Okay well I have replaced all of the steering components... tie rods, drag link, idler bushing, and then aligned... and my 300SD STILL pulls to the right.

Tires are good, balanced, tread is fine, etc.

Can I assume it is time to get into the front end of this car? If so, who is the culprit? Upper arms? Ball joints?

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I'm not a doctor, but I'll have a look.

'85 300SD 245k
'87 300SDL 251k
'90 300SEL 326k

Six others from BMW, GM, and Ford.

Liberty will not descend to a people; a people must raise themselves to liberty.[/IMG]

Could be road crown. Some cities slope their roads to the right to prevent water from pooling.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm... I hope that is the issue

__________________
I'm not a doctor, but I'll have a look.

'85 300SD 245k
'87 300SDL 251k
'90 300SEL 326k

Six others from BMW, GM, and Ford.

Liberty will not descend to a people; a people must raise themselves to liberty.[/IMG]

On my w123, it was the UCA bushings causing the problem.

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RRGrassi


70's Southern Pacific #5608 Fairmont A-4 MOW car

13 VW JSW 2.0 TDI 193K, Tuned with DPF and EGR Delete.

91 W124 300D Turbo replaced, Pressure W/G actuator installed. 210K

90 Dodge D250 5.9 Cummins/5 speed. 400K

Were they rotted out or just tired? Mine have some cracking but do not appear very poor.

__________________
I'm not a doctor, but I'll have a look.

'85 300SD 245k
'87 300SDL 251k
'90 300SEL 326k

Six others from BMW, GM, and Ford.

Liberty will not descend to a people; a people must raise themselves to liberty.[/IMG]

I think it's safe to say that Ralphs were in rather poor condition.....

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Jimmy L.
'05 Acura TL 6MT
2001 ML430 My Spare

Gone:
'95 E300 188K "Batmobile" Texas Unfriendly Black
'85 300TD 235K "The Wagon" Texas Friendly White
'80 240D 154K "China" Scar engine installed
'81 300TD 240K "Smash"
'80 240D 230K "The Squash"
'81 240D 293K"Scar" Rear ended harder than Elton John

Hitman,

Look at the pics in this post. I did not think mine were all that bad until the got pulled out. They were tired and rotted. The ball joints were still good, but replacingthe entire UCA was a great time and labor saver.

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/showthread.php?t=214365&highlight=front+suspension

__________________
RRGrassi


70's Southern Pacific #5608 Fairmont A-4 MOW car

13 VW JSW 2.0 TDI 193K, Tuned with DPF and EGR Delete.

91 W124 300D Turbo replaced, Pressure W/G actuator installed. 210K

90 Dodge D250 5.9 Cummins/5 speed. 400K

Note, this will depend on how severely your car pulls:

Have you checked the wheel bearing adjustment with a dial guage set?
Mine used to pull slightly to the right and I noticed that after adjusting the wheel bearings, using the dial guage, it tracked straight down the road. Previously, I used the "tighten then loosen by 1/3 adjustment". But the dial guage showed that the left side was much too loose and the right side was slightly too tight. It is a delicate adjustment and takes a lot of tweaking to get the .01 - .02mm tolerance.

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Sam

84 300SD 350K+ miles ( Blue Belle )

Hitman - I've got the same pull right issue and I've rebuilt the front end January last year and have had the issue ever since (before there was so much "slop" - NTB wouldn't align the car). Oh, I've rebuilt the rear as well (subframe and trailing arm bushings).

I've swaped tires every which way and swapped with a completely different set of four rims and tires - same issue.

I've had the car aligned at NTB, Ewing Mercedes and Park Place Mercedes.

I've done a front brake job two months ago (which means I had to do wheel bearings) - still have the issue.

It's making me mental!!! I've been thinking of taking it to an old school indy and see if they can make the thing track straight.

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~shell
As of 2/2010:
2001 CLK55 0o\=*=/o0
13.6 @ 106mph
10K mi
1984 300SD
260K mi and going and going...
97 S600
46K miles
1991 Sentra SE-R (extremely dorked with)
www.se-r.net

a dragging rear caliper?

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John HAUL AWAY, OR CRUSHED CARS!!! HELP ME keep the cars out of the crusher! A/C Thread
"as I ride with my a/c on... I have fond memories of sweaty oily saturdays and spewing R12 into the air. THANKS for all you do!

My drivers:
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5-5SPEED!!!

1987 300TD
1987 300TD
1994GMC 2500 6.5Turbo truck... I had to put the ladder somewhere!

Thanks for the replies. Another thing, I had tire wear on the outer edge of the RF tire. Since the tie rod boots were toasted, I assumed it was due to that.

I know the front is tired on here, but it didn't appear totally clapped out. Maybe it's finally to that point. I guess I could try UCAs, they need to be done and no better time than now to start stuff. What would I notice with bad lower ball joints?



I did the 1/3 back off method for the wheel bearings, I will check that proper run out also when I do the arms.

I can't remember if the car pulled before or after I did the brakes up front. I did the fronts early fall '07 or late summer '07, I just don't recall. Car was pulling before rear brakes were done. When I spun the wheel off the ground on the fronts, they appeared to spin easily without binding.

Happen to know the procedure number in the FSM for the wheel bearings?

__________________
I'm not a doctor, but I'll have a look.

'85 300SD 245k
'87 300SDL 251k
'90 300SEL 326k

Six others from BMW, GM, and Ford.

Liberty will not descend to a people; a people must raise themselves to liberty.[/IMG]

Ordered up new UCAs and picked up a dial indicator. I shall set bearing end play and swap UCAs tonight.

__________________
I'm not a doctor, but I'll have a look.

'85 300SD 245k
'87 300SDL 251k
'90 300SEL 326k

Six others from BMW, GM, and Ford.

Liberty will not descend to a people; a people must raise themselves to liberty.[/IMG]

ooooh ooooh, take pictures before during and after...
thanks!

__________________
John HAUL AWAY, OR CRUSHED CARS!!! HELP ME keep the cars out of the crusher! A/C Thread
"as I ride with my a/c on... I have fond memories of sweaty oily saturdays and spewing R12 into the air. THANKS for all you do!

My drivers:
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5-5SPEED!!!

1987 300TD
1987 300TD
1994GMC 2500 6.5Turbo truck... I had to put the ladder somewhere!

Maybe its afraid Hillary will get the Democratic nomination

It might be in the trailing arms too

__________________
green 85 300SD 200K miles "Das Schlepper Frog" With a OM603 TBO360 turbo ( To be intercooled someday )( Kalifornistani emissons )
white 79 300SD 200K'ish miles "Farfegnugen" (RIP - cracked crank)
desert storm primer 63 T-bird "The Undead" (long term hibernation)

http://ecomodder.com/forum/fe-graphs/sig692a.png

Ball joints, dude. Re-pack your wheel bearings and check your spindles.