not too easy to open these steering boxes, is it! it took me a few days, Stretch's classic photo thread, and getting my workbench quite oily before i had it apart. a couple of ball bearings, and the worm gear, looked bad. looking back, i must have gotten it in the jammed state, wondered why tightening it wasn't working, and overtightened. not sure that normal use could ever cause this. anyway, lesson learned -- installing that thing without a helper sucked! but it drives great again now.

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'77 240D, 504H, OM617.952, etc.

Wow. Are you saying that overtightening caused the breaks in the gear as shown in your pic?

i figured i must be to blame -- if there was some other problem happening, i don't know what it was. hard to imagine this occurring gradually, isn't it?

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'77 240D, 504H, OM617.952, etc.

It is.

Its hard to imagine what could cause that breakage at all to me...???

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

Perhaps a hard curb hit?

Overtightening usually causes the ball bearings to become dented. I've never seen them eat a worm gear!

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Onus probandi incumbit ei qui dicit, non ei qui negat

I recondition w123/w126/w124/w140/r107/r129/ steering boxes!


1984 300D "Elsa" odo reset 6/2011 147k
1983 300TD "Mitzi" ~268k OM603 powered
1995 E300 "Adelheid" 262k [Sold]

Yuk!

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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!