front end play

[Carlos Serrano]

99 SL500 60,000 MILES. My driver side front wheel moves left or right without anything else moving, I felt it when driving over road reflectors or pavement lines on the road I checked it by grabbing the wheel and moving it with the steering wheel locked, the passenger side is thight but the driver side moves about 1/2 inch either way,I raised the car with 2 floor jacks and carefully place jack stands under it, checked wheel bearing,they are like new, checked lower control arm, nice and tight, checked tie rod ends, nice and snug,move the tire by hand while the car was in the air and there it was, Idler arm bushing was doing more than just turning left and right it was also rocking inside the bushing, order a new repair kit from Phil and I CANNOT GET THE NUT LOOSE, I'VE TRIED MY 1/2 '' IMPACT. BREAKER BARS AND IT JUST WON'T BUDGE, there is got to be an easy way, any ideas, please don't write use a torch.
thanks

[Mike Miller]

Can you get in there with a Dremmel cutting wheeel? If you can get a good groove cut in the nut, you can then use a good cold chisel and split the nut.
Heat might do it, but I am always afraid of fire around my expensive toy.

[Carlos Serrano]

Now that you mention it I think that there is a Craftsman nut splitter somewhere in my tool box, never use one before but there is always a first time for everything, i'll try again this weekend if I get away from the HONEYDO'S.

[S Jones]

I've used a product called PB Blaster, maybe you have ? I used it on the ground up of a 1958 BMW Isetta Convertable, for all the stuff that wouldn't break loose.
NAPA carries it-
A thought before you start cutting or heating things up-
sj

[Carlos Serrano]

Well plan B, nut splitter too small for the nut on the repair kit , no need to crawl under the car to check if it will fit the original one, they are identical.
It is a class 10 metric self locking oblong nut. Cut-off wheel more likely, hot sparks everywhere.

[Broxin]

I need to replace mine as well. Buying the kit was the easy part ;-)

I also noticed that, even with the nut off (no, I didn’t get that far, the nut really put up a fight), that the bolt would not clear exhaust. So, the engine would have to be lifted, or exhaust removed. Is yours the same?

Brian

94SL500

[Carlos Serrano]

I did not notice that on mine, we have the same chasis but different V8 engines, all I saw was the heat shield above it and I remove that, but didn't notice anything else in the way, it is a long bolt 6 inches long, I better have another look this weekend, I did replace the engine mounts myself so I know what to do if the engine needs to be raised, I hope that is not my case though.

[Noeljb]

Never did like the "other" name.

If penetrating oil doesn't do it a small heat source might do it. I mean what are you going to ruin the idler arm bushings?

[toniyturbo]

hello guys. i have changed my idle arm and its pretty easy. but i have the sl600 v12. hope this helps
1. take off the left air filter system.
2. jack the car up
3. remove the idle arm heat shield
4. use a adjustable ratchet on top so it can bend and catch engine to grip
5. use breaker bar on bottom bolt.
6. make sure u have a pipe for extending the breaker bar for more force.
7. when the bolt is loose, wiggle it so the bolt can come out from the top. u might need to knock the bottom upwards with a hammer or something so the bolt will come out.
8. now just go from 7 back to 1 directions and waaaa la. ur done

toniy

[toniyturbo]

after i did all that . i found out nothing was wrong with the idle arm.
but o well.

toniy

[Carlos Serrano]

Remove the rascal finally with the aid of my 3/4" drive breaker bar and ratchet, the bolt came right up after removing the 2 screws from the heat shield. Compare to the new one was like comparing night to day, the old one came out in 4 pcs. the new one is only 2 pcs. the rubber grips were gone from the edges, crushed.
The steering is much tighter specially changin lanes.
I feel much better now.