i have alot of play in my steering wheel of my 1973 450se. I have the engine out of the car for repairs and i'd like to know if i can buy a kit to refresh the steering box while i have access. Does anyone have anyother suggestions while the engine is out? i already replaced the upper oil pan gasket.
AND WHAT IS A RAG JOINT in the steering shaft...there is supposed to be two that help to be replaced, what is the real name and where can i get them?

I believe a rag joint is the disc of fiber-reinforced rubber that joins the shaft sections in the steering column. I don't know the exact name, perhaps Phil can help out.

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95 E320 Cabriolet, 169K

You can't rebuild the steering box's yourself. A rebuilt one for a W126 runs about $600-$700, a new one is about $1,600.

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2016 Corvette Stingray 2LT
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

Why can he rebuild it himself. I have a 560SL that I plan to rebuild the stearing box on. Is there anything special involved. I have done quite a few american car boxes but never a MB.

John Roncallo

I have done a 123 box, but never any other MB box. It is indeed different to an American box. What I did was got a wrecking yard box on which I could do exploratory sugery. All the bearings looked good, but there was no way to adjust the end play of the sector bearings. What I did was cut shims from shim stock and got it working pretty darn good.

I have no idea if this approach would work on one of these boxes and you must realize that since there is no adjustment, it is a cut and try procedure for the most part. The 115 boxes had big adjustment nuts on them, so maybe you'll be lucky on your big bodied boxes.

Good luck,

Looking at my manual it apears that axial play of the 107 input shaft is not adjustable. It looks like the shaft axial play is controled by axial bearing play of a single ball bearing clamped into place. Therefore steering box play is most likely limited to a worn bearing, worn ball nut or shaft, pitman shaft play or pitman output shaft bearing play or the ball nut and pitman gears themselves.

I would say that a good trouble shooting procedure would be to over tighten the pitman shaft. Then have an assistant rock the wheel back and forth. Look for axial motion of the input shaft or side to side motion of the pitman output shaft. If any of these two conditions exist they should be repairable with simple bearing changes. If not a new ball nut and input shaft and maybe a pitman shaft are required. The later items would probably best be handeled by purchaseing a rebuilt unit. Its hard to say but it looks like bearing replacements can be done without special tools.

One word of caution. Just because you find play in either bearing may not limit the problem to only those bearings, so a good inspection of the rest of the parts is a good idea.

John Roncallo