126 Guide Rod Support Suspension Bearing Bracket - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

JamesDean · #1 08-22-2010, 08:57 PM

Hey everyone,

For all of you who've done the guide rods on their 126's, Should you replace the bearings that are in the support bracket?

These guys:
http://www.*********.com/catalog/1982/mercedes/300sd/suspension/bearing_bracket_bushing.html

Into this guy:
http://www.*********.com/catalog/1982/mercedes/300sd/suspension/suspension_bearing_bracket.html

Chad300tdt · #2 08-22-2010, 09:02 PM

I just did my guide rod mounts, bushings and suspension bearing bracket bushings this week.

I would replace them while the bracket is off the car unless they were already replaced recently.

JamesDean · #3 08-22-2010, 11:21 PM

Alright, makes sense to me. They arent THAT pricey. Hoping to get a few more years out of this car..maybe 3-5. Its rusting pretty bad. Im gonna do some patch work in a few weeks but not really sure.

rsmartin · #4 09-25-2010, 02:39 PM

i'm thinking i may be in a little over my head.

attempting replacement of track rod mount ball joint. bushings and mount was replace only a couple years ago, but the ball joint is obviously shot as it moves in and out when moving the car back and forth while braking.

So i'm trying to pull the lower control arm forward with a 1 ton heavy tie down strap as i'm unscrewing the track rod from the mount. am i courting disaster here? my CD says you don't have to remove the spring but i think i'm at the point where i've got it screwed out of the track rod but can't seem to really pull the LCA forward more.

should i have loosened the bearing carrier first?

if i loosen the bearing carrier and separate the track rod from the ball joint, what's going to happen?

whunter · #5 09-25-2010, 04:04 PM

Suspension Bearing Bracket guide rod mount replacement
on the 1985 300SD
http://www.peachparts.com/Wikka/W126GuideRodMount

rsmartin · #6 09-25-2010, 05:07 PM

thank you for that. what luck i'm having on all these suspension repairs. if it wasn't all torn apart, i think i'd just haul it off to a pro. at least i'll appreciate their work more from now on!!

So what do you use to press in the guide rod joint?

i thought i had all this done a couple years ago so i didn't order the bushings but turns out metal ring in the front bushing is broken and the rear one is cracked. this whole mess definitely solves the question of what was making the crunching sound at my left foot when braking. not only was the rod joint bad, but the whole thing was probably moving around based on the broken bushing and how chewed up the rubber is.

it's also really oily because i had a power steering hose leak. that's fixed, but i'm still getting power steering fluid leading somewhere. seems to be coming from the steering box somewhere.

this car only has 91K miles on it, 38K i put on in the last two years. but i guess time is the enemy, not mileage.

i think i need to find a shop somewhere that will help me get these bushings and rod joint pressed in.

JamesDean · #7 09-25-2010, 06:48 PM

I seem to be stuck with this project.

I am in the process of dropping the support bearing bracket..and the nuts have torn off the tab things and are just spinning around inside the housing. I can't get a wrench in there to do anything...

Suggestions?

Chad300tdt · #8 09-25-2010, 07:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JamesDean

I seem to be stuck with this project.

I am in the process of dropping the support bearing bracket..and the nuts have torn off the tab things and are just spinning around inside the housing. I can't get a wrench in there to do anything...

Suggestions?

Stick a big screwdriver in the slot to wedge against the tab piece.

JamesDean · #9 09-25-2010, 07:23 PM

I'l have to give that a try. I removed the broken part of the tab piece. So the only thing left is the nut.

The same thing happened to the inner mount. However it doesnt have a nice large openeing on the outside. I think it's is on the inside.

I'll give that a shot tomorrow. For tomorrow, I assault the car with wire/grinding/cutting wheels.

hey_allen · #10 09-26-2010, 05:20 AM

Well, I had two of my keeper nuts do the same thing, and got a bit barbaric in my solution to the problem.

I ended up cutting off the top of the bolt below the guide rod mount bracket, allowing me to remove the whole assembly.
Then I sliced the bolt off as close to the chassis as I could, before pushing it up into the hole it's hanging down through.
The barbaric item is that I had to open the top of the little opening that holds the end of the outer tab in place, to let the old bolt come out. I used a small reciprocating saw with a metal cutting blade to cut an arch in the top of that opening, rather than it being rectangular as it started. With a little fiddling and a pair of needle nose pliers, I was able to fish the stub of the bolt and the nut out of the suspension cavity.
(A note here: I touched up the cut edges with rust preventing paint to hopefully keep any rust from starting in the area that I disturbed during this mess.)

This was a royal pain, and I probably wouldn't have done it this way if I hadn't had a few spare parts on hand from my parts car.

Knowing what I know now, I might have just attempted to change the guide rod mount in place on the car, though I'm not sure of the clearances behind it while it's installed.

Once it was all done and told, it made an amazing difference in the ride of the car, so well worth the trouble in my book.

Randy · #11 09-27-2010, 10:59 AM

I did this to my '86 420 right after I got it. I used a rachet strap to pull the lower control arm a little forward. I don't remember having to press anything in or out. All I had was basic tools.I removed the cast aluminum bracket, and I got a kit I think from one of the vendors on this site, and it had all the parts. I counted the number of turns needed to unscrew the arm, and put it back with the same number of turns. I haven't had any trouble and that was about 7 years ago.

rsmartin · #12 10-17-2010, 09:03 PM

well i finally got around to finishing replacing the rubber bearing and the guide rod ball joint...

hope i didn't make a mistake. i sprayed some white lithium grease inside the bearing carrier prior to pounding the joint in hoping it would go in easier... it went in pretty well.. i used a piece of 3" pcv pipe and hammed the joint in as the service manual says to hammer on the outside flange, so that's what i did... it's all back together...

again, hoping a little white lithium grease won't hurt

the rubber bushings i did by making my own tool sorta fashioned after the factory tool.. used a 6" threaded bolt and some big washers along with the 3" pcv pipe to pull the old rubber bearing out. had to cut off the rubber flange around the edge to expose the metal of the bearing carrier. pressed the new ones back in with with the same threaded rod and two metal pipe flanges as my clamp... coated the rubber with some grease first for lubrication.

hope it works. getting ready to do the otherside... if you want any pics... maybe i can take some when i do the other side.