1992 300D Steering Box - The Saga Continues
I had posted previously about the steering problems with my '92 W124 300D 2.5 turbo. The saga continues... I managed to score a good used steering gear, per Kent's recommendation, from a local dismantler who also gave me a quote for doing the R&R that I couldn't pass up with how utterly insane my schedule is right now. So now the "new" box is in there and the 2" of slop is GONE GONE GONE, hooray... BUT I had the alignment done and the car still pulls to the right a bit. I took it back to the alignment place, they rechecked their readout and everything checked out for the alignment and they recommended I try rotating the tires to see if that's causing problems since one has some rough treadwear due to the prior steering issues. Rotated the tires and it's still pulling rightward. The plot thickens: I also noticed the turn signal shutoff behaving a little "off", and furthermore the steering wheel also engages its lock (when parked) in the vicinity of the 1-o'clock or 2-o'clock position instead of at 12-o'clock as it did on the old box.
So what I'm now wondering: is it possible that the "new" steering box was installed with the steering shaft misaligned a spline or two and THAT's what's causing the mystery misalignment here?
If that's the case, is realigning the splines a "big" job for which the whole box would have to be pulled out and reinstalled to accomplish, or is it easier than that and would not require another full R&R? I'm asking because frankly if it sounds to you experts out there that it's an issue of misaligned steering shaft splines, and it's an easy adjustment to realign them, that I might want to try and do it myself this time rather than bring it back again... Because nobody cares about this like I do. And I now kinda wish I'd had the time to just do it all myself in the first place. (As if I could have found the time anyhow.) And I bet y'all know how THAT feels, ha ha.
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Question
Do you know if the pitman arm was removed from your old box and put on the replacement box. If not put on in correct position it could create problems.
Pitman arm still at factory setting
I had guessed otherwise but it turns out that the dismantler DID retain the Pitman arm from the old box without swapping and so it should be at its factory-set center.
Since I didn't get to learn the procedure in full (as I frankly would have preferred had I the time), is that the only place where such a spline misalignment would occur?
(All this has me SO wishing I had the official Service Manual applicable to the '92 300D, but Mercedes doesn't seem to offer it yet on their website.)
With that confirmed proceed as follows
There is probably a misalignment where the steering column splined shaft goes into the steering box coupler. IF these are not both lined up in the proper neutral position when they go together you can have problems with the turn signal not releasing properly.
I would call around to some good front end shops that could help you with this. They can align the front end and get the steering wheel perfectly centered after any adjustments are made
Steering shaft spline misalignment...?
Hoo boy, what a can of worms this is. One additional factor found to be in play... Upon rotation & rebalancing, one tire was noticed to have excess shoulder wear (both shoulders) assumedly due to constantly 'chasing' the driving line on the old sloppy steering box. The tire was moved from front left to rear left (directional tires prevented cross-rotation) but the rightward drift continues. (Also notable: the turn signal and steering lock issues also persist.) So I'm guessing that this probably isn't just the tire...? Which I can no longer afford to replace at the moment anyhow - impending layoffs sure put a damper on the budget :-o But maybe I'm wrong, let me know if you think it could simply be the tire.
So regarding the spline alignment on the steering shaft... As long as you don't think it could simply be the tire... Is realigning the splines on the steering shaft something I could do myself, and then just have the alignment redone? (Since I can't have the bills for this job snowball on me at this juncture...) Can the shaft be realigned without pulling the whole box again? I'm sure the repair process is too complicated to go into here in the BenzAid forum, but where could I find a reference to find out how to do that - if you think it's not something inadvisable for the "driveway mechanic" to attempt?
Unless you have telescoping steering column...
... the steering box will need to be dropped down to re-align the splines. The important thing is to get the wheels centered and the steering wheel centered before reconnecting. The procedure is the same on Mercedes from the 70s up to the mid 90s so you can look for detailed info on any model.