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#1
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What $56 Gets You At Your Friendly M-B Dealer!
I wanted to do my steering the "right" way and in this area, I was not going to compromise on shortcuts, etc. The manual says to replace the bolts to the steering box and frame, and also the Pitman nut. This may be because of the encapsulated Loctite on the parts, but I also considered that wear and stretching may come into play. Because I'm going to eventually get another car like this one for my wife, I ordered two sets of these bolts, four tie rod nuts, and 2 sets of the seals on the diff. Because of some bad experience at dealers in the past, I brought an illustrated document (illustrations from the MB manual) that I printed out at 1200DPI on a laser printer for them, so that they could identify the parts.
So, it turned out that one bolt on the steering box is different, and I got 3 of these, (needed 2), got 4 of the others, they didn't get me the Pitman nuts (no explanation), and I did get the aluminum seal (washerlike pieces of aluminum). Note that the bolts are only about 1/4" in diameter. They aren't made of titanium, monocrystalline diamond, or any other kind of unobtanium. Total bill: $56.00!!!! If MB's distribution and dealer system is so poor that they need to charge this much money in order to make a profit, they will not be in existence very far into the 21'st century. Maybe I better plan on getting a few parts cars.
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86 560SL With homebrew first gear start! 85 380SL Daily Driver Project http://juliepalooza.8m.com/sl/mercedes.htm |
#2
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The dealers kind of have their hands tied and are forced to gouge us - don't be to harsh on them, it's a franchise thing. If you were not in a hurry for the parts use Fastlane and save some $$
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BENZ THERE DONE THAThttp://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/...c/progress.gif 15 VW Passat TDI 00 E420 98 E300 DT 97 E420 Donor Car - NEED PARTS? PM ME! 97 S500 97 E300D 86 Holden Jackaroo Turbo D 86 300SDL (o\|/o) |
#3
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It's franchise thing.
I went to the dealer for some AC seals for the hoses. $30 plus for some rubber seals. I went to the local indy repair shop and had a hose rebuilt. He tossed in the seals for nothing???????????????????????????????
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1984 280SEL, 62,000 miles Euro model in the USA 1983 300D (Totaled out 10/2004) New Factory Mint Green paint Palomino int 1982 240D (Steak dinner for two) |
#4
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Dealer vs Fastener Supplier
Strife -
My 500 lost (?) a motor mount bolt last fall. Dealer was willing to order for me for $12.50. For a 3" metric hex head??? I'm in construction so I decided to call our fastener house - they had them with correct thread pitch on the shelf: $.86 each. Kevin P.S.: For those of you out there looking for nuts and bolts, fasterner supply houses to the heavy construction industry is a great source (even Caterpillar has gone metric)
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"Dangerous with a wrench...and not smart enough to know it" Stable (in order of acqusition): '84 500SL, 280SEL (Euros) '77 280SE. '90 560SEL '79 450SEL 6.9, '95 C280 (totalled by daughter 8/07) '81 280SL (rescued) '88 300CE '86 560SEC '95 C36 '01 CL55 DD's: '04 S500 4Matic (SWMBO) '04 F150 Crew |
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