rear caliper bracket bearing[sic]
 

i am the original owner of a 560sel that was manfactured for the u.s. market in october, 1986.

it has 255,000 miles and has been meticulously maintained. it has been my favorite vehicle since i purchased it in december 1986.

over the last 25,000 miles, when the rear end negotiates change of grade, at any speed, sometimes, not always, a 'graunching" noise will be emitted from the rear suspension.

recently, the rear suspension makes a clicking noise all the time under braking, and still occasionally makes the "graunching" noise. the car has also become handling mysterious from time to time.

orginally, i thought the clicking and the handling mysteries derived from front-end problems.

so, my mechanic and i drove the car, put it up on a lift and evaluated the front-end suspension. it was fine.

so we checked the rear suspension. he identifies the problem as this bearing in the rear caliper bracket needing to be replaced. he says that he has only done this job once before, principally because mine is about the only 1986 560sel that he services with so many miles.

he says that the job is about 12 hours of labor to replace left and right. does this sound about right to you suspension experts out there?

if it does sound accurate, and the job is done, then i am of the opinion that all the other bearing and bushing components of those suspension assemblies be renewed at the same time...as there is just no sense to dismantle all of that hardware without performing a complete renovation.

any disagreement with that opinion?

because my mechanic has only done this job once before, and is not looking forward to the effort, i thought to ask if anyone out there has any insights into special intricacies of this job. if you do, i would love hearing your thoughts.

from examing later model 126's in his shop, today, it would appear as if benz revised[simplified] the design of this rear caliper mount at some date. if this is the case, is there any good argument that could be made for revising the rear suspension of my vehicle with the updated design? assuming that such a revision could even be made.

all ears.

The 1986-87 560SEL had torque compensating rear brakes. SO the calipers on the rear pivot as the braking force changes. THAT allows for better rear braking under HIGH speed stopping (AUTOBAHN). MB first used that system on the 450SEL 6.9. VERY $$$$ to make as the lower control arms are "light" alloy instead of stamped steel. The 560SL also used that system.

That repair on the rear should take 4-6 hrs.

doc, thnx so much.

that is almost all the information that i wanted to learn.

i guess the one question remaining is the renovation of other the other bits while we are at this project. advisable in your opinion?

and would that add to the time?

also, in your time estimate, is that for both left and right?

again, muchas gracias.

by the way, what prompted benz to eliminate this design on later model 126's?

did not fulfill cost-benefit goals?

Do those pivot points wear? Any Danger?
 

I may have to do that job in the future. Do those pivot points have to be R&R'd too?

Also: One of the bolts holding the upper clamp (and the brake line) is broken off in the hole. Is it dangerous to drive?

Steve G, take a look at this . Get that broken bolt fixed or things will come apart like you see in the pics. The link costs approximately $130 through Fastlane / PartsShop but the tool to press them out/in is a MB only tool. My closest dealer couldn't even locate the tool by part number (found in the manual).

I got lucky, I was able to save my link and reuse it. I have my new part in the bin in case I have to replace it in the future, unfortunately labor costs on this job will be steep.

Thanks Mike. But is safety an issue?
 

When I get to this job I may have to pull the hub or part of the hub that holds the caliper. THere is a broken bolt in the hole. I may have to replace the part. I don't want to do it for awhile and I took off the other bolt (no bolts on the cap) and it wouldn't budge so I put the bolt back and drove it.

Is there a chance the link will let go and spin the caliper?

If that link works out of the bracket the caliper carrier will rotate forward during a stop resulting in a very loud thud. Repeated stops will likely damage something. Once you remove the single remaining bolt from the cap you will probably need to tap gently to doslodge the cap. Once the cap is off you should be able to get a purchase on the remaining stub of broken bolt, may even find it to be finger tight.

It is tight quarters but I did the rethreading with everything in place. To remove the caliper carrier you have to pull the axle, a much bigger job than I intended to take on at the time. As I posted in the link, when you are reinstalling that cap it will not sit flush, you have to start both bolts and tighten evenly. Basically pressing the cap over the link bolt.