Ok, I think you guys have convinced me to deal with the ball joints and the bushings myself. I've put together several home made "tools" to do various jobs on my old W126 (trailing arm bushings, subframe bushings, etc) so I'm sure I can scab something together for the bushings.

It's just that the ball joints on the W126 are such a ***** to deal with. Does the W124 have the same "angle/offset" to deal with that makes regular ball joint tools not work? For me, that's the
real deal killer in all of this. My machinist reamed me for getting those old ball joints out in my old W126.

Please assure me that we are dealing with a different way that the ball joints are mounted and I'll be sold doing the job myself.

I do have really heavy vise (30lbs or so) and that could be useful.

Thanks!

Chris