Cavero

This is my first post here in 3 years, so I'm a little rusty here. My wife's '05 CLK320 --"Elsa"-- has been rock solid for 9 years (130K mi), but a couple weeks ago she went in for inspection to a shop that specializes in german & swedish cars and failed (of course it did :/ ). They failed it for "excessive play in the left front lower control arm". I'm not exactly new with suspension stuff (I've spent more time than I care to admit tracking down a steering shake in my Mustang), so I got it up on a lift and poked around. I'm not sure why the left front lower control arm had excessive play-- all of the arms have about the same amount. I did notice the bushings are starting to show some slight cracking, and I found a slight amount of play in one of the passenger side ball joints (the upper).





The steering's been a little vague and twitchy, so I can imagine that besides needing an alignment there may actually be excessive play here. Given all of that, before I realized that the bushings could be pressed out, I ordered new control arms and they'll be here in a day or two. Swapping out the arms looks pretty straightforward, so I can't imagine this taking any more than 5 hours if I go slow. I want to make sure I get everything back together right, so...

Can someone help me out with the torque specs? I need:

-Strut to steering knuckle bolt torque (both the upper and lowers)
-Upper control arm (I think it may also be called a tension link or cross strut) to subfame
-Upper control ball-joint to steering knuckle nut
-Lower control arm to subframe bold
-LCA balljoint to knuckle
-Stabilizer bar link nuts
-Stabilizer bracket bolts.

I tried searching up and down for these specs, but the closest I could find was this thread for a C class. Since the CLK's based on the E class, I'm not sure how comparable these specs are:

https://mbworld.org/forums/c-class-w...ed-please.html

I also found this guide from Autozone, but not sure how much I trust it:
http://www.autozone.com/autozone/rep...96b43f8038430d


Many thanks in advance

Cavero

Anyone? I need to tackle this this weekend, any help would be greatly appreciated

Rudeney

If you found the C-Class spec - you've got it. The W209 CLK is a derivative of the W203 C-Class chassis and has very little in common with the E-Class.

Cavero

Damn, all this time I thought it was based on the E. But looks like this isn't the first time this came up:

https://mbworld.org/forums/clk-class...t-c-class.html

MarcusF

The "CLK being based on an E" rumor may have started with the W208. Since some of the floorboards are the same, I can see why people say the CLK is based on a C. However, there are substantial differences between the cars. I’m sure there’s a very old thread where I repeated much of this. There is definitely a website with much of this.

Structurally, an “A pillar” is what holds the windshield in place and is the support for the front of the roof. When a car is constructed, a lot of things can be moved around, but the A pillar is fixed. The 202, 208, and 210 all have unique A pillars. Based on that roof structure, “I think” the C, CLK, and E are all unique cars. The W208's windshield has a 208 part number. The pads and clips that hold it in place are 210 and 124 part numbers. Looking at the part numbers - everything in the W208's instrument cluster begins with the numbers 208 and 210.

The W208’s headlamp wiper/washer switch , the antitheft/towing switch, seat heater switch, power window switch, ESP switch, rear window blind switch, and the European-spec folding outside mirror switch are all 210 part numbers. The HVAC controls have a 140 part number - but those are all just parts attached to larger parts. Although they are similar in appearance, the dash boards are definitely different. That's because the three cars are three distinct widths. The CLK is narrower than the W202, which is more narrow than a W210.

Excluding the Designo (which isn't a 202 part number), the W208 was available with the following steering wheels: 2104600203, 2104600303, A2104601303, 2104601203, 2104600903, & 2104601403. The steering shaft behind it is a 2084601216. In all fairness, the floor and support brackets on a W208 are 202 parts. Naturally, on top of that floor are the seats. In a CLK, the front seat covers are all 208 part numbers, while all the brackets are 210 part numbers. The rear seats use 208 specific part numbers.

Looking at suspension bits, the rear subframe on a W208 is part number A2083500408. The W202 uses part number 2023509208. If the two cars were the same, the rear subframe should be the same. The rear of all three cars are suspended by the MB patented five link rear, so lets look at the front suspension. The steering box and center drag link for a CLK are 202 parts. In the attached photo, the items circled in purple are E parts, the red is 208 specific and the 202 part has a green arrow pointing at it. The front and rear springs have 210 part numbers. The brakes? All four brakes have 210 part numbers for the disc and backing plate.



