That part is only $182.xx plus $38.xx international shipping on

www.thebenzbin.com

Tie Rod Assembly
M3000-63217
In Stock TRW (OEM) $182.78

__________________
Daily Driver: 02 E430 4MATIC
In the family: '03 E500 // '04 ML500 // 64 220SE

Relacement is the only safe way to go.
And only $95 on eBay which includes the ends:

http://search.ebay.com.au/search/search.dll?sofocus=bs&sbrftog=1&from=R10&satitle=Mercedes+w202+drag+link&sacat=-1%26catref%3DC6&bs=Search&floc=1&sargn=-1%26saslc%3D2&sadis=200&fpos=Postcode&ga10244=10425&ftrt=1&ftrv=1&saprclo=&saprchi=&fsop=1&fsoo=1

Yes mpolli, I am planing to do it myself, I pretty handy on this things, I´ve never done this on the C230, any special advices before I get under it?

Do you guys recommend only the original part or the after market does OK?

Thanks

I can give you my personal experience. First of all, although I had some front end tools, I found that my tie rod end remover was too large for the dainty 202 (I had used it before on my Fiat so I figured it would be similar but it was too large). The end of the arm from the knuckle is very small and made of aluminum. None of the places near me had one small enough. So this was a delay. I had a pickle fork but I did not like the idea of pounding on the little 202 with it since the arm from the knuckle is aluminum and that would gouge it up pretty bad I think. Finally I found a rental kit that had a smaller tool. I ended up using ones like the 2 on the right of the photo for PN 78453842 from www.mscdirect.com. The one I had that didn't work was like the one on the left upper of the photo.

I did not see how I could easily extract the joints from the pittman arm and idler arm due to clearance so I opted instead to remove the bolt from the idler arm and remove the pittman arm from the steering box (after marking it's orientation first). I had to buy a E-10 (as I recall) socket for the idler arm bolt (might be a different size). Then I could remove the whole assembly and press out those two more easily once out of the car. One thing I did that helped a lot is when I had the old assembly out, I put it next to the new one and adjusted the tie rods to match the length. That left me with minimal adjustments once it was installed. I made a "presser bar" for the unique toe in procedure of the Mercedes and I adjusted the toe in by doing some math and measuring the distance from inside rim edges front and back of the wheel using a measuring tool I made.

Since I was working with jackstands I tried to be a little safer by only removing one front wheel at a time so I always had 3 wheels on the ground for extra stability. That is all I remember.

Mike

__________________
1998 C230 330,000 miles (currently dead of second failed EIS, yours will fail too, turning you into the dealer's personal human cash machine)
1988 F150 144,000 miles (leaks all the colors of the rainbow)
Previous stars: 1981 Brava 210,000 miles, 1978 128 150,000 miles, 1977 B200 Van 175,000 miles, 1972 Vega (great, if rusty, car), 1972 Celica, 1986.5 Supra

I am planning on changing my 202 tie rod ends soon, keeping the rest of the steering linkage intact, was going to rent the universal bearing separator tool from this sites link.

Any insight would be helpful, like how hard is it to screw the bearing ends off the track rod?

Where does the tie rod bushing go on the steering linkage?

First of all make sure you are replacing what needs replacing. On mine it was the inner joint of the tie rods, not the outer tie rod "ends", that were worn. As has been discussed to death in this thread, you cannot replace the tie rods/inner joints, just the tie rod ends which are the last 3" that connect onto the hub/knuckle (I am not sure what that part is called).

As far as how hard to unscrew the tie rod ends, that is very easy. You have to loosten the nut and then it screws right off.

What you are calling a bearing seperator is usually called a tie rod end seperator I think. I don't know exactly what tool you are talking about but you really need tools that are the right size. Otherwise you will have trouble since the steering component that the tie rod end is pressed into is made of aluminum so you cant have something that is just gripping the edge of it, it will slip off, since you have to apply quite a bit of pressure to pop it out. At least that was my experience as I said. Hopefully someone else can fill anything I forgot about.

I am not sure what you mean in the second question.

Mike

__________________
1998 C230 330,000 miles (currently dead of second failed EIS, yours will fail too, turning you into the dealer's personal human cash machine)
1988 F150 144,000 miles (leaks all the colors of the rainbow)
Previous stars: 1981 Brava 210,000 miles, 1978 128 150,000 miles, 1977 B200 Van 175,000 miles, 1972 Vega (great, if rusty, car), 1972 Celica, 1986.5 Supra

In the FASTLANE Parts catalogue I saw am item called a TIE ROD BUSHING listed for the 202 and wanted to know where it went.

In my Haynes manual they show a ball joint separator being used on the TIE ROD END and also the same tool on the lower control arm outside ball joint.

I think the tool can be rented (their tab above on top of the page links to the rental site)

On my car my rubber gaiters covering my outer ball joints (tie rod, lower control arm) are torn so I need to replace them.

I learned alot from this thread.

That bushing is the idler arm bushing.

Mike

__________________
1998 C230 330,000 miles (currently dead of second failed EIS, yours will fail too, turning you into the dealer's personal human cash machine)
1988 F150 144,000 miles (leaks all the colors of the rainbow)
Previous stars: 1981 Brava 210,000 miles, 1978 128 150,000 miles, 1977 B200 Van 175,000 miles, 1972 Vega (great, if rusty, car), 1972 Celica, 1986.5 Supra