I dropped my kids at school and heard a new sound when I drove out of the parking lot. My car makes a lot of sounds, one more didn't worry me . I just took off my right rear wheel and found that the shock mount is rusted out on the lower control arm. I searched through the threads and found that it's a common problem. Fastlane has new arms for around $1600.00. Used ones go for around $125 to $250. Guess which one I'm going to buy.

Any suggestions on getting one that isn't already rusting out? I was thinking that I should order the part from a western state - like Arizona.

Dave

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1986 300SDL

buy a used one.............

__________________
Proud owner of ....
1971 280SE W108
1979 300SD W116
1983 300D W123
1975 Ironhead Sportster chopper
1987 GMC 3/4 ton 4X4 Diesel
1989 Honda Civic (Heavily modified)
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Section 609 MVAC Certified
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"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche

dave:

I am in the process of doing this to my 85 300D and soon to do to my 82 300TD

i bought a used control arm for 40$- i believe I did a search on Carparts.com- I went for the middle price range

Since i now live in Arizona I was not so concerned with new rust - like you just old rust.

my 40 was well spent and the piece came from Michigan
best of luck and dont hesitate to ask should you require suggestions

i will post a few pix as soon as I get done with the paying job tonight

All hail the Klann spring compressor- damn well worth the dough

Dave morrison has a great write up as well

Good luck

peace:

__________________
nibiru
82 300TD- diggin it
Ich habe Dinge gesehen, die ihr Menchen niemal glauben würdet
Gigantische Schiffe, die brannten, draußen vor der Schulter des Orion
Und ich habe C-beams gesehen, glizernd im Dunkel, nahe dem Thannhäuser-Tor
All diese Momente werden verloren sein....in der Zeit
so wie...Tränen im Regen

sandblast the surface rust on the replacement and your old one and POR-15 them....and do the rear subframe bushings while you have it that far apart then you never have to worry about those again.

__________________
Proud owner of ....
1971 280SE W108
1979 300SD W116
1983 300D W123
1975 Ironhead Sportster chopper
1987 GMC 3/4 ton 4X4 Diesel
1989 Honda Civic (Heavily modified)
---------------------
Section 609 MVAC Certified
---------------------
"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche

I used car-part.com for a used right rear control arm for my 300SDL. It was $40 for the part and $18 shipping. At the time, I was recovering from kidney surgery, so I had a local independent install it. $210.00 even for the install.

Much better than the almost $2000 the dealer charged a few years ago to do the left rear.

__________________
Lance Allison
Lance@LanceAllison.com

Current:
11 MB S550 4Matic, 55k miles, Designo Black/Black
14 Ford F150 XLT Lariat Crew, 73k miles, 5.0
Coyote V8 4x4. Black/tan.
09 GMC Envoy Denali, 5.3 V8, 4x4 SWB. 38k miles,
Jewel Red/Med Gray.

Gone:
87 MB 300SDL, 320k miles, Astral Silver/Blue.
98 VW Jetta TDI, 488k miles, Classic Green/Gray.
85 Olds 98 Brougham FWD, 4.3 DIESEL V6, 80k
miles, 3x Gray.

MBCA Member, Chicago Region

Just think of the vacation you financed on that job...I hope they at least sent you a post card....

__________________
Proud owner of ....
1971 280SE W108
1979 300SD W116
1983 300D W123
1975 Ironhead Sportster chopper
1987 GMC 3/4 ton 4X4 Diesel
1989 Honda Civic (Heavily modified)
---------------------
Section 609 MVAC Certified
---------------------
"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche

Oh heck yeah. I know what you mean. If you really want to see something that would make most folks ill, I posted a list of repair costs, not including repairs I did myself.

Over a span of 4 yrs and about 120k miles, the repairs were more than $30,000!!!

Now that I have a job that no longer requires travel, I'm able to do most of the repairs myself.

__________________
Lance Allison
Lance@LanceAllison.com

Current:
11 MB S550 4Matic, 55k miles, Designo Black/Black
14 Ford F150 XLT Lariat Crew, 73k miles, 5.0
Coyote V8 4x4. Black/tan.
09 GMC Envoy Denali, 5.3 V8, 4x4 SWB. 38k miles,
Jewel Red/Med Gray.

Gone:
87 MB 300SDL, 320k miles, Astral Silver/Blue.
98 VW Jetta TDI, 488k miles, Classic Green/Gray.
85 Olds 98 Brougham FWD, 4.3 DIESEL V6, 80k
miles, 3x Gray.

MBCA Member, Chicago Region

$210 is a damned good deal for that job.

__________________
Never a dull moment at Berry Hill Farm.

Prices for used ones are all over the map. I just ordered one from potomac for $210 that comes with most of the fittings, etc. already attached. I ordered some used stuff from them before. When it turned out the part they sent wasn't up to snuff they told me to toss it and immediately shipped a replacement all at their expense.

It should be here this Friday or Monday.

Dave

__________________
1986 300SDL

I'll say. How the hell did he R&R the subframe in 3 hours??