FOR SALE Late style front LCAs (used) $200 plus shipping

[J. M. van Swaay]

Left and Right front lower control arms. TRW, I believe these are the original TRWs as manufactured for MB, not the later offshore aftermarket production. (If anyone can see from the pictures that this is not the case please advise and I will remove this for sale post and throw them in the trash…). The ball joints are very tight. There are some scrapes on the bottoms, looks like they were driven over a curb, but I believe these to be very serviceable. I would recommend fitting new rubber bushings and ball joint boots prior to installation.

I recently completed a front end refresh on my E500, I sourced some used parts on EBay. At the time, I needed just one side but I bought two on EBay and planned to use the best one. Both that I received were serviceable, and I used one of them. I then bought the other side from the same EBay seller and was planning to use them for my E320. I have since sold that car so now I have a serviceable set that I no longer need.

 

[J. M. van Swaay]

Pictures of the scrapes on the bottom coming soon. Thought I had them when I posted this but I don’t. I’ll take them and post when I get home again…)

 

[lzamora]

So these are the same for all W124s?

 

[J. M. van Swaay]

Forgot one other thing, if you are contemplating this job you will need a spring compressor. I bought the cheap offshore tool, I’ll include it for an additional $75.00. You can either keep the tool and I’ll keep your $75.00 or you can send the tool back (you pay shipping) and I’ll refund your $75.00.

 

[J. M. van Swaay]

There are two styles for the 124, early and late. I’m not 100% sure but I think you can use late on a car that originally had early but not vice versa. If you have the early you are probably better off buying brand new genuine MB ball joints and bushings and refurbishing your existing arms. (The early arms have replaceable ball joints, the late arms do not). Do a search for lower control arms, everything is well documented on this site

 

[gsxr]

JM, can you post a photo of the underside of the ball joint area? That will confirm if the are OE MB or aftermarket.

 

[J. M. van Swaay]

Pictures of the bottom. I dressed the scrapes with a file and some sandpaper mostly to see if there were any deep gouges. I believe the scrapes are surface only. I was planning to touch these up with some black paint and use them on my beater/daily driver E320 but as I mentioned, I sold the car.

 

[geraniumtr]

Folks, in case anyone is interested in buying these control arms and rebuilding them with new bushings be aware of the costs involved.
I recently found an OE arm and replaced the bushings. The parts kit is no longer available. You must buy each bushing individually; list is $165. Even with my employee discount it cost me $100 per.


Regards,

Peter

 

[gsxr]

JM, I believe those are aftermarket LCA's. I'm not seeing the OE Star logo and casting numbers typically found near the ball joint area (see below), plus the design of the ball joint bottom cap matches aftermarket. Also check for MB part numbers and Star logo on the rubber bushings, if those are missing, this is another indication of aftermarket. Additional photos comparing OE+aftermarket are here.

@geraniumtr - I didn't realize both early and late "standard" bushing kits went NLA from Mercedes. There's no result at MBCC which often indicates impending NLA, and the RevParts online dealers are superceding to what appears to be a single bushing, but at $43.50 MSRP each (not $165). The single bushing also shows Discontinued at RevParts dealers, and is MIA at MBCC. There are a handful of NOS aftermarket (OE or OEM) on eBay but the prices are shooting up. I'd recommending trying the aftermarket Lemforder bushings at <$50 per kit, made in Brazil, and cross your fingers.

 

[J. M. van Swaay]

Thanks for the comments. I don’t want to lead anyone astray here, there is something embossed on the back side of the ball joint but I can’t tell what it is. Also, if the cost of replacement bushings is now excessive, these might be headed to the trash bin anyway. I’ll leave this for sale post for now, just want to be sure everything is fully disclosed.

 

[J. M. van Swaay]

Took another look, here’s a picture of what is embossed. Kinda looks like a letter G. I thought these were MB TRW’s but now I’m not sure. Based on the fact that the ball joints are tight and the boots are not torn I thought MB but who knows? If anyone is interested I will ship them to you for just the cost of shipping and maybe $20 to cover the cost of packing them up and taking them to UPS or FedEx. If upon receipt you find value in them just send me a check for whatever you think they are worth. Otherwise you can toss them in the trash bin. (Just to be clear, I won’t refund your shipping and $20). If I don’t hear from anybody in the next few weeks I’ll cancel this for sale post and toss them in the trash.

Gotta love the NLA parts dance….

J.

 

[nocfn]

I recently replaced my OE with a set of OE from MB I bought more than 6 years ago. I have to replace the Boots on the original equipment and I have the mb bushing rubber as well. They will travel with - when the car is sold unless for some reason my parts hoard sells for more than the car.

 

[geraniumtr]

JM, I just looked at the control arm I bought off Ebay (not yet installed) which does have the markings ( including the MB star) identical to Dave's photo of a factory part. I therefore believe Dave is correct that your control arms are not factory.

Note to Dave, I pulled my invoice which shows rubber bushing 124 333 43 14 with a list price of $165. According to ispparts this is the correct part for the late style control arms which are on my 94 E320. It seems to me that MB didn't change the kit price which comprised 4 bushings plus 2 metal sleeves when it went NLA and is charging that price for a single bushing. Crazy if thats the case.


Regards,

Peter

 

[J. M. van Swaay]

JM, I just looked at the control arm I bought off Ebay (not yet installed) which does have the markings… I therefore believe Dave is correct that your control arms are not factory.

Glad I didn’t sell these to someone under false representation. I think they are headed to the trash bin.