Mercedes-Benz used many CLK specific parts, and existing parts when they could. If Mercedes-Benz created CLK specific parts for everything, the price of the car would have been substantially higher. I did not go through the same routine with the W203, W209, and W211, so there may be / probably are many differences between them and the 202 / 208 / 210.

Cavero

Great tip! I checked the part numbers on the CLK, and sure enough they're 203 parts. Looked up the exact same part number for, say, a C230....yep same part. I think I'm safe to use the C's torque specs.


On the subject of CLK vs E vs C, it doesn't really surprise me. Parts sharing between platforms is nothing new, nor is borrowing styling cues. Lambos have Audi interior switches (same parent company). There were Aston Martins that had Volvo parts (both owned by Ford at the time). The '05 Mustang shared parts with the Lincoln LS and Jaguar. Whatever works, works.

MarcusF

Speaking of Aston, I just finished writing an article about the contract they signed with AMG this past summer. AMG is designing and building Aston Martin engines and transmissions for their new platforms. Between Pagani and Aston, AMG R&D should be staying pretty busy.

M-Rods

I just tackled this , this past weekend.

http://www.benzworld.org/forums/w209...clk-500-a.html

M-Rods

W209 torque strut.pdf

W209 steering knuckle.pdf

Cavero

Awesome man! These are exactly what I was looking for. Do you remember what size the stabilizer bar bracket bolts (reverse torx) were? I found a walkthrough for a 203 chassis that said they were E12, but wanted to check in case somehow its a different size

Thanks!

M-Rods

Yes they are E12, don't forget to grease up the inside of the brackets and the bushing since you are there, I just used a dielectric grease my friend had at the shop, I read to avoid petroleum based grease since it would break down the bushings.

Good luck it was pretty satisfying to do the work myself.

Cavero

N/M on the E12...I should've read the last page first.

Again...

Cavero

I've got some synthetic grease left over from all of the urethane bushings I did on my other car, so should be good to go. I'm excited, this sucker should handle like new when its done

M-Rods

No problem, glad I can help, I've received so much advice from guys like Rudeney and Keyhole, it's only right to pay it forward here.

Cavero

Sorry, forgot to follow up. Elsa drives vastly better now -- steering is solid and precise in the corners again. Pretty much like new. Definitley not the twitch-darty characteristics from before.

As far as the work itself went...
Gotta, say I've never enjoyed enjoyed popping ball joints loose --I've had to do it twice on the Mustang and it sucked bad both times. Now trying to pop FOUR ball joints (I replaced all 4 arms since they bushings were all equally perished) loose that have been stuck there for 9 years? Yeah that's a new circle of Hell. I wish I'd gotten the Mercedes tool, it probably would have been relatively easy. Doing the work with a pickle fork... well I thought I was going to break something.


M-Rods, you're thread was really helpful, even though my car is a W209. If anything, I had three extra notes.

1) The top bolt between the strut and steering knuckle was actually an external/reverse Torx. I don't know what size it was, but something larger than E12 --maybe E18 or E20. The auto hobby shop I was at had plenty of tools behind the counter, but their largest star socket was E16. I took a risk and used a 12-point 15 mm socket to hold the bolt, and actually broke loose the nut from the other side (21mm if I remember right). this worked pretty well and I didn't have any issues with stripping the bolt head.

2) some of the nuts/bolts don't have a lot of clearance (especially the top bolt on the knuckle). I found that my impact sockets wouldn't fit in some of these places. This could be a problem if the only 21mm you have is an impact socket. A regular 21mm socket will probably fit (I didn't have a regular 21mm, so had to use a 7/8" in some cases --which was risky--I could have rounded it off)

3) One of the things that makes my other car so easy to work on is easy access to all of the nuts/bolts with an impact gun. With the geometry and clearances on the Benz, I found that 95% of the time I had to leave my electric impact gun on the bench and work with hand tools. Not a big deal, but definitely slows you down.

Thanks again, I hope I can find as much info for the next project.

M-Rods

Fantastic to hear the car is done and drives tight again. For me the pickle fork and hammer let me take out some frustration lol!!!!!

emuhlenberg

I realize the this post is old however the link to the torque specs is no longer good : ( Did you download/do you have them.
Thanks
Eddie

Rudeney

Here:

http://benzbits.com/w203/FrontAxleTorqueStrut.pdf
http://benzbits.com/w203/FrontAxleCrossStrut.pdf

emuhlenberg

Great. Thanks.