Replacing Control Arm Bushing seals - HELP!

[blairwag]

As part of my repair nightmare this weekend (see other post), I noticed the flexible rubber bushing sealing rings appeared damaged, on the front upper and lower control arms. All four rings, on both left and right sides seem the have the same problem - they seem split - as if they cover about 5/6 of the pivot arm.

Here's a couple of pictures of two of them:
Download Attachment: IMG0529.jpg
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Download Attachment: IMG0527.jpg
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I suspect these things should be intact, and cover the pivot arm all the way around, no?

Question: Can I replace these, one at a time, by supporting the vehicle and/or wheel, and just remove the Threaded bush (which has the grease nipple on it), install new seal, and reinstall the threaded bush???  Or, do I have to remove the entire control arm???

In case I've not indicated these sealing rings correctly:

The Chilton Repair & Tuneup giuds 68-73 manual calls these things "Rubber sealing rings" (Fig. Lower/Upper control Arm & pivot shaft, pg 226).

The Haynes MB 230,250,280 68-72 Owners Workshop Manual calls these things "Flexible bushes" (Fig. 11.23 & 11.24, pg. 189).

The BBB calls these things "Rubber Sealing Rings" (Fig. 33-4/1 & 33-4/2, pg. 33-4/1).

--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
William Blair Wagner: blairwag@earthlink.net
Education is not always knowing the answer,
...but rather knowing where to look for it!
1971 280SL US Automatic
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[ja17]

Hello William,
Yes these rings should be solid. They can be a real project to change. When you unscrew the threaded cap the tension from the spring will move the suspension a-arm out of alignment Making it very difficult to re-install the threaded fitting cap. Bob Possel just struggled through this job I believe.

I have an idea for a interum repair. Clean the grease off the joint, buy some new seals (they are inexpensive), cut them once so they can be installed, supper glue them back together, grease the suspension! Let us know if this works. Supper glue is a permenant joiner on rubber parts. It is used to  make rubber o-rings etc.

Replace the seals with solid ones someday when the suspension is apart!

Joe Alexander
Blacklick, Ohio

[enochbell]

ja is the master of understatement with his caution that this job can be a pain.  I am in the middle of this job, and I think that after I got everything apart someone went out to my garage and bent everything every so slightly to make my job of reassembly impossible.

Seriously,

Renewing the outer CA bushings is fairly straightforward, your challenge will be reshimming the king pin for proper float when the new lower bushing is installed.  I had another challenge, but I think it was of my own doing: when reinstalling the lower bushing the threaded bolt that goes through the holes in the lower control arm did not want to go back properly.  I now need to remove the entire lower arm to realign these holes.  My advice here is to be very careful and jack the car well inboard of the ends of the CA.  

The inner CA is a whole different story, as you will need to remove the road spring and, as ja cautions, it will be a challenge to realign when you are ready to reassemble.  I am going to find out just how much of a challenge today.

Best of luck,

greg

'64 230sl, fully sorted out...ooops, spoke too soon

[bpossel]

Hi William,

I have several of my inner control arm bushings that are missing.  I cleaned all of the old grease off and have re-greased all of them.

I tried to do what Joe suggested and did not have any luck.  In other words, I tried to install one of the new rubber sleeves by cutting it with a razor blade, then gluing it with Super Glue.  The problem that I ran into was that I could not stretch the rubber sleeve all of the way around the control arm end in order to have the 2 ends of the sleeve mate and glue.  So, it appears that when you install the new rubber sleeves, as designed, they fit very snug, tight over each end of the control arms.  Almost like very tight rubber bands.  Again, these just protect the outer ends from dirt getting in.

So….  My temporary solution….  Keep the control arm ends clean and grease every few months.  Some day, I will take all apart and do this the right way….

If you or anyone figures out a better solution, please let me know.

Thanks,
Bob  


bpossel
Memphis, TN.
1971 280SL
1997 E320

[blairwag]

Hummm, so you think that the car can live on without replacing these sealing rights right away?  Mine are all nasty and dirty.  I'll clean them up as much as possible then (pardon the expression) grease the piss out of them. From the looks of it all, I'm not sure it's a job I want to attempt without a hydrolic car lift. 2 foot jackstands in the house garage just doesn't seem to cut it for this job!

--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
William Blair Wagner: blairwag@earthlink.net
Education is not always knowing the answer,
...but rather knowing where to look for it!
1971 280SL US Automatic
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[George Davis]

How about wrapping the seals with plastic food wrap, or thin sheet rubber, or even electrical tape and securing with a couple of ny-ties gently snugged up around the wrap?

