bust balljoint w124

[hardtop]

tonight on the way home my balljoint gaveway at low speed lucky as i use the m-way a mile down the road it gave no sign of a prob and was checked only 2 months ago so it was a shock the recovery guy said it might do body damage getting it on the wagon but i said go for it as i had moved it off the road but the old thing stood up to it no probs with a wheel jamed on the wheelarch & b-wishbone on the road the wing took the stress if it was my honda it would be a wreck .the guy said he had never seen this on a 124 has anyone heard of this happen

 

[Bolide]

It's not that common but every W124 with more than about 170k / 12 years old should have both of them replaced

It's quite difficult to tell they're worn unless you know what you're looking for and have the car on a ramp. The tell-tale signs for drivers are creaking noises at walking pace when going over bumps and when turning the steering wheel

£13 each

Nick Froome
www.w124.co.uk

 

[hardtop]

It's not that common but every W124 with more than about 170k / 12 years old should have both of them replaced

It's quite difficult to tell they're worn unless you know what you're looking for and have the car on a ramp. The tell-tale signs for drivers are creaking noises at walking pace when going over bumps and when turning the steering wheel

£13 each

Nick Froome
www.w124.co.uk

hi its a 93 with 149k dont know if its been done prior to me getting it at 100k i did have 18in alloys with 225 tyres so prob helped it on its way but such is life but at £13 a pop not the end of the world

 

[Mikesmerc]

Very same happened to my88 230e snapped off doing about 15mph turning off the main road, was doing 60-70 seconds previously, got lucky.
Mike

 

[Juddian]

Nostalgia alert......when i were a lad.... we had grease nipples on such components and they'd last forever, or at least until some lazy blighter couldn't be bothered to give the grease gun a few strokes.

If its a 24valve motor they'll be slightly more than £13 by the way.

 

[kth286]

Nostalgia alert......when i were a lad.... we had grease nipples on such components and they'd last forever, or at least until some lazy blighter couldn't be bothered to give the grease gun a few strokes.

If its a 24valve motor they'll be slightly more than £13 by the way.

YES - well over £200 for the complete wishbone assembly from Mercedes for the 320 model. The joint is a welded part of the whole assembly - but should last another 15 years or so.

 

[wireman]

Those graese nipples were deleted when better steels, lubricants and precision manufacture became the materials and method of choice for these parts, when I wer a lad if you got 100k out of a whole car you had done well. The unwiped entry hole in a grease nipple (and you cant wipe it) allows a tiny bit of crap to enter the joint at every greasing, doing this every 3000/6000 miles made the joints wear out with boring monotony.

As is often said they dont make em like they did, and thats because we the customer had a lot of complaints about the life of the product. If they were so good what ever happened to them all?

 

[hardtop]

i just got the ball joint cost £13ish & fitted myself had some greef getting the old one out but not bad fitting the new one the sad thing is i just sorned my conv for winter at the start of sep so had to tax it and miss most of the month as the wife needed our honda for a hospital apointment so used it one day & back in its garage for winter so the real cost was £120 but when the next bit falls off am ready

 

[Mercedes 190E]

Hardtop
I think my joints need doing too. It would be really helpful if you could give me any tips on how you did it. I have done balljoints on other cars, but only just got the Merc and the Haynes manual doesnt even show them!!

 

[hardtop]

hi you need to press for this type i made do with a large clamp and a spacer ring to get the new one in but the hard part is the getting old one out as mine was in two parts i just knocked out the insides to leave a outer steel ring then cut two slots and knocked it out with hammer as it was rusted in solid but have a look at this it shows how to do it diy with the puka tool http://www.mercedesshop.com/Wikka/W124BallJoint

 

[Mercedes 190E]

Thanks for that-a great link. I think the job is a bit beyond my skills, but I do have a mate who runs a garage who can do it for me-it does look quite straightforward with the right tools.

 

[tobyd]

Hi,
I had the off side ball joint go on my 500E when I had it. Was lucky as the car stopped in a straight line despite doing about 70mph (I'd just come off the motorway when I had been doing over 100mph). The wheel dropped into the arch and locked bringing it to a noisy and rubber smoked stop.
The front joints in my 91.000 mile E280 estate are starting to squeak so will get them replaced in jan at the annual service along with the rear pull arms that are worn.
By the way the 500 needed £2200 of work to get back in shape!

 

[Cole@MBS]

Ah, that was a cheap repair then!!

 

[roofless]

Hi,
I had the off side ball joint go on my 500E when I had it. Was lucky as the car stopped in a straight line despite doing about 70mph (I'd just come off the motorway when I had been doing over 100mph). The wheel dropped into the arch and locked bringing it to a noisy and rubber smoked stop.
The front joints in my 91.000 mile E280 estate are starting to squeak so will get them replaced in jan at the annual service along with the rear pull arms that are worn.
By the way the 500 needed £2200 of work to get back in shape!

i was just pulling away at the time so was lucky as no other damage was done

 

[Alex M Grieve]

It's not that common but every W124 with more than about 170k / 12 years old should have both of them replaced It's quite difficult to tell they're worn unless you know what you're looking for and have the car on a ramp. The tell-tale signs for drivers are creaking noises at walking pace when going over bumps and when turning the steering wheel

I had the same problem with my 129 @ 50,000 and 13 years of age. Nick's description above was absolutely spot on. Man from the Indy diagnosed it over the phone on this point. Bill was £13.75 for the part, £90 to fit, which I think is 2 hours, all plus VAT of course.

I was fortunate in that the noise preceded any failure.

 

[television]

Just a no use piece of info,, they go when starting off as the front of the car lifts, allowing it to come out, this is in the worst case

 

[stevekew]

tonight on the way home my balljoint gaveway at low speed lucky as i use the m-way a mile down the road it gave no sign of a prob and was checked only 2 months ago so it was a shock the recovery guy said it might do body damage getting it on the wagon but i said go for it as i had moved it off the road but the old thing stood up to it no probs with a wheel jamed on the wheelarch & b-wishbone on the road the wing took the stress if it was my honda it would be a wreck .the guy said he had never seen this on a 124 has anyone heard of this happen

Had very similar thing happen to me; suspension had been creaking for a bit, but no fault visible, and creaking had stopped. Drove a few miles, parked for 10 mins, and when I came to go, ball joint had collapsed. 230k miles though. Lucky I was not moving. Now replacing both and anything else that moves!

 

[ben12345]

When my girlfriend got her w201, I noticed that both bottom balljoint boots were split.

We purchased both lower wishbones, which came prefitted with the new ball joints and also new bushes.
The old bushes looked original and were showing signs of cracking anyway.

They were something like £50 per side from ECP, and didn't take long to fit either.

 

[Bolide]

I last posted on this thread on 22/9/2008. One year down the line I am finding balljoint replacement is needed quite frequently on cars I buy

You can have a car with full Mercedes history that has just been serviced & MOT but that signifies nothing - they may still need replacing

If you have a W124 or W201 please have your balljoints checked in the next few days. Have a W124 expert do it, not your local garage

Symptoms are irregular front tyre wear, particularly feathered & worn edges, creaking over speedhumps and creaking when applying lock at low speeds

Nick Froome
www.w124.co.uk

 

[syncropaddy]

Just about to tackle this job so this post and link was well timed. Where do I get a ball joint removal tool like the one in the link?