See how much free play is in the steering wheel with the car turned off. My 85 300 td had a lot. I don't know if your's works the same but mine had an allen screw adjustment on the steering box that you turned counter-clockwise to take up the slop. This fixed mine and didn't cost anything. I went from 4 inches of free play to 1. Big difference in handling. Good luck.

__________________
85 300 D TURBO 145,000 mi "liesel" (the hot chick in sound of music)