Hey guys,


So before I purchased my car, the PO had a great deal of work done on the car. One of the things he did have done was having most of the suspension components replaced. I have the receipts and I could see that it looked like the ball joints and other components were replaced.

However, the car always had a notable bit of negative camber on the front. I looked under there the other day and noticed the lower control arm busings were squashed out, cracking, and just looked old and worn out. Found that strange as all of the other components had been replaced, but who knows.

I've read up on the replacement of just that bushing and it appears to be something I can do. But I do have a couple questions first.

1. Considering everything else looks to be in good shape, is there anything else I should really investigate as contributing to my neg camber? Or can some really worn lower control arm bushings cause that on their own?

2. I know the spring has to be compressed for this. Someone mentioned using a Lisle Spring compressor, but the link they used was broken. The only thing I found that looked like it would work was this:

Lisle Corporation

Anyone know if that would work? The person said the one they used wouldn't compress it for full removal, but enough to do this job.

3. Once I get the bushings repalced, should I have my aligntment redone? I don't think those bushings would affect the alignemnt directly, but the wheels should be in a more alert stance afterwards and idk if that would affect the current alignment.

Thanks guys!

__________________
1984 Mercedes-Benz 300D

Don't even think about it.

Alrighty then, that solves that issue. Figured that was too easy. haha I do not want to skimp on that part. Just the idea of working under that spring is terrifying already, so I want to have a good tool. Any recommendations of where I could maybe rent the proper tool?

__________________
1984 Mercedes-Benz 300D

Several of us rent the proper spring compressor on the tool rental forum.

Have you measured the camber? If so, what's the angle of the wheel?

Ah, I totally missed that forum. Thanks for the heads up!

And I have not actually. Right now the wheel is off, was checking for obvious signs of wear on any of the other joints. However, they all look great. I'll get the wheel back on tonight and do my best to get a good measurement.

__________________
1984 Mercedes-Benz 300D

Just in case you are interested - I made my own (temporary) camber gauge in this thread

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/diesel-discussion/284337-how-i-adjusted-toe-out-camber-caster-my-w123-300d.html#post2539504

See post #9

Here's a picture of the parts I used



It is essentially using a plumb line and measuring the distance travelled and converting that into degrees.

NASA calibrated lasers? We don't need no stinking lasers. You can make this more accurate than a laser.

__________________
1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver
1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone
1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy!
1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing

I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior



Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits!

Thanks! I'll look over that in more detail when I get home. Dumb question, can the camber be adjusted on these cars? As in could my issue be more of an issue that I should have the alignment done to resolve? Despite the lower control arm bushings looking like they'd seen better days, I suspect they may not be that worn out.

I guess what I'm trying to find out is how much of a goofy wheel angle can be adjusted straight and at what point does it go from mal-adjustment to something that requires component replacement?

__________________
1984 Mercedes-Benz 300D

The camber is mostly adjusted at the bolt that goes through the inboard part of the lower control arm. However, when you adjust this you mess up the castor (slightly). If you look at the thread I linked you can find out more about that.

Usually the camber will be out due to worn front suspension components. Trying to adjust the suspension with worn components would be very difficult (in my opinion).

__________________
1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver
1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone
1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy!
1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing

I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior



Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits!

Ah, that makes sense. I think I may bring it to my reputable Merc indy and see what they thing about the lower control arm bushings and what could be done. If they think the bushings aren't shot, maybe I could just have them set my alignment and everything just right. I'll take some measurements before taking it to them though.

__________________
1984 Mercedes-Benz 300D

The upper Control Arms also inspected.

__________________
84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

Yeah like I said, I looked over all of the other joints and all looked well, including the upper arm. I'll have to look in the receipts and find out exactly what parts were replaced.

__________________
1984 Mercedes-Benz 300D

I do not use camber to influence the car to pull up onto the crown of the road as many shops do. I set the 116/123/126/115/107 to 0° camber in every instance, with driver in the seat when possible....

__________________
Did you just pass my 740 at 200 kmh in a 300SD?????

1978 300SD 'Phil' - 1,315,853 Miles And Counting - 1, 317,885 as of 12/27/2012 - 1,333,000 as of 05/10/2013, 1,337,850 as of July 15, 2013, 1,339,000 as of August 13, 2013



100,000 miles since June 2005 Overhaul - Sold January 25th, 2014 After 1,344,246 Miles & 20 Years of Ownership