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Front suspension lower arm rebuild.

Started by WGB, 01 March 2009, 01:21 AM

Big_Richard

Quote from: WGB on 02 March 2009, 06:24 PM
Rang up "The Star Shop" and spoke to Adrian - who I don't know - as Herbert was out.

Yes they have the press tool for the guide joint so will be driving up to see them tomorrow.

Bill

From what TJ tells me, you aren't allowed to supply your own parts there, or, they attach their markup onto it anyway, sounds kinda like eastern states service. If you get away with labour only, you must be on very good terms with the proprietor.  ;) In which case, i reckon we should give all our stuff to bill so he can pretend its his and take it in  8)

s class

They will suddenly think he's bought a whole lot more 116's


[color=blue]'76 6.9 Euro[/color], [color=red]'78 6.9 AMG[/color], '80 280SE, [color=brown]'74 350SE[/color], [color=black]'82 500SEL euro full hydro, '83 500SEL euro full hydro [/color], '81 500SL

TJ 450

Adrian was looking after the re-booting of my half-shafts and yes, what PB says about my experience is correct. Regardless, I was impressed with the shafts, although the service did not exceed my expectations as much as I would like to have expected.

Tim
1976 450SEL 6.9 1432
1969 300SEL 6.3 1394
2003 ML500

WGB

Anyway the steering knuckles and new ball joints are sitting in the back of the ML - we'll see what tomorrow brings.

Bill

robertd

Hey Bill,

what's going on in the west? must be something in the water with all this work being carried out on 116 suspensions and all this talk on KY jell

Cheers
Rob
116   1978 450SEL 6.9 #  4848
116   1979 450SEL  6.9 # 5884
116   1979 450SEL  6.9 # 6225  SOLD
116   1978 450SEL  6.9 # 5128  SOLD
116   1979 450SEL  6.9 # 5884  SOLD
116   1974 450SEL  DJet

oscar

You should use lignocaine gel Bill and be more persuasive with a mallet to get the last of the bushes in.  They wont feel the pounding and they wont hold a grudge against you afterwards  ;D

I'm glad you've posted all this up.  It was easy enough doing upper arms on the 280 and I was impressed with the difference they alone made but I was surprised when I took the it in for an alignment and asked them to check the lower bushes they said they were fine.  They're not.  If the rubber's perished on the outside lips I can imagine how crappy they are inside.
1973 350SE, my first & fave

WGB

Quote from: robertd on 04 March 2009, 04:25 AM
Hey Bill,

what's going on in the west? must be something in the water with all this work being carried out on 116 suspensions and all this talk on KY jell

Cheers
Rob

I think you think you're missing something. ::)

Quote from: oscar on 04 March 2009, 04:36 AM
You should use lignocaine gel Bill and be more persuasive with a mallet to get the last of the bushes in.  They wont feel the pounding and they wont hold a grudge against you afterwards  ;D


Art Love on the M-100 site (who is a Thoracic Surgeon) said the lignocaine could numb my fingers for when the mallet slipped. Anyway the Lubricating Jelly (in individual satchets - for sensitive use) worked a treat and the new bushes just slipped in.

The top bushes are very easy to replace while the bottoms are a bit more of a challenge - cars with springs will need care or a proper spring compressor.

I have handed over my steering knuckles and new "Guide Joints" to Herbert and for what I considered a very reasonable sum he said he will do them on Saturday and my wife will pick them up after the weekend as we are going away for a few days.

WA "True Believers" can PM me for more details if they wish but I avoided Adrian and stuck to Herbert who probably gave me "mates rates".

He said there is approximately 30 minutes labour in each joint - I hadn't removed the old ones and gave him the whole job to do.

On the way home I stopped in at Diesel Motors and ordered four new locking nuts for the rear adjustable bolts and the yoke bolts - $44 - I had already ordered a pair of replacement adjustable bolts with nuts from autohausaz.com previously. Not really needed as all the bolts were in good condition.

Bill

WGB

#22
My wife picked up my Steering knuckles today from Herbert.

New ball joints are fitted and only one visible hammer mark.

The new joints feel absolutely rigid - unable to move by hand pressure at all.

Here is a close up view of one new joint from the top



This is a close up view of the bottom showing the new joint (with assembly grease still present) visible through the bottom "ring" of the steering knuckle.



I am really looking forward to putting this all together and seeing if it gives the expected improvement in steering feel and response.

