Front End Help, 123 300D
 

Well, I had the wife's car in the shop this week to rectify a problem I just couldn't seem to fix myself. When I picked the car up, the mechanic gave me a laundry list of other items which need attention. Most were easy items which I feel I can tackle in a day. The big one was the total front end rebuild. I asked him how much for him to do it and he said "a heap of money" I asked him to quantify a "heap" and he said about $1600.00. I have read where you guys have done this yourself and feel that given the proper tools, I can too. I am fearless, and have plenty of tools. I need to know if anyone has posted one thread detailing the entire front end rebuild. I will also need to know any special tools required to do this job and where I can rent them if they are really expensive. I have already priced out all of the parts and they aren't extremely expensive compared to the price quoted for my mechanic to do the job. If one of you can point me in the right direction, it would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Mike

It is a job you can do yourself. Only item that will make it easier is the ball joint press tool.

My personal opinion is that you must separate the job into individual tasks. I don't believe that there is any one post that details "an entire front end rebuild".

However, there are posts that deal with the components of the rebuild.

Some examples:

Lower ball joints
Upper control arms and bushings (with ball joint)
tie rods
idler arm

Each one of these items will probably have several posts that detail the job for you.

The one thing that you must decide is whether you need lower control arm bushings or not. This will entail removal of the spring, thereby requiring an additional (expensive) tool.

You can use a pickeling fork and a hammer to remove the ball joints and replace the remander of the front-end parts on a need base. Dennis :D

The one item my mechanic did not mention was the lower control arm bushings. Are we talking about days worth of labor here, or one long weekend? The wife won't be too happy if her car is out of comission for weeks on end. Nothing looks to be too dificult at first glance. I knew this was all going to have to be done. The car was really starting to creak and groan quite a bit. I want to do this because there is nothing, absolutely nothing else wrong with this car. No rust, no dents, no dings, nothing.

Mike

In addtion to the ball joint press, you will need a spring compressor if you are going to replace the lower control arm bushings. I recently did my 300D front end-everything except the LCA bushings. Spent around $300 in parts: upper control arms, lower ball joints, tie rods, center link, and idler arm bushings. I found that I could buy the complete tie rod assemblies for less than purchasing the ends only.

I would recommend that you check your local shops to see if one would be willing to press you lower ball joints for a reasonable charge. It is only a 10 minute job if you bring them the steering knuckles with the old ball joints already knocked out. I was quoted $120 from one shop. Finally got it done for $20 by going through the "back door" at the local MB dealer. Alternatively, you can rent a press by mail, but I found that they were not readily available. So advance planning is necessary. No doubt other forum members will suggest that you use the free (loaner) Autozone press. I strongly advise against it.

One day per side should be plenty, if you have all your parts and tools lined up when you start. You will need an alignment when you are finished replacing parts.