I ended up with two new sets of 12 point sockets from Amazon to get it done. One long and one short.
The dodgiest part is jacking the LCA up to compress the spring. Be sure that you are not under it if the jack tips over. It has o e too many degrees of freedom. The parking brake spring kit is a hollow tube with an outer flange to compress the spring and a slot to catch the straight part to turn the spring. T handle. It makes that job trivial. I tried with needle nose pliers and succeeded on one side but never did get it done that way on the other side. Wish I had bought the tool sooner. The e420 needs the whole works also so I figured I would get some more use out of it someday. On Fri, Jan 17, 2020, 4:47 PM Curley McLain via Mercedes < mercedes@okiebenz.com> wrote: > Good point Max. Mine are off by about .8mm I have a piece of tin I > will make a washer from that is the right thickness. That should point > the diff in the right direction. > > More progress today. I have the rear subframe mostly assembled, out > from under the car. It is less the LCAs, springs, axles, differential, > and brake calipers. I decided it was a lot easier to put the parking > brakes together up where it was easier to see things. I turned the > subframe upside down to put in the last spring on each side, on the > bottom. It is very strong and nearly impossible to get in. But I got > them done, them put on the discs. I don't think there is any work left > that is more of a pain than the parking brakes. Monday, the lower > control arms (LCA) are supposed to be done. (New bushings in) By Wed, > I am supposed to have the tool to put new boots on the axle joints. > > IN the meantime, I can fit the assembly to the car. Less the LCAs, > axles, differential and brake calipers. All those can be put on while > the rear subframe assembly is on the car. Once the subframe is under > the car, then it will start looking like a car again, not a 2 wheeled > junker. > > I used my old method for the P. brake big springs. 2 wraps (loop)of 26 > or 28 ga copper wire (salvaged from a dead coil) around the spring hook, > then pry on that to pull the spring while shoving the spring hook into > the slot with the other hand. I still can't see how a cluster hook can > get the hook in behind the brake shoe > > I could see something like this working: > C > |_____________] because it would have an offset to get the spring > under the shoe. > > A nice thing about the kit from fcp with the 4 links for the rear > suspension: It has all new fasteners. Unfortunately they are all XZN > (triple square) and they are bigger than the Axle bolts. Fortunately, > I had a socket insert for the right size. I am going to try to find a > real socket for them and the axle bolts. My expensive snappy one broke > on the first use, and so far, I can't get snappy to replace it. (cheap > ba$$ turds) I have a whole pile of broken snappy stuff waiting for some > time I can embarrass them into replacing everything. IF HF had the > stupid ZXN sockets, I'd buy em there. (or....sorry Dan, ....even at > maynerds, if they had em) > > > > Meade Dillon via Mercedes <mailto:mercedes@okiebenz.com> > > January 8, 2020 at 7:54 AM > > Karl, Jaime: what about fine tuning the alignment of the differential, > > once > > you get to the point of connecting the driveshaft? IIRC, when I swapped > > differentials on my 124 last fall, new bushings were supposed to be > > installed with a special tool in order to get the differential aimed > > directly at the driveshaft so the entire assembly would be straight and > (I > > assume) minimize flexing at the flex disc and sideways loading on the > > bearing at the nose of the differential. I didn't have the special > factory > > tool, used a Mark 1 Mod 0 Eyeball and calipers, paid attention to > > alignment > > of the old diff and focused on getting the new diff into the same > > position. The fore/aft depth of each bushing can affect the diff > > alignment, if they are grossly different. > > ------------- > > Max > > Charleston SC > > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________ > > http://www.okiebenz.com > > > > To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ > > > > To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: > > http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com > > > > _______________________________________ > http://www.okiebenz.com > > To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ > > To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: > http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com > > _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
