I recently came back from a 560 mile round trip to Virginia and my car was all over the road, especially when the cross winds kicked up. I have no shaking or vibration from the front end, but the play in the wheel made it a nerve racking trip. I thought I had read that there was a way to adjust the play. If I were looking at the gearbox from the fender side, what do I look for and what tools might I need. Thanks.

As the adjustment is on the top of the box, you need a 19 mm socket to break the lock nut loose, 19 mm wrench to counter-hold the lock nut & a long 6 mm Allen socket to adjust.
Turning the 6 mm Allen COUNTER-CLOCK WISE takes out the play!
BE VERY careful & turn 1/8 turn at a time & then make sure that it's not too tight. Many times the play is else-where.
Watch the pitman arm turn as the input shaft moves.

[Edited by M.B.DOC on 01-03-2001 at 06:03 PM]

MBDoc, thanks for the instructions and tool list. Now when you say 6mm allen socket, are you talking about a long allen head. In other words, is the adjustment nut a female or male fitting?
TXBill, I am assuming my front end is good since I don't get any noticable shaking or vibration at speeds up to 75 mph. Also I had the alignment done recently and they didn't seem to have any problems doing it, and made no mention of anything needing replacing.

I was having the same problem with my 380SE. I had it checked and after a road test my mechanic replaced the steering column shock absorber. The difference is amazing and it cost around $100+/-. My mechanic, who drives a 300SE said sometimes if you adjust the steering box, it makes it worse so be careful. Check the column shock for wear.

Jack, this "steering column" shock absorber, is that shock absorber that is mounted horizontaly underneath, in the steering linkage? If so, I've never thought about that. I'll have to investigate further. Unfortunately it's been real cold and windy lately here in NJ. Even with the car sitting in park, I can rock the steering wheel back and forth quite a bit.

You can buy those shocks for around $36 I think. There are only two bolts holding it in. Coundn't be easier to replace. If you can change your oil, you can swap this part.

Rickjordan, I would say that it is not unlikely that the play is not entireley in the steering. The rear end links may also cause this type of problem in the crosswinds, so why not check them out.

I never thought of the rearend causing play in the steering, but I know that it would in crosswinds. I know that I have a problem with the rear sway bar. I don't know what the previous owner was thinking but, for some reason, on the driver's side, the sway bar was cut with a torch approx.8 inches from where the link would connect. This would definetly cause excessive leaning in turns and crosswind movement. However I never thought this would cause or contribute to steering play. BTW the link on the driver's side is still there, it just hangs there. So basicly my rear swaybar is completely useless right now. None of the junkyards in my area have any W116s for me to get another one. Itried e-mailing Atlanta-Stuttgart for a quote but they never got back with me.

That is the steering shock. The part can't cost more than $40 or so. My suspension is good, so that was the only problem they could find. It's probably worth replacing anyway if you're doing it yourself and it's easy. Tightened things right up. You should probably give some attention to your rear suspension as well from your description. Good luck.

I have already priced around for this steering shock(dampner). The partsshop wants $28 for it. I will be looking into the rear suspension. When I bought the car back in October, I knew it needed some work, so it's just a matter of prioritizing the projects. The first thing I did when I got the car was change all the fluids and filters. The next 3 things I need to give my attention to are this sloppy steering, rear sway bar, and replacing the rear springs, which are tired. The back end is sitting a little low.

Rick,
If you think the freeplay is in the box try watching the pitman arm move as you move steering wheel with car running.
RARELY does the W116 cars have rear control arm problems like the W124 & 201 cars.

Rick,
Have you ever had someone turn the steering wheel back and forth while you examine each joint and component of the front end? Sometimes, excessive play in a part is easily detected by the give it gives under this pressure.
I would also check your front wheel bearings for proper adjustment.

I really haven't investigated the source of the play. 3 days ago we got a foot of snow and it's been in the high 20's/low 30's since then. So the weather hasn't been in my favor to be crawling under the car. I will print up these great replies and use them as a trouble shooting guide. Lets all knock on the wood in our dashes that it's not a bad steering gear box.

