1983 380sl WTF.. Lower control arm

[deportes]

Glad I had exited the freeway when it broke off.

[Deltacom]

Originally Posted by deportes

Glad I had exited the freeway when it broke off.

Hi Juan,

You are a very lucky individual. It could have been catastrophic!!

Take several pictures of the broken subframe and (ideally) get a letter from a lawyer to send to MB USA. They are obliged to replace your subframe free of charge. See this information.

[deportes]

Thank you Deltacom, great compilation of information that will help me get to MB and hopefully they will fix it.

[rs899]

The recall did not cover the 380SL- only the 450SL. Can't hurt to try though.

[euroamg]

Common problems on the sl's. Sometimes its the a arm that rust off. No drainage holes on it. Water puddles on the actual a arm.

[Deltacom]

Hi Juan and all,

Here are a couple of letters posted by a member in another forum, issued by MB-USA that might assist you to “persuade” MB dealers to replace your subframe (if broken) or to reinforce it with gussets to prevent breakage. Some MB owners and members of forums managed to have it fix or replaced.
It certainly is worth it to persist.

[rowdie]

Originally Posted by euroamg

Common problems on the sl's. Sometimes its the a arm that rust off. No drainage holes on it. Water puddles on the actual a arm.

I have never seen this on the front of a 107.
Rust is not what causes the failure on the '71-'85 107.

[deportes]

This car inquestion has no rust, it's a California car that has never been out of state, It was ownde by my brother since new. It's oily but not rusty.
I was looking at craigslist in the SFco bay area and there are about 10 380sl for sale. How many are in the country that will eventually break off?
All 380sl owners should get together and demand more from MBUSA.
I feel very lucky that I wasn't hurt but the potential for any other person that has one of this models is great, specially now that this cars are 30 or so years old.

[97 SL320]

Need more information.

How many miles?

Better pictures of the break from both sides.

[Strife]

Originally Posted by rowdie

I have never seen this on the front of a 107.
Rust is not what causes the failure on the '71-'85 107.

SUPPOSEDLY, using the wheels as curb feelers (which I'm sure than none of us do, but previous owners, who knows) can contribute to this.

I have a set of the gussets (not CHEAP these days, they ought to be FREE with proof of ownership) but don't have the facilities to weld them on from underneath. I may have someone else do it.

[JimFreeh]

Originally Posted by rowdie

I have never seen this on the front of a 107.
Rust is not what causes the failure on the '71-'85 107.

It's not rust, it's fatigue.
Mine let go on the left side, and it was a Phoenix, AZ car.

Jim

[rowdie]

I was brief in that response to a previous post that it could be rust. Thus my response that I had never seen this on the front. This is a known fault in the 107 from 1971 first production until 9/85 when the new front axle carrier was introduced.

I have seen pictures of 107 rear lower arms that were rusted out. Off hand I do not remember what years were the stamped steel version that rusted.

[JimFreeh]

Originally Posted by rowdie

I was brief in that response to a previous post that it could be rust. Thus my response that I had never seen this on the front. This is a known fault in the 107 from 1971 first production until 9/85 when the new front axle carrier was introduced.

I have seen pictures of 107 rear lower arms that were rusted out. Off hand I do not remember what years were the stamped steel version that rusted.

Correct.

The rear trailing arms are the ones with the rust problem.

The rear suspension that was introduced in 1968 for the W114/W115 was carried over intact for the R107, the W123 and the W126. Some of the W126 cars came with forged alloy trailing arms. I've seen them on euro 500SEL and 560SELs. I would suspect that the R107s had forged arms on the similar engined cars.
FWIW, the R107 has the same front end subframe as the W114/W115, but for some reason, the W114/W115 does not have the torn control arm mount problem.

If it's the V-8's weight, then why did my M110 engined R107 have the problem?

I fixed mine by using a spare W114 subframe and welding on the factory reinforcement gussets.

Jim

[deportes]

Originally Posted by JimFreeh

Correct.

The rear trailing arms are the ones with the rust problem.

The rear suspension that was introduced in 1968 for the W114/W115 was carried over intact for the R107, the W123 and the W126. Some of the W126 cars came with forged alloy trailing arms. I've seen them on euro 500SEL and 560SELs. I would suspect that the R107s had forged arms on the similar engined cars.
FWIW, the R107 has the same front end subframe as the W114/W115, but for some reason, the W114/W115 does not have the torn control arm mount problem.

If it's the V-8's weight, then why did my M110 engined R107 have the problem?

I fixed mine by using a spare W114 subframe and welding on the factory reinforcement gussets.

Jim

Great info, i think there would be a lot more w114/115 in the pick and pull yard. What model is the w114/115, I mean 300 series? The pick and pull doesn't use the w114/5 I think. I was trying to find if there was any other model I could get the front end from other than the R107.
Thanks.

[JimFreeh]

Originally Posted by deportes

Great info, i think there would be a lot more w114/115 in the pick and pull yard. What model is the w114/115, I mean 300 series? The pick and pull doesn't use the w114/5 I think. I was trying to find if there was any other model I could get the front end from other than the R107.
Thanks.

Subframe is the same. Only modification that needs to be made is to drill out two holes for motor mount access when used in the R107 chassis. The location is already stamped, but not drilled. Easy peasy.

68-76

220
220D
230
240D
250
250C
280
280C
300D

Jim