George Davis
'69 280 SL Euro manual

[German Dude]

I found one of my sealing rings split and decided to go for an interim solution: I put a tiny cable binder around it. It's been there for a year, snug and tight, and from what I read about replacing it I guess it might stay there for a long time...

Juergen
64 230SL #2933, 4sp, signal red, white hard top
93 Citroen XM station wagon

[blairwag]

Now we're talkin' turkey!
What is a "tiny cable binder", and how dod you install it.  I'm definitely thinking something like this, or George's idea of electrical tape with nylon tie wraps. I never would have thought it possible or even acceptible to attempt such a hokey thing - but after reading, I'm all for it - if it'l work!


--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
William Blair Wagner: blairwag@earthlink.net
Education is not always knowing the answer,
...but rather knowing where to look for it!
1971 280SL US Automatic
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[bpossel]

I really want to install new rubber rings (seals) on my car and do it the right way!

I think the real trick to making this project doable is to have the special tool that is mentioned in the BBB.  It looks like it keeps the arm in place while you remove the outer nuts.  If the arm stays in place, it would seem that you could just slide the new rings on?

Does anyone have this tool, or has anyone ever made this tool?  I think Jeff made something, but not sure if it kept the arm on?
BP.

bpossel
Memphis, TN.
1971 280SL
1997 E320

[bpossel]

I started thinking again about this after seeing the post come to the surface this morning...

I looked in the Haynes manual, and on page 187 it talks about removing the front springs.  Based on their process, it makes it look easy!???

Once the pressure is off of the lower control arm, one should be able to replace the rubber seals.  I wonder if reinstalling the lower control arm back in position (realigning in order to get the outer nuts back on) is as simple as just rejacking the arm back up?
BP

bpossel
Memphis, TN.
1971 280SL
1997 E320

[enochbell]

The tool (guides) # is 120.589.01.31 and if you find it, bp, I would sure like to stand in line for next use.  I have the same issue with inner CA bushings but pulled up short of renewing the seals out of respect for the the road springs: the might as well be a loaded gun in my opinion.  If the tool is not too outrageous, I would be glad to share the cost.

Keep us posted,

g

'64 230sl, fully sorted out...ooops, spoke too soon

[JimVillers]

BP ..... Removing the spring and lower control arm is easy.  I do not have the Haynes manual but I replaced my front springs this week without any difficulty.  Jack the car up high and set it on jack stands.  With a floor jack, lift the lower control arm to take tension off of the kingpin.  Remove the lower bushing (large bolt with the cotter keyed nut) then lower the jack to release the spring and lower control arm.  Installation is the reverse.  Check that the top of the spring seats correctly against the rubber bumper.  Threading the lower bushing can be tricky; first check that it will thread through both sides of the control arm (I need to squeeze the end to get the treads to align).  Jack the lower arm so that it aligns with the kingpin, insert the rubber bushings and reassemble.

I really would not worry about the seals as they appear in the pictures.  They just keep a little grease against the bushing so that it doesn't rust.  There appears to be plenty of grease so you should not be too concerned.

Jim Villers
190SL, 230SL 5-Speed, 190E 2.3-16 Kompressor

[German Dude]

Regarding the cable binder:

I attached a pic I found on the net - I hope it works. Maybe you would call these things cable tie, I am not quite sure. If you can see the pic you will know what I was talking about.

Best,


Juergen
64 230SL #2933, 4sp, signal red, white hard top
93 Citroen XM station wagon

[blairwag]

Hey Juergen,
I don't see the picture attached. Can you try again. Any chance of the picture showing the cable tie in place?


--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
William Blair Wagner: blairwag@earthlink.net
Education is not always knowing the answer,
...but rather knowing where to look for it!
1971 280SL US Automatic
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[German Dude]

William,
the pic I tried to attach showed a cable binder I had found on google just punching in "cable binder". It really is one of these dime a dozen articles - you see police use the sturdy big version of them as makeshift handcuffs on these tv cop shows.

Given my pic-posting abilities, I will try to take a pic of the binder in place. Be patient though and don't count on it...

It really is the simplest of operations once you have the binder visualized - you simply sling it around the bushing and tighten it.

Best,

Juergen
64 230SL #2933, 4sp, signal red, white hard top
93 Citroen XM station wagon