Hello all,


My car is having suspension issues (vibration) and the mechanic said I need to replace the ball joint, inner tie rod and wheel bearing on the front drivers side.

I would like to do this myself if at all possible.

The service manual mentions that the spring must be removed to replace the ball joint but looking at the schematic I'm not sure if this is necessary. Does the spring need to be removed? Also, it mentions a special tool is necessary to remove the ball joint, is this necessary as well?

I realize the inner tie rods must be replaced with the entire assembly and the service manual mentions another special tool is required to remove the outer tie rods, is this tool necessary as well?


Thanks in advance for any help.

 

Have you replaced the steering damper and checked your tire condition? I was told when I first got my car that it needed the same repairs as yours, and I decided to get a second opinion. I was told and shown that they were still in perfect condition.

 

The springs need to be compressed to replace the ball joints. There is a specific special Mercedes tool to do this that has a plate that goes on the top and bottom of the spring with a center part attaching to both plates that screws in compressing the spring. You can use a generic spring compressor set that fits on the outside of the spring.

 

Yes I have new tires and new steering stabilizer ready to be installed, but there is a little play on that wheel. So one or all of the mentioned parts are worn and need to be replaced unfortunately.

 

Thanks for the help. I do not wish to buy the special tool for the spring and don't want to risk using the generic compressors as it quite dangerous. I will probably have the mechanic do it.

 

I ended up changing the tie rod assembly and the ball joint myself.

The spring does not need to be removed to remove the ball joint.

The service manual has good instructions to remove the ball joint but it is in the section to remove the steering knuckle. Follow those steps and it will be quite simple. The service manual does have great instructions to remove the tie rod assembly as well.

I bought and used Miller Tool 9168 to remove the tie rods, ironically it was of no use for the ball joint. The ball joint came right out of the control arm without much resistance but to get it out of the knuckle required quite a bit of effort. The 9168 did not fit over the bolt end of the ball joint and I couldn't use it to remove it. I ended up hitting it with a hammer a few times and it came out.