My 2004 Mercedes Benz E320 aka The Benz

[His Royal Ghostliness]

Years ago they taught us when taking off at a railroad crossing to just give the truck all she can safely handle, like we're at the races but bit more responsible - the idea was to gain as much momentum as possible, so should something happen we got enough speed to carry us to the other side instead of erecting a massive barricade on wheels to test the train's brakes and the engineer's reaction time. Of course all of our trucks were spec'd for heavy haulage so pulling 30 or so tons with something designed to be able to handle double that (thank you Sisu axles!) did allow us plenty of freedom for hot-rodding, but still, point is that when you can't safely pull over you just got no choice to to keep going no matter the costs. Long bridges and tunnels always bug me for that very reason.

WTF is up with that police car in the right lane tho? Jesus, I've seen military equipment with less shit on the roof!

[VicCrownVic]

Kind of reminds me of the time I got a flat in The Scab earlier this year. Found a nice gash in the middle of the tread so it must have been something I ran over but didn't see. I knew something was wrong but wasn't sure what until I saw chunks of rubber in the rear view mirror.

[87gtVIC]

Had time to get the punctured tire dismounted and a minty fresh one installed. Remember this one:



Look what I found inside!



Tire machine ripped through the sidewall of the tire due to its rigidity being compromised by me driving on it while flat:



What is this piece?



Its long:




Anyways I am all normaled up. Now to find an odd clunk coming from the passengers side wheel area. Hear it while going softly over bumps.

[87gtVIC]

Inspected the suspension on the Benz and the clunk I am hearing is coming from the passengers side front thrust arm.

I replaced the drivers side thrust arm not too long ago and at the time the passengers side one was okay. Thread on that here: http://www.grandmarq.net/vb/showthre...l=1#post783614

[His Royal Ghostliness]

That's how it goes sometimes, the good factory parts remain good only for a short while after you inspect them. At least now you're proficient in that job, so you should be able to bull thru it pretty quick and easy.

[gadget73]

well that would certainly explain why the tire went flat quickly.

[sly]

well that would certainly explain why the tire went flat quickly.

This! Dayum.

[87gtVIC]

Inspected the suspension on the Benz and the clunk I am hearing is coming from the passengers side front thrust arm.

I replaced the drivers side thrust arm not too long ago and at the time the passengers side one was okay. Thread on that here: http://www.grandmarq.net/vb/showthre...l=1#post783614

Replaced the passengers side thrust arm this morning. The ball joint was toast on it. The boot split in two and the inside was rusty and had no grease at all. All is well now, no clunky clunk over bumps.

[87gtVIC]

SHOT.

[gadget73]

Is that the ball joint or the end that attaches to the chassis? Looks like a dead ball and socket type joint whatever end it lives on. Also looks distinctly non-serviceable.

[87gtVIC]

That be one of the lower ball joints that attach to the spindle. Here is a pictures I had on hand from when the drivers side one was replaced. Its the shiny new one just to be clear. It deads off to the frame much like the other lower control arm looking thing which has the stabilizer bar end link on it as well as the strut.

[gadget73]

two ball joints? How does that even rotate?

[87gtVIC]

Hurst my head thinking about how the hell that works too.

[87gtVIC]

Passed 110K on her the other day coming home from work.









And coming home from work today I got a message on the dash saying Left low beam is out. Sure enough it was so I replaced it. Then the Left parking lamp went out...replaced that too and now all is well for the time being.





Picked up two H7's as I suspect the other one could go at any moment. At least I will have it handy now and not have to make a special trip to purchase one.

[His Royal Ghostliness]

two ball joints? How does that even rotate?

Think of it as a horizontal trapezoid unconstrained across the diagonal - the ball joints are on the narrow top, frame is the wide base, the arms are the sides. The idea is for the bottom of the wheel to walk-back and forth as you negotiate conrerns and such, the idea is for caster to change dynamically all the time.