Thanks for the tip Richard. I just inspected the entire subframe with a magnifying glass (just to be sure since I'm getting old). I see no stress cracks or any other sign of weekness. I paid special attention to the welds and couldn't find any problems. I'm the third owner of this car and the last owner had the car for 15 years and they did very little driving as it spent many of those years in storage. Previous owners did not drive the car hard from what I can tell. The biggest problem with this car is the rotting of rubber pieces.

I haven't had a chance to do a good inspection of the steering coupling yet, but I will later today. I found the thing pretty cheap at under $54. I'm wondering if I should just replace it for the fun of it? What do you think?

http://www.flybynight.com/search/productx.aspx?makeid=800016@Mercedes&modelid=1195310@560SL&year=1987&cid=26@Steering%20System&gid=7418@Steering%20Coupling%20Assembly

I'm replacing just about everything else under there. All new tie rods, steering damper, upper/lower control arm kits and ball joints, idler arm bushing replacement, Bilstein shocks, subframe mounts, motor mounts etc.

Would it be a smart thing to replace the steering coupling with everything out or should I wait until after I have it all back together and the wheels aligned? This way when I take off the steering coupling I can center the wheels and steering wheel so that I get everything back together centered. Without any reference I'll probably have things cockeyed and have to remove it again anyway to line it all back up. What are you throughts about this?

Tony