Wife said she was hearing a clunking noise on right rear when turning right only. Went out and took a look and saw what I was hoping NOT to see I was aware that there was a small amount of rust on the mount but it appeared to be an amount that wouldn't be an issue for quite a while. I was planning on replacing the trailing arm in a couple months anyway. I even bought a used one last year in preparation. I'll go ahead and have new 420SEL springs installed at the same time since there's a bit of labor overlap when doing both. ...would also explain why the back end felt squirmy on the hwy last night on my trip back from N.C :p Pix1 Pix2

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Chris
1985 300SD - 'Grace' (198K mi.)
2010 Honda Fit Sport
2013 Honda Accord Sport
1996 Lexus LS400 (Retired)
1995 Ford Contour SE (Retired)
1976 Porsche 914 (Sold)
1972 Datsun 240Z (RIP)

The term "holy $h%t comes to mind..

Is this common?

Bless my rust free midwest car..

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One more Radar Lover gone...
1982 VW Caddy diesel 402K 1.9L AAZ
1994 E320 175K

ck42, great pix, question, what does the writing on the bolt say, and what do the small triangles mean, anybody know???? steve

A little welding and grinding could fix that. LOL

Wow, looks like some of my parts cars.

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1973 300D
1973 309D - stolen
1978 280SE
1980 240D
1983 300D
1984 190D

No idea. Only able to see the letters after taking the pictures. Just stuck the camera under there and fired away.

Chris
'85 300SD

Actually it kinda looks like pot-hole damage combined with weak shock. Suspension compresses to max and beyond very quickly and worn shock just makes it worse. Winds up driving shock thru mounting point. Friends RV cracked major wields on rear suspension (like on a VW bus) when he caught a big pot-hole in Chicago. Took about a month for the rest of the welds to break and the RV sorta lowered itself till the crossmember raised up and met the glass body.

It probably didn't help that we had the trunk loaded down on the trip. Can't recall any big pot holes. But, I figure that:

Sagging springs + aging shocks + loaded trunk + rusting mount = asking for trouble.

Chris
'85 300SD

ouch

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1984 300D Turbo - 231k....totalled 11/30/07 RIP

I have an old, faint memory of such numbers referring to the degree to which subject bolt is 'hardened'.

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1983 300D- silver blue, tan leather, 205,000.
1975 Datsun 280Z. Stock, ready to restore.
1983 San Juan 23. Dry docked.

I think the writing on the bolt is the manufacturer Verbus, I've seen their bolts on other places on the car. I can't read the number but its probably a grade stamp.

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84 300DT Puke Yellow. Totalled after 438,000
84 300DT Orient Red. 169,000 (actual mileage may vary)
2002 Explorer EB (wife's)