When I did the work in March it was because the alignment was off and the shop said to much wear in the drag link to fix. That part number (300d) is M3000-16114. Since the tie rod ends had split rubber I figured I may as well do them as well. I called the parts order in as I needed some help on exactly what parts to buy. Phil told me the idler arm was also a suspect wear part and I should get the rebuild kit for that as well. No springs need to be compressed to replace what I did. All you need is the pickle fork to beat the old parts apart, bolts will pull them back together. Took me a good 1/2 a day, couple of gallons of ice tea (don't drink booze when doing car work anymore) and lots of "special words" as the kids tell mom about what daddy is doing. Also did this work right before fixing the turbo drain seal so I was covered in that fine "benz black" that took a good week to come all the way off.