Coil Spring Seated? w124 E320 - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

TROVERMAN · #1 07-24-2007, 07:59 AM

Hello,

We are changing control arms on our 95 E320 wagon as the ball joints are junk (one side frozen and one side loose). No spring compressor seems to fit the MB front coils well, and some don't work at all. Anyway, we got the coil out by slowly jacking down the control arm after removing the spindle, strut, tie rod, etc. With the new control arm in place, we used a strut coilover compressor to compress the spring enough to get it in the groove on the control arm. The coilover compressor is external, and doesn't allow perfect placement of the spring in the control arms seat.

So, the spring is sitting in the upper cup fine, and it is in the groove of the a-arm, but the end of the spring on the bottom is about .75" away from the stop in the control arm. Can I turn the coil spring? (It won't budge if I try to turn it with my hands) Will it slide into the stop while driving it? Any suggestions for the other side?

Thanks in advance...

gmercoleza · #2 07-24-2007, 09:12 AM

The end of the spring needs to be perfectly seated in that end-stop. You won't be able to rotate the spring - too much friction resistance. Just disassemble everything and do it again. FYI you don't need to use the coilover compressors at all, I did the exact same job without them. Just be sure not to tighten the eccentric (camber) bolts until everything is reassembled and the suspension is under load.

TROVERMAN · #3 07-26-2007, 08:48 AM

Thanks for the reply--

The driver's side went more smoothly and the spring seated perfectly. We drove the car last night and now the tires seem way out of alignment--squealing all the time and the steering wheel is now at an angle to drive straight.

The pass side spring is still about 1/2" away from the stop and hasn't moved, so probably not going to worry about it.

Its ridiculous you can't change ball joints w/o changing entire control arm.