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#1
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Pirates of the Caribbean
My 83 300D is starting to creak like and old pirate ship when making slow turns. The front suspension, upper control arms anyway, looks pretty good. I don't know what to check for in the rear. I do have a set of new rear sub-frame mounts for the car but am out of time for big work this season. Any idea what this creaking might be and if it's ok to let it slide for another winter?
Car does ride and track OK, no shaking or strange behavior when beaking. Thanks. |
#2
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We've been tracking the "creaking" to ball joints. See if it does it in the garage when you push downward on the front fender.
Creaking seems to be relative to how wet or dry its been recently as the ball joints begin to fail. Don
__________________
DAILY DRIVERS: '84 300DT 298k (Aubrey's) '99.5 Jetta TDI IV 251k (Julie's) '97 Jetta TDI 127k (Amber's) '97 Jetta TDI 186k (Matt's) '96 Passat TDI 237k (Don's '84 300D 211k Mint (Arne- Undergoing Greasecar Conversion) SOLD: '82 240D 229k (Matt's - Converted-300DT w/ 4 speed |
#3
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How difficult is ball-joint replacement on this car? Is it something a general services garage could handle? Is it a do it yourself job with normal hand tools or are specialty tools needed? What else should be replaced while all is apart? The steering has been starting to feel "funny", pulls a little to one side, then i9t'll pull to the other afet a sharp turn in that direction. The caster effect also seems to be weakening somewhat. Does this suspension have upper and lower ball-joints? From what I'm saying here it does seem like it could well be the front-end getting tired. 185K and the upper control arms look new but I don't know about the rest.
Thanks. |
#4
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Check whether your ball joints still have their boots or if the boots are cracked and leaking. Chances are all the ball joints need is some new grease if they're not too worn. One of my ball joints had a missing boot and it was creaking. Like Don said you can verify this by pressing down on the car at each corner. So without removing the ball joint I raised the car, cleaned the ball joint with Super Lubricant, let it dry, then put some wheel bearing grease and resealed it with tape. No more creaking.
As far as replacing the ball joints, you need a special tool for that and it's not a simple DIY job. That funky steering is something you should investigate. Get under there or have someone inspect your suspension for loose/damaged components. You might also want to do wheel alignment.
__________________
2004 VW Jetta TDI (manual) Past MB's: '96 E300D, '83 240D, '82 300D, '87 300D, '87 420SEL |
#5
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Though you may have isolated a couple of likely suspects for the noise you're hearing, guessing and then throwing parts at the car is not the best way to go about restoring the steering function and feel. Instead, an up-close and comprehensive inspection that would include the ball joints, tie rods, drag link, idler arm, track rods and the myriad bushings throughout will identify the problem or problems and will lead you to a correct solution. The good news is that once the proper parts have been replaced the steering will feel and work as new.
__________________
Richard Detoy '84 300SD '76 Moto Guzzi 850 Le Mans |
#6
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I did have the car inspected this week. The garage I went to has a rep for being through which actually I like since I drive the car at 75 or so every day. I specifically asked that they be take a good gander at the front end parts. They were the ones told me the upper control arms and bushings were fairly new. No mention of ball-joint problems. I will do a crawl and check tomorrow for rubber boot problems. If, in fact, the ball-joints are ready for replacement will I have to go to MB for this or can a suspension shop do the job? What am I looking at ball-park here, 500, 1000 more ?? It's an important factor in that the car, although liked very much, is not truly loved if you know what I mean.
Thanks Much. PS, don't tell the car I said that :-) |
#7
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Sometimes a groaning noise that comes and goes with weather changes can be the steering idler rubber bushing. I have one now that wants to be replaced.
Cheers, Wes |
#8
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Lower balljoints are not difficult at all. I rented the tool from Performance Products and did both of mine in about 3 hours. Do a search on this. I made a lengthy post on how to do it. I am also willing to help you if you run into trouble or just need a hand. RT
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When all else fails, vote from the rooftops! 84' Mercedes Benz 300D Anthracite/black, 171K 03' Volkswagen Jetta TDI blue/black, 93K 93' Chevrolet C2500HD ExCab 6.5TD, Two-tone blue, 252K |
#9
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To do the ball joints, you can either rent the tool if you're willing to do it yourself (I've never done it so I can't comment on the difficulty), or have a shop (preferably one that knows MB) do it. The cost is mostly labor and with the parts it'd be about $300 each, that's what one shop told me once. I think it's also recommended to have wheel alignment done afterward.
__________________
2004 VW Jetta TDI (manual) Past MB's: '96 E300D, '83 240D, '82 300D, '87 300D, '87 420SEL |
#10
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Hi RT,
And thanks for the offer. I'm going to do some further poking around this upcoming weekend. The car is definitely having a problem returning the wheel to straight ahead. Sharp left turn, it'll pull a little left, sharp right a little right. Seems like something is binding. I going to check the steering box for lube and the idler arm area for any falling apart bushings. How do you tell if a ball joint's actually shot? 300 miles so far this week and the pull is there, ever so slight, but there. Once in a while it does track full straight ahead. |
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