For Novices, I am reporting my experience with this repair.

1) Most important that the spring be compressed fully. I failed to do that on first side and found that getting everything back in place was very difficult due to spring's pressure not being completely eliminated. Its really best if you can remove the spring entirely while doing this stuff. Be careful as there is mucho power in that spring. Should use a mercedes specific spring compressor. Not all "center" compressors are alike and some won't fit (I found that out the hard way).

2) When MarkM said that the large nuts can be hard to remove he wasn't kidding. You must have the right size wrench or socket set and will need to use a "breaker" bar to increase tourque. The nut on the lower control arm inner bushing is the bad boy. It will turn, just have to really apply the tourque.

3) I found that lubricating (with Sly- Glide) the lower control arm bushings and installing one first was easier than trying to install both at once. After the first one goes in (using a large "c" clamp), you can insert the aluminum sleeve into it and then the second bushing goes right in where it should. The busings are not perfectly round and need to go into their housing correctly aligned.....look at how the old ones are installed before removing them.

4) I found it easy to remove the old ones by using a hammer and screwdriver to first remove the inner aluminum sleeve (just beat it out in whatever shape). The two old bushings came right out with that sleeve gone.

5) While doing the bushings, go ahead and consider replacing the two tac rod holders (the large contraptions on the firewall that are linked to the bottom of the outer suspension). MarkM suggested this and I found that both of my old ones had lost their "tension" compared to the new replacements. Getting the old ones out and new ones in is no problem once you have the spring compressed sufficiently (must first remove the plate that the spring sits in on the control arm).

Bottom line is it can be done. Be prepared to learn a bit on the first side (that took me 4 hours!) that will help a lot on the second side (about 1 and 1/2 hours).

Nic
'85 300CD @ 148k miles