I am also going to try and replace the rear diagonal arm bushes using RonB's suggestion on the M-100 site of only releasing the rear end of the subframe and dropping it far enough to remove the outer pair of bolts.

Bill


WGB

Doesn't seem to be much interest in this but for the sake of the record I have reassembled all the main suspension components but not torqued it all up.

The front lower inner joints are (understatement here) difficult to get into position and lined up with the added difficulty of limited space for putting in the eccentric bolts.

The left front bush I forced in with a jack and then used a crowbar to manouvre it but the right side would not fit at all as the finished bush was a couple of mm longer than the hole into which it was supposed to fit.

Anyway after 4 hours of fiddling and farting and "adjusting" it finally pushed into place with the jack and crowbar method. I then knocked the old eccentric bolt through from the rear to the front to line it up before pushing the new eccentric bolt back the other way.

The parts book shows the front eccentric bolt is pushed in from the front and the rear from the back but I'm sure they will work whichever way they fit.

There was nothing wrong with my old eccentric bolts but I replaced them anyway as well as using all new locknuts.

The yoke bolts slipped in with no problems whatsoever but pushing in the rear eccentric bolts (From rear to front in direction) is a bit tight for space and the yoke bearing has to be dropped a cm or two to allow the rear bolts to get started, then the yoke bnolt can be pushed home.

Anyway I hope we are now back to the "walk in the Park" stage.

Bill


TJ 450

Excellent, Bill.

It will be very interesting when you get to the test-drive phase, as to the element of "new car" feel.

Tim
1976 450SEL 6.9 1432
1969 300SEL 6.3 1394
2003 ML500

koan


Have you looked at the upper control arms WGB?

When I did this job I kept the old ones rather than install the alloy arms I bought.

The old ones felt tight but a clunk has developing.

I assume the alloy parts are strong enough if they are what M-B offer as a replacement - but why did 6.9s have steel arms in the first place then?

koan
Boogity, Boogity, Boogity, Amen!

WGB

Quote from: koan on 14 March 2009, 02:53 PM

Have you looked at the upper control arms WGB?

When I did this job I kept the old ones rather than install the alloy arms I bought.

The old ones felt tight but a clunk has developing.

I assume the alloy parts are strong enough if they are what M-B offer as a replacement - but why did 6.9s have steel arms in the first place then?

koan

I did my upper arms and bushes a year ago. One was an original cast-iron one in perfect condition and the other was a worn out alloy one.

I purchased a reconditioned cast iron one as replacement as that seemed a stronger option and it is still in perfect tight condition.

Bill

koan

Quote from: WGB on 14 March 2009, 07:40 PM
I purchased a reconditioned cast iron one as replacement as that seemed a stronger option and it is still in perfect tight condition.

I thought I'd seen reference to reconditioned arms somewhere but didn't think it possible.

Can I ask where they came from and what sort of cost?

koan
Boogity, Boogity, Boogity, Amen!

WGB


WGB

Didn't quite get the job finished on Sunday night so finished off (thought I had anyway) and stopped to take this photo for Koan of my reconditioned right upper arm.



This produced one of those "buggar" moments when I noticed that I had caught the boot on assembly and there was a small pinhole in the rubber.

I sent my "She who must be obeyed" on a wild goose chase around Perth trying to find another without success so after 12 hours of work followed by an hour at the Pistol Club I removed the upper arm from my parts car and swapped the boot.

I first of all reassembled the holed boot on the parts car arm for practice and when I had worked out a technique for replacing that very tight holding spring I then fitted the intact boot onto the 6.9 arm.

Here is a photo of the new front lower arm bush in position



And here is a photo showing the rear lower arm bush - not yet torqued up.



When the car was dropped onto it's wheels there was quite noticeable negative camber and extreme toe-out visible and when I took the car for a short drive (at midnight) it was only barely controllable up to 40 Km/hr because as soon as you turned the steering off centre the car would leap to that side of the road and over smooth tar the tyres were shreaking.

Had a wheel alignment done today (which was the reason for the rush) and the drive home was marvellous.

It has that responsive feel to the steering that only a well set up M-B has and the suspension is much more supple and has lost the previous harshness over sharp bumps.

It now steers equally happily left and right but I will take it for a proper drive tomorrow.

Didn't get the rear diagonal arm bushes done this trip but it will be the next job.

Bill