What $56 Gets You At Your Friendly M-B Dealer!

[Strife]

I wanted to do my steering the "right" way and in this area, I was not going to compromise on shortcuts, etc. The manual says to replace the bolts to the steering box and frame, and also the Pitman nut. This may be because of the encapsulated Loctite on the parts, but I also considered that wear and stretching may come into play. Because I'm going to eventually get another car like this one for my wife, I ordered two sets of these bolts, four tie rod nuts, and 2 sets of the seals on the diff. Because of some bad experience at dealers in the past, I brought an illustrated document (illustrations from the MB manual) that I printed out at 1200DPI on a laser printer for them, so that they could identify the parts.

So, it turned out that one bolt on the steering box is different, and I got 3 of these, (needed 2), got 4 of the others, they didn't get me the Pitman nuts (no explanation), and I did get the aluminum seal (washerlike pieces of aluminum). Note that the bolts are only about 1/4" in diameter. They aren't made of titanium, monocrystalline diamond, or any other kind of unobtanium.

Total bill: $56.00!!!!

If MB's distribution and dealer system is so poor that they need to charge this much money in order to make a profit, they will not be in existence very far into the 21'st century.

Maybe I better plan on getting a few parts cars.