Rick,
Not sure about your model, but the maximum allowable free-play for a 124 is 25mm (1”) on the circumference of the steering wheel.

To locate the source of your 'slop', have someone slowly move the steering wheel back-and-forth over this tolerance range (and beyond), while you observe and feel for arm movement at the steering box. Determine how much wheel movement is required before the arm begins to move (slack in the steering box), and how much delay there is between arm-movement at the box and the point where the wheel (tire) begins to turn.

If you find that less than 25mm of steering wheel rotation moves the steering arm, then examine the steering linkages and arms more closely for sloppiness.

Barry, this "play" tolerance, is this how much it's allowed to go back and forth. Let's put it this way, with the wheel level, how much to the right should the steering wheel move before feeling resistance? Like I think I mentioned earlier, I haven't had the chance, due to the weather, to look into this matter, deeply. I know that with the car off, the steering wheel goes back and forth a bit more than I would like. Now you mentioned a tolerance of 1". Is this 1/2" one way and 1/2" the other way?

Similar experience
 

Rick, I had a very similar experience with my '78 450 SEL. The problem turned out to be the steering shaft coupling, which is a universal arrangement as I recall. It is located just inside the engine compartment on that side of the firewall and you should be able to see it easily. The coupling connects the steering wheel shaft to the steering gear box via another shaft, which is the purpose of the coupling. There were two sets of nylon, or some sort of polymer, bushings which had worn out, cracked, and fallen apart around two of the four bolts of the coupling.
The slop in my case was caused by the loss of integrity of the coupling without the bushings in place. I could turn the steering wheel several inches (2 to 3 or so) just sitting in the car without the engine running. At highway speeds, I would actually get a chatter out of this coupling since the metal of the coupling plates were was hitting the bolts.
I suggest you look at this coupling before you spend a lot of time trying to adjust the play via a steering gear setting.
My alignment was good before and after this occurred, which really became severe on a trip of course.
The replacement of the coupling is not very difficult, but I had to remove the steering wheel, loosen the shaft at the coupling and pull it inside the steering column to enable the coupling to be removed and replaced. The manuals do a reasonable job of describing this process, but be careful on shaft alignment since you will loose the relationship of the two shafts once the coupling is removed. If this turns out to be your problem, I would recommend marking the steering shaft and lower shaft in some fashion (chalk? or tape?) before you separate the two.
Anyway, I hope this is your problem since it is a pretty inexpensive problem to fix. It is also a little dangerous since the only thing connecting the steering of the car to the power steering box is the four Allan headed hex bolts without the bushings in place to keep them from wearing.
Good luck.

Redflash

Rick, you've got it - 1" is the total back-and-forth play (as per MB spec for a 124). Rotation beyond 1/2" in either direction from center should begin to move your tires.

As you've gathered from these posts, there are many linkages along the way that can account for any additional slippage.

Also be alert to design-differences between models before transferring the helpful recommendations and experiences of others (when the weather gets better!)

Regards, Barrie

Steering Wheel ..slop
 

I took your advise and took the slop out of my steering today, everything works fine, but I am going to replace the steering damper. Thanks for the info

I checked the specs. in the manual and it says the max amount of play should be 25mm, which equals about 1 inch. This is exactly how much play there is in the wheel. Again this is with the car not running, moving the wheel back and forth. There is a combined 1 inch of free play. It's almost like there is nothing connected to the wheel. I find it odd that MB would consider this much slop as normal. Today it got up to th upper 50's but unfortunately I had to work and of course it gets dark quick. I will keep in mind all the great advice given here when I do get a chance to spend more time on it.

Rick,
Have you had a chance to check your steering yet? I have a
similar problem with my W126 even after replacing the steering
shock and various other parts including the steering box. I
have to get under and check the column joint. I think it's
harder to get to with the V8.

There are also bushings for the steering column. They could be the culprit.

