I've searched the forums and read the various posts on this topic. Unforutantely I can only find limited information on diagnosing and repairing this problem in my manuals. I can't find my Haynes manual right now so I don't know what it says about this problem.


Basically something went wrong with my steering last night and now when I want to turn right I practically have to turn the steering wheel 270 degrees. Plus a gentle breeze even at low speeds has more control over the direction of the car than I do...yikes!!

I was preparing to replace the Front Upper/Lower A-Arm ,Front Sway and Subframe Mounts. These seem like easy things to do but sounds like fixing the severe drift and play is more difficult.

I guess my main question is does somebody have a PDF with step by step for diagnosing this problem and how to correct it. At what point should I decide to take this a shop and what might the cost be?

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MB 72 250 M130.923 114.011 170k The Beauty

You may need a new steering box. Asymetric steering woes are a symptom of a bad box.

Ron
German Star

Any suggestions for verifing this and is DIY or should I just go the shop and what cost should I expect?

Thanks

Adrian

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MB 72 250 M130.923 114.011 170k The Beauty

Also check the steering box mouning bolts.
The 114 cars frame rails fatigue crack at the steering mounting and frame flexing causes one of the steering box bolts to break, resulting in very flexible steering! I had to reinforce mine with a 1/4 thick steel plate.

Happy Motoring, Mark

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DrDKW

I checked and both were sheared off!!! Jeez now what?

In the mean time should I beable to replace those bolts or is there part of the threaded section now embedded in the steering box?? I guess that time I hit the curb parrallel parking probably did this damage or lead to it??

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MB 72 250 M130.923 114.011 170k The Beauty

I just found my frame cracked where two of the three nuts were welded to the frame ... for the bolts that hold my steering box. A shop changed me for 1.5 hrs labor $90 to weld everything up and bolt down the steering box.

I doubt that hitting the curb had anything to do with it. The cars are old. One bolt breaks and you don't notice it. This puts more stress on the remaining bolts. When the second one goes you start to notice a problem.

In the case of my '72 250, one of the two long steering box bolts kept shearing off.
I replaced this same bolt 3 times over a 10 year period. The first 2 times, I was able to center-drill and use a tool to remove the broken bolt stub with the steering box in place. The last time it happened, the bolt stub was seized into the steering box so I had to drop the steering box under the car to work on it. I had to remove the brake booster/master cyl unit for axcess to the steering column coupling. Ultimately I fabricated a reinforcing plate from 1/4 inch thick steel to stiffen up the weakened frame rail. If you can get the bolt stubs out but aren't able to repair the frame rail right away, keeping more air in the front tires and
avoiding forcing the steering at parking speeds will make the new bolts last longer.
Mine always broke at low speeds during tight parking situations. Good luck.

Happy Motoring, Mark

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DrDKW

I guess you put the piece of metal on the side of the wheel well?

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MB 72 250 M130.923 114.011 170k The Beauty

Yes, I put the plate on the outside of the frame rail. I opened up an axcess hole in the frame rail, at the damaged lower steering box bolt area.
I installed 3 threaded anchor plates further down inside the frame rail so I wound up with 6-10MM bolts holding the plate to the frame and the steering box in such a way as to straddle the weakened part of the frame rail.

The proper way is of course to cut out all the damaged frame rail and weld in all new metal to duplicate and reinforce what was originally there. There was a repair kit availible from Mercedes for the 107-SL cars
according to Randy Durrance's reply to my posting about this problem last October.
He suggested it might be adaptable to the 114 cars if you could find one of these kits.

In my last response, I didn't want to imply that you should drive the car without repairing the frame rail, only illustrate what my own experience was with my car.
In my case only the upper steering bolt kept breaking and I replaced it 3 times before I realized what the problem was. The replacement generally lasted about 2 years and always broke while parking. You will have to decide if you want to chance just replacing the bolts.

Happy Motoring, Mark

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DrDKW

There's a good discussion of this problem, here on the 'Tech Help' section on or about 4-5-02.

Happy Motoring, Mark

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DrDKW

Have you guys seen this problem on power steering or manual steering cars ?

I am about to throw away a 1970 250, after pulling most everything off. I am leaving behind the manual steering box, since it is a pain to remove and I doubt anybody wants it. Or am I wrong?

-CTH

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- cth350@gmail.com
http://www.111lakeside.com/

My 250 has power steering. I think the power steering tends to stress the frame rail more over many years of use / abuse.
I had a '72 220 with manual steering and parking was a real pain, even more so than the manual steering in my '60 220S.

Happy Motoring, Mark

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DrDKW

I took a better look at the frame area and could not see any cracks. Howerver the under coat was cracked around the points where the bolts would go which indicates stress.

I've called a few shops in the area and have only got one vague quote. I would surprised to find a quote as low as $90.

My only hesitation now is that I want to at least put a plate to support the two bolts. I don't know if I got so far as to drill additional holes. My question is can I use power tools to cut and drill 1/4 steel.

I could see drilling with some effort but short of renting a torch I'm not sure of any way to cut 1/4 metal outside of a machine shop.

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MB 72 250 M130.923 114.011 170k The Beauty

I haven't had a chance to make a trip to the hardware store to see what I need to extract these bolts but here's what I'm guessing I'm looking for.

Hardened drill bits that are smaller than the bolt itself. Bolt extractors which are then hammered into the bolt to reverse it out.

I'm probably going to buy a new powerdrill.. are there any ratings I should look for.. high speed?

I guess I should hose down the broken bolts with WD-40 in the meantime so they can soak.

Anything else? This is my first sheared bolt removal project.

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MB 72 250 M130.923 114.011 170k The Beauty

The tricky part, with the steering box on the car, is to center the drill bit into the broken bolts. Some easy-outs are too short to work through the holes in the frame. The first 3 times it happened to me I used a modified screwdriver blade and the bolt stubbs came out easily. The last time it didn't. If yours are really stuck, you may need to let the steering box hang under the car to work on it.
A 3/8" drill should be able to handle 1/4" steel plate but I got a 1/2" Milwaukee drill at a flea market that works better. I used cobalt drill bits. I used an electric hand-held cutter with a 4" cutting wheel to cut the steel plate. If you put a plate on the frame rail you'll need longer 10MM bolts for the steering box. Just a plate across the 2 broken bolts may not solve your problem.
If the frame rail is flexing, the plate needs to be large enough and additionally anchored to bridge the weakened section. Good luck.

Happy Motoring, Mark

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DrDKW