Hey yall,

'78 240D, what purpose does the steering damper serve? Also, what is the part the the tie rod assemblies attach to? I want to say center link, but in the parts picture it shows is has 2 ball/socket ends on it which isn't the case on my car.

The steering damper is the shock absorber for the steering. Instead of acting on variations moving up and down, the steering damper handles it side to side. There is a technical definition for it. This is the easy way to describe it.

The "outer" tie rod ends attach to the steering knuckle's and the "inner" tie rod ends attach to the center link or "drag link". This in turn attaches to the pitman arm and idler arm.

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AJ

1985 300D (SOLD)

I removed my Steering damper because my Wife is small and removing it makes it slightly easier steer at slow speeds like backing out of our narrow driveway onto a narrow street where cars are parked wall to wall (There is a School in front of our house with no Parking Lot).
I have not experienced any ill effects from removing it at any speeds or road conditions so far and it was close to 2 years ago I removed it.
To be honest even though I am bigger and stronger than my Wife and turning the wheel is easier for me I also glad I took it off.

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

I don't think the tie rods connect directly to the drag link. I just replaced the tie rods and drag link in my 300D, and the way it works in that car is that the inboard end of the driver's tie rod and the left end of the drag link each connect to the pittman arm. The other end of the drag link and the inner end of the passenger's tie rod connect to the idler arm. This is how the tie rod and the drag link can all have "male" ends - the pittman arm and idler arm have two "female" sockets each that accept the pins from the tie rods and drag link. I suspect your car is the same.

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Gene

1983 300d (133k)
1983 300sd (118k)