PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum - View Single Post

JamesDean · #26 01-17-2013, 11:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Walkenvol

Check your local bolt supply house as I bought 16 of those exact washers locally last week for a project of mine.

I would clean the area to be samiched between the 2 washers and drill it out to match the bottom washer so that the spot weld merged all 3 pieces of metal. Personally, I think this repair would be stronger than original. You could also weld the bottom washer around the perimeter but I think it would probably be overkill myself.

Army is one of the most knowledgeable posters to this forum and I would always give strong consideration to his positions.

To me, a broken shock on the rear isn't a catastrophic failure such as a broken ball joint. I think you state the car has been driving with the shock loose. I wouldn't think if it broke loose again after your repair that the result would be any different from the current driveablity or level of safety. If you're comfortable with that then go for it. If not, get a replacement arm.

Last time I worked on the car the arm looked solid to me, there was no rust holes on it like my other 300SD. So I coated the bottom side of it with some rust encapsulator product.

What I think I'll do is take the spring out and assess the condition of the upper portion of the arm. Tap it here and there looking for weaknesses. If I don't find any and it just seems that the shock mount area failed due to stress and some minor rusting--which from the pictures seems that it might have been the case... MAYBE.

If the arm looks out and seems OK I'll go ahead with the washer repair if not, i'll be getting an arm off someone on here or locally if possible.