the sway/stabilizer bar to the firewall.
the bolts for the (4)bracket that attaches the tie rod to the spindle and the bolt that attaches the (5)uppercontrol arm to the wheel well.

Thanks again.