Any precausion I have to take when removing the inner tie rod? I am going to replace the whole outer and inner tie rod, including the plastic bellow. The WIS instruction seems easy to me, just wanted to double check.

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98 ML320 (gone but not forgotten)

If you have WIS that info is straight-forward...as you say "easy".

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MERCEDES Benz Master Guild Technician (6 TIMES)
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thank you Doc.

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98 ML320 (gone but not forgotten)

Any chance you can post or share the WIS with me? Thank you.

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Jim

Doc, 2 questions...

1. I got all the parts for this job, there is a pouch of grease that came with the tie rod boot, what is that for? do I grease the inner tie rod with that pouch of grease?

2. The WIS instruction indicates the flat point to hold the steering rack steady is only on the left side, with this, I suppose I will have to jack up the whole front end to do this job? since I cannot just do one side at a time due to the need to hold the rack steady?

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98 ML320 (gone but not forgotten)

The job took me 4 hours. The outer tie rods are forever stuck to the inner tie rods, I was not able to slack the lock nut to free the outer tie rods. Since I was replacing the whole inner and outer tie rod, it didn't matter to me. I had to cut the tie rod boot open and just removed the inner+outer tie rods in one piece.

The inconvenient part was that I had to lay down on the cold garage floor under the front end of the ML that is held by 4 jack stands (2 would have been enough, but I put 1 more on each side as a back up, just in case). There is only one flat end on the steer rack (on the driver's side) to hold it steady while unscrewing the inner tie rod out, so it was a bit awkward when doing the passenger side as I had to lay down on the floor and spread my arms out across the width of the steering rack. The big old pipe wrench was my best friend last night!!!
Anyhow, the truck is in the shop for new tires and alignment. I look forward to having another 5 years of driving pleasure. Sorry, I didn't take any pictures as my hands were awfully dirty doing the job.

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98 ML320 (gone but not forgotten)