Boy, I almost forgot I started this posting.
My steering at highway speeds has been improved greatly, not by doing something to the front end, but to the rear.
At the time I started this topic in Jan, the car still had it's original coil springs and some old Monroe shocks at the rear.
Also the rear sway bar was rendered useless by the fact that some previous owner had it cut. Don't ask me why, but it was cut by a torch.
Since January I have replaced the rear sway bar, sway bar links, coil springs, and replaced all 4 shocks with Bilstein.
The car drives much better at highway speeds now.
I do still have some work to do for the front end.
I am sure the steering could be a bit tighter if some things were replaced, like the steering damper, though my first priority is the lower ball-joints.
The driver's side ball-joint boot is split, bone dry and making grinding sounds.
Hell you can feel it in the floorboards, unfortunately it doesn't look like a DIY.
The ball-joints have to be pressed in and you need a special tool to get them out, to do all this the wheel spindle has to come out.
Tomorrow I am going to see what my mechanic will charge to do it.
The weather is only starting to improve here in NJ, though, on the days when it's warm, it's usually raining.
I want to get a look at the steering column itself under the dash, to see if there's any tightening I can do there.

I will be going in to have my steering box replaced. I have 3 inches of play. When I do should I have anything else replaced like the steering shock? Should I have anything else checked at the same time like asking for the steering linkages and arms to be looked at for sloppiness? Or is all of this automatically checked by the technician?

On my 78 300 D I had to turn the allen screw on the steering box quite a bit, in 1/4 turn increments, to get rid of very excessive play, worked great though......

Whats the price of a steering box you gonna get Trius?

I've been observing my freeplay and sound from the steering box and reckon I might have to replace it a year from now.

Rick

I had a similar problem on my 82 W123 and traced it to the steering box. I could see the slack in the box by gripping the steering shaft above the steering box and rotating it back and forth from where resistance was felt to where resistance was again felt. I noticed that the pitmen arm, the arm connected to the output end of the steering box, moved very little while I moved the shaft. I found that I needed to put a foot long extension on my ratchet to get it up to where I put enough leverage on the lock nut to break it free. Here are two suggestions: 1 turn the allen wrench to where you think it should be, then tighten the lock nut and then test the slack again as the adjusting bolt will turn a bit while you tighten the lock nut. If you find there is still too much play then go through the steps again. 2.0 If you go too far and go beyond just removing the slack, you will not only put undue strain on the internals of the steering box; you will also loose the self centering when you turn a corner. ( the wheel will not turn back to straight.) I hope this helps.

Rick

I am going to tackle this tomorrow. First though I have to buy a 19mm socket. The largest I have is 18mm. The "slop" that I have is within specs. Actually it is exactly at spec., 25mm or 1 inch. I would like to curb this a little.

Ymsin,

I was quoted $550 CDN for the re-built steering box not including tax and labour. I had it installed and it drives very well now.

230e w123 steering adjustment
 

Firstly, thanks for a great thread - a quick search has given me all the answers I was looking for.

Can I just confirm this is correct:
---------------------------------------
As the adjustment is on the top of the box, you need 19mm socket to break the lock nut loose, 19mm wrench to counterhold the lock nut & a long 6mm allen socket to adjust. Turning the 6mm allen COUNTER-CLOCK WISE takes out the play!
---------------------------------------

No reason to doubt the poster, except that it seems illogical to somone who doesn't know the internals of these steering boxes!

Cheers,

Nick Vyse
London

We'll let this slide because it's only your second post and you don't know the folks here yet. M.B.DOC is a master technician who has worked on Mercedes for many many years. Not to mention helping us out here at Mercedesshop for a long time. Did you notice that the thread you dragged up is over two years old? Yes, you can trust what the Doc says.

Woops - thanks Rick.

Oh, and I should have said "Welcome to the board." :D

Steering slop in 126
 

You'd be amazed how much play there was in the steering when they were new. This is 1970's technology and recirculating ball systems have a lot of play by nature. If you change the sterring shock, it should make a tremendous difference.

I didn't read all of this old thread. Don't mistake seizing ball joints for steering wheel free play when driving. When steering does not find it's own center due to binding, it feels like you are trying to catch up with the car.

I was referring to the recirculating ball steering, which is the system used in the 126. As opposed to, say, a rack and pinion system.