Hi all,

I have been searching the forums and have looked at a lot of posts.. but I still have a couple of questions. I have a 1981 W123 200 (petrol). I'm from Malta (europe) so it is Right hand drive. The problem is that I have about 1.5 or 2inches of play at the wheel, and the box is also leaking oil from somewhere.

1st question is this... the steering box is right underneath the exhaust manifold. I cant even get a ring-spanner or an allen key in the adjustment screw. So do I have to remove the air cleaner / exhaust manifold, etc, in order to adjust or remove the steering box? Will prove to be a problem since the adjustment process normally takes about 2 or 3 tries, from what I gather.. ?

2nd thing is this.. I am thinking of re-building the steering box; I got a good price locally for the seal kit and the pittman shaft / needle bearing (MEYLE), so I will probably buy and replace these. But will these two kits make an improvement in the play? Since a local benz specialist has told me that these will only stop the leakage, and not the play.

It seems like my box has already been adjusted, so I do not know if I can adjust it any more, and as I said, it seems to be a bit of a job to make the adjustment.

Has anyone ever also replaced the worm / steering nut, or ball bearings?? Are these parts very expensive or what, or difficult to replace? Does anyone have the part numbers for these parts? I dont think Meyle has these parts..

Thanks for any help..

Patrick