The best way is to have the car on an old fashioned drive on hoist or
over a pit, and have someone move the steering wheel right to left
while you look from underneath.
Now, for something practical... If you have a helper, you can drive
the car (front) up on a stack of 2-4 2x6 or wider blocks, than have a
helper move the steering wheel. If the idler arm bushings are loose,
you will see movement of the idler arm without corresponding movement
or the right tire.
What I did was: with the front end jacked up, I moved the right tire
left and right and it felt mushy, not loose like a bad tie rod end.
So I looked under the car behind the wheel while i moved the tire
left-right, and I could see the idler arm moving up and down, not
side to side.
Other symptoms are excessive wear on the outside of the tires and
wandering, or following grooves in pavement. The same symptoms
indicate worn ball joints too. So, it is not an exclusive test, just
an indicator. All post /8 MBs tend to wear off the outer edged of
the front tires because of the steering geometry.
What's the best way to test for the need of new Idle Arm Bushings?
91 300D with 178K - steering feels pretty tight - but those things
go bad so slowly that's not always the best way to judge....
The rebuild kits from Rusty are pretty inexpensive at ~$34.
Thx
LarryT
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--------------------------------------------------
From: "Dieselhead" <126die...@gmail.com>
Sent: Thursday, April 08, 2010 11:17 PM
To: "Mercedes Discussion List" <mercedes@okiebenz.com>
Subject: Re: [MBZ] 124 ball joints.
I tried the press and whacking the LCA but no luck.
I already notice a great improvement from the rear subframe
bushings. After that, it became evident the front end was part of
the problem. I knew the ball joints needed changing, but last week
I found the steering idler arm was sloppy. It is amazing how new
bushings in the idler arm tighten up the feel of a car. This will
be really nice after I finish and get an alignment done. Should
drive like a race car then.
Does anyone know the P/N for the dust covers that are supposed to
go over the struts? I want to see if the stealer has any in the
morning.
This morning I figured out the SDL needs the steering idler bushing
too! It looks like it needs ball joints too, so I guess I will
tackle that in a week or two. I want to check the front subframe
bushings in it also, because the rear ones were not bad. It does
ride better with the new bushings. The 126 is probably the easiest
bushings I have done, of 123, 124 and 126. It helps to have
southern, (no salt) cars to work on. The 123 spent 12 or 15 years
in the salt.
You will be amazed at the difference when you get the alignment
done -- it's like a whole new car.
My "new" 300D was terribly noisy on the highway, sounded like a
bad muffler. All new bits up front and a new steering box and I
have a new car -- very quite (except all the noise from the rear
suspension now), no drift, no pulling, no vibration.
Worth every bit of the work to get there, including the steering box.
Using a press to get the ball joint out works just fine IF you
have the correct sleeve to press on the outer edge. A couple
bangs on the end of the control arm once you get some pressure on
it will start it moving, and then it's easy.
Peter
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_______________________________________
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To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/
To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to:
http://okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
_______________________________________
http://www.okiebenz.com
For new and used parts go to www.okiebenz.com
To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/
To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to:
http://okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
