Thanks Gary! That's the sort of "here's how a normal person can do it" instructions I like to see!
Though your last comment of the standard looseness of the steering on a 123 kinda makes me think I'll just leave it because I'm never going to be happy with it. Especially if I were to take the time to do it right and still have it be loose. (: Levi On 11/1/06, Gary Thompson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
That's about 25mm of play according to the manual (about 1"). 40mm is too much! I cobbled together the correct tools to be able to adjust the box according to the manual on my dearly departed W123. Wasn't too hard. A piece of bar stock long enough to straddle the steering wheel, two Ubolts to bolt it onto the steering wheel, and a nut welded in the center of the bar, and you're done. An M10x25mm bolt ground to a point for the centring pin. 1) remove pitman arm 2) remove plug from gearbox and replace with home-made centering pin 2a) if wheel isn't centered with pin in box, some clod's been there before you. Fix his screw-ups before you go any further. 3) bolt home-made bar accross steering wheel 4) hang a torque wrench off the bolt in the center of home-made bar. 5) commence spinning away, measuring torque as you go. We're talking in-lbs, so you need a pretty sensitive torque wrench. I found a small torque screw driver set to just under the max torque spec to be most convenient, though most people probably don't have one. 6) make very small adjustments to box and re-measure. If torque required to spin the wheel gets too high, back off box adjustment. Be sure to measure accross full lock-to-lock steering to make sure there aren't any spots that are too tight. 7) when you think you've got everything just right, measure again just to make sure. 8) sit back with your favorite adult beverage and bask in the glow of a job well done. 9) remember to replace the pitman arm before you try to go anywhere :^) The torque curve should be a pretty bell-curve on a fresh box. As the box wears, you'll get more of a bell curve with a notch in the center. This is OK as long as the lobes of the curve don't get higher than the max spec listed in the manual. The FSM describes the whole process pretty well. Note that even adjusted dead-nuts on according to the factory procedure, I found the W123 will never be as tight or responsive as even a worn out W124! Gary Thompson 1995 E320 On 11/1/06, [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > In a message dated 11/1/2006 7:53:51 A.M. US Mountain Standard Time, > [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: > > The problem that I have had is most alignment shops do not know how to align > the W126s as a result they try to lock steering wheel pointing straight and > then do an alignment. This will usually resulting in the alignment shop > telling you that there is too much play in steering box and that it is worn > out. If they do the alignment this way and the steering box is not set > correctly it can make the car feel real funny when driving as that at some > point the steering gets slightly harder as you are turning left or right. > > Trampas _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com For new parts see official list sponsor: http://www.buymbparts.com/ For used parts email [EMAIL PROTECTED] To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
