My 300D has been making a clunking sound from the front end for a while. Being both somewhat busy and very lazy, I haven't done the troubleshooting on this myself, except to get under the car and inspect the control arm bushings, which seem to be intact, but a bit weathered.

Lately, I noticed that the right front tire is getting feathered on the inside of the tread. I also recently bought a much-lower-mileage 240D and realized that the front end of the 300 feels much sloppier than the 240. I was used to American land yachts and the 300 felt more or less normal in comparison to them.

So, I brought the 300 to my local independent shop, with whom I've been doing business for over a year, and who've treated me fairly in the past. The diagnosis: Bad upper and lower ball joints, and a bad idler arm. Ok, pretty much what I expected. Now the kicker-they want $1600 for the repair. This seems excessive.

I looked up the ball joint replacement procedure in my Chilton manual, and it looks pretty straightforward, though it does require some tools that I don't have, such as a spring compressor and a ball joint press. As I mentioned, I'm pretty lazy, so I'd like to farm this work out if the price is good. OTOH, I'm also cheap, and this is a car I bought for $800, so I'm open to the possibility of buying/renting the tools and doing it myself.

Fellow forum members, what do you recommend?

Note: I don't have a garage, and my aparment management frowns on vehicle repair in the parking lot, but I may be able to work a facility rental from a co-worker who just had a shop built.

__________________
Whoever said there's nothing more expensive than a cheap Mercedes never had a cheap Jaguar.

83 300D Turbo with manual conversion, early W126 vented front rotors and H4 headlights 401,xxx miles
08 Suzuki GSX-R600 M4 Slip-on 26,xxx miles
88 Jaguar XJS V12 94,xxx miles. Work in progress.
99 Mazda Miata 183,xxx miles.

You don't need a spring compressor to replace the ball joints. But having the Mercedes press will save a ton of aggravation.

well I looked up the parts and they are less than 100 bucks...
here from phil....much less.... autozone rents parts... there is this thing
that looks like a crowbar....just picture the back of a hammer...
and its slanted... you just drive that under the ball joint and it will pop out..

its not too bad.....I think 1600 says DIY

$100 won't even cover the upper control arms.

In my search, I read the W124 DIY page for ball joints and noticed the part about the Harbor Freight press not being right for the job. If I end up buying one, what should I look for (dimensions, etc)?

I saw in the DIY how the guy didn't use a spring compressor, but I think I'd rather use one, as his method seemed a bit dangerous. He mentioned that a W124 front spring is still under 4 inches of compression at full droop, and that's a lot of energy. Are the W123 springs configured the same way?

Blueranger, it sounds like you're talking about what I usually call a pickle fork. I can/have used them in the past. Now for getting the new ball joints in, I still need a press of some type-right? Will an Auto-Zone rental do it, or do they not work with the MBZ parts?

__________________
Whoever said there's nothing more expensive than a cheap Mercedes never had a cheap Jaguar.

83 300D Turbo with manual conversion, early W126 vented front rotors and H4 headlights 401,xxx miles
08 Suzuki GSX-R600 M4 Slip-on 26,xxx miles
88 Jaguar XJS V12 94,xxx miles. Work in progress.
99 Mazda Miata 183,xxx miles.

ok first off, when does it make the sound? stopping? starting? turning? on your car the idler arm is not a wear item. the bushings are but not the arm. the bushings being worn will cause slop in the system. lower ball joints are a very common wear item at high miles. again those will cause slop but usually not a pop. it sounds more like a squeek. take a look at your guide rod mounts, they will cause a "pop" when worn out. you dont need a spring compressor for lowers or uppers. as blueranger said you can rent a tool from autozone called a pickle fork. it will do fine for the uppers, but if you plan to do the lowers it wont help.
the upper ball joints are not replaceable. you will need a new upper control arm.

__________________
have no worries.....President Obama swears "If you like your gun, you can keep it

It makes the sound when I pull out of a parking space in reverse, then change to drive and turn hard to the left, and when I pull forward-POP! It usually sounds like it's coming from the front, but sometimes it sounds like it's from the rear.

Guide rod? I'm unsure of the nomenclature. Is that the part that runs back to the rear of the front fenderwell? I was trained on "regular" SLA and live axle/leaf spring suspensions, and have spent most of my time wrenching on heavy trucks, so the MB approach is a little new to me.

The 300 feels sloppy compared to the 240, but it never squeaks, just pops.

__________________
Whoever said there's nothing more expensive than a cheap Mercedes never had a cheap Jaguar.

83 300D Turbo with manual conversion, early W126 vented front rotors and H4 headlights 401,xxx miles
08 Suzuki GSX-R600 M4 Slip-on 26,xxx miles
88 Jaguar XJS V12 94,xxx miles. Work in progress.
99 Mazda Miata 183,xxx miles.

that would be the quide rod mounts. check out the diy on it. its also known as a tourqe strut mount i belive. yes the guide rod runs from the lca to the rear of the fenderwell. its the mount that wears out

__________________
have no worries.....President Obama swears "If you like your gun, you can keep it