question about alignment
 

Do lower ball joints affect alignment and do you need good ball joints in order to have your wheels aligned? Sorry if this was a dumb question.

Yes. The lower balljoint is crucial to a proper alignment. Any and all bushings, joints, arms, etc. in the suspension must be in spec before you align a car.

Yes, yes and no need to apologize ;) .If any components in the suspension have excessive play it's darn near impossible to set the component and then not have it move out of alignment as soon as it is driven.

If you do get a new lower ball joint, ask for the old ball joint back. just a good consumer practice.

A question to the list, if getting lower ball joint replaced, is it a good idea to do the upper ball joint at the same time?

Does the steering knuckle have to completely come off to do a lower ball joint? is this also a good time to change bearing if that hasn't been done timely?

How deep are your pockets , Ethan ? The spindle doesn't have to come off (on a 123 anyways) to replace the upper or lower BJ's seperately. The cost of taking it apart twice may make it worthwhile to change all the joints , tie rods , bushings etc. but I prefer the 'if it ain't broke completely yet you'll get another 60K of service out of it' service plan :D .Same goes for the wheel bearings , if they're still servicable why change them ?And when you do , use factory parts , I believe they're worth it .

Got a set of 4 Goodyear Regatta 2's put on the the car at the Goodyear store. One thing I couldn't get done today is alignment... I need to do the ball joints, preferably both at the same time, before doing the alignment at the dealership. I asked if I can supply my ball joints and have them do the labor portion.. and the manage said that he would OK it. I found that the labor would be $200 for each side. Is this in the right ball park or should I look for another Mercedes-familiar place to get this job done? I also heard that this is a labor intensive procedure on a 126.

ttt

Let us know how those Goodyear Regretta's do. I had a lot of trouble with those tires on my 300D. Inside sidewalls kept blowing out from the inside. Warranty was worthless. They kept saying the tires were failing because of road hazards. I fianlly gave up and switched to Bridgestones. Guess what?? No more road hazards in 3 years.

Snibble - find someone who has worked on MB's before , a good shop should be able to re&re and do the alignment . A newbie without a manual could damage components on your 126 , and I'm sure you don't want that :eek:

I need to replace the lower balljoints on my 124.

Do I need to compress/remove the spring, or can I just support the lower control arm with a jackstand?

Is there a special tool needed to press out and replace the ball joint? I'm a believer in buying the tool if it would cost me as much or more to have someone else do it. If so, any sources?

Does the control arm typically have to be removed to do this?

I've noticed that there are no zerk fittings on the ball joints. Is it feasable to install them? Would they tend to last longer with regular lubing?

Thanks,

Gary