Hello, I am considering rebuilding the front end on my 1984 300TD. The car is fine below about 60mph, but has the shakes at 70, worse when going down hill. It appears to need new bushings all over the place, I think they are original, but the ball joints seem good (no play in steering, no noises, pass the "wiggle test" with the wheels off the ground) apart from the occasional torn boot that will need replacing. My question is, about how much can I expect to pay if I farm this job out to a mechanic or the dealer? From what I have read, I would need to buy a spring compressor and some tools for the ball joints in order to do this, and I was wondering if I would save any money in the end by doing this myself?? I also (obviously) lack the equipment to do an alignment, and the idea of driving to the alignment shop (at the very least 20 miles... if they can do MB) is somewhat unpleasant. My follow-up question is does anybody know of a competent MB mechanic that can do this rebuild and an alignment in the southern half of Vermont or eastern New York? I have done quite a few jobs on this car, and I believe I am completely capable of this, but if the price is right I think I'll just have a shop do it... any ideas?

If you have a good hydraulic press and an acetylene torch, you should not have a problem with this job. You'd only need the $1k spring compressor to replace the main bushings. That is the only part of the job that you might consider leaving to a shop to handle; those springs have a very high K; they contain immense amounts of energy and can kill. Unless you plan on doing this a few times, don't waste $$ in the compression tool. You may be able to rent one from a shop that specializes in German made cars. DO NOT USE A DOMESTIC SPRING COMPRESSOR. THEY WILL NOT WORK ON THESE SPRINGS!

To replace the upper and lower control arm ball joints, you do not need to remove the spring. They are rather well joined and pressed in; it can be frustrating to separate them after 20 years of a friction/interference fit, but is possible. I have not yet found a foreign or domestic tool capable to repeatedly separate the lower control arm ball joint without failing first (not even a $200 German lever-type tool; pivot pin sheared first); Save your $$ and use a good sledge hammer and O/A torch; it will work eventually. Sometimes, it helps to alternate torch and dry-ice if the joint is stubborn. Be persistent.

If you don't have an excellent hydraulic press with piles of adaptors, mandrels, experience etc, you'll have to have the old joint pressed out and replaced at a shop. You might consider having these done professionally anyway. Trust me; afterward, you'll know why.

This is also a good time to replace your bearings, rotor and perform any caliper work that you've been neglecting. They will all need to be removed to complete this job anyway.

If you don't replace your steering tie rods, you need not worry about driving your car 20 or 100 mi before alignment. The difference will be negligible if the job is done right. You will have to be more careful if the steering tie rods are replaced. Measure the old one's extension (threads exposed) and set the replacement to the same as a starting point. This should be close enough to drive a short distance (carefully).

Replacing the upper control arms is child’s play after you do the lowers.

Just buy complete upper control arms, they will have ball joints and bushings installed from the parts dept. As do tie rods. I used a ball joint removal fork and a HEAVY hammer, beat the pee-os out of it, eventually popped off. Did not do lower control arms, I would let a pro handle that. I got parts from http://*************** Should be able to get same stuff from this site. Good luck.

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83 SD

84 CD

I believe multiple people on this site have used these $200 spring compressors and said they work well:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Mercedes-Benz-Coil-Spring-Compressor-1801_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ35625QQihZ007QQitemZ170067735094QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW

I don't know if they are as good as the more expensive ones so I'm not going to comment. I asked before and some people here said they were just fine so I just thought I'd pass that information along and let you decide. I got a quote from a shop once for a complete front end rebuild for $1,800. Hope that helps.

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Scott
1982 Mercedes 240D, 4 speed, 275,000
1988 Porsche 944 Turbo S (70,000)
1987 Porsche 911 Coupe 109,000 (sold)
1998 Mercedes E300 TurboDiesel 147,000 (sold)
1985 Mercedes 300D 227,000 (totaled by inattentive driver with no insurance!)
1997 Mercedes E300 Diesel 236,000 (sold)
1995 Ducati 900SS (sold)
1987 VW Jetta GLI 157,000 (sold)
1986 Camaro 125,000 (sold - P.O.S.)
1977 Corvette L82 125,000 (sold)
1965 Pontiac GTO 15,000 restored (sold)

You can do all this work yourself. Rent the spring compresser from here. The right compresser will make all the difference. Plan on a weekend or two to do the work. As far as an alignment goes you will be able to get things back pretty close so the drive wont be too bad. ie: count turns on the tie rods and guide rods. Hardest parts for me were getting the lower ball joints out and the new ones in. The guide rod mount was tough because it was corroded pretty good. I would replace the lower ball joint while you have everything apart. Basicly replace every piece of rubber there is on there. Good luck, there is a ton of great,excellent info/ help here. Check out the search button etc.

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If it ain't broke take it apart and find out why.

1983 300SD, 4 speed
1994 C280
1987 300TD wagon
1996 HD Road King

Ride in Peace Eric Peterson, Harley of Macon

OK, so I'm trying to put together a list of parts I need for this rebuild... The steering is tight so I'm gonna leave all those ball joints alone for now. I just want to replace everything that requires the spring compressor all at once so I don't have to rent it multiple times.. how does the rental work? who do I rent it from? can I rent a ball joint puller and press? List so far, and more questions :

upper control arms
upper control arm bushings
sway bar bushings

lower control arm bushings
guide rod mounts
lower control arm ball joints

track rod mounts? -- mine look okay but should I replace anyway?
shocks... no idea how many miles are on mine, they feel fine but might upgrade to Bilstein HDs?? I'd hate to replace the old shocks and have them go bad in 5K mi.
springs? how often should springs be done? Is there a measurement for spring quality?

Am I missing anything here? I want to rebuild absolutely everything that requires the springs to be pulled, so I don't have to do this more than once...

Now would also be a good time to do any rotor, bearing, caliper and shock work that might be needed in the near future. Trust me, you don't want to have to do this job again! The steering damper is always a good thing to replace when you do front end work. Also check the tightness of the steering linkages, steering gear and flex-discs. Repair and replace as necessary.

make sure you replace all the lock nuts with new for all ball joints!

just repacked the bearings and put new rotors on about 500mi ago... would rather not take the wheels off... is that necessary for this work on a W123? Does anybody have the FSM .pdfs? I have a mac so from what I hear the CDs are no good for me... someone correct me if I'm wrong and I'll buy one this instant. I used to make extensive use of braingears but they recently went under... It all looks fairly straightforward but I wouldn't mind having some reference materials.

The track rod mounts were the parts worn the worst on my SDL. I would look at them closely. They are fairly easy to replace if the spring is out.

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andy t
'78 300d
'95 volvo 850, wagon
'86 300sdl - engine out, maybe I'll have it rolling by June

whole bunch o' bicycles