Philoprof

Stupid question: I've done the tie rods on older Benz's a number of times, but the sway bar links on my friend's 2002 C240 seem to be different.

Removing the bottom joint on one of the links was easy. I put the car on ramps,, and used a 17 mm open end wrench to remove the nut while holding the bolt with an 8mm socket to prevent the bolt from turning.

However, the 17mm nut for the top joint is in a horizontal bracket that makes it impossible to rotate a wrench enough to remove the nut, or even get a wrench on it without removing the wheel. If I take the wheel off, I can probably get the nut off by holding it with the wrench and turning the bolt with an 8mm socket.

But, then, how do I tighten the nut on the new Meyle link my friend bought? The tip of the bolt has a hole for a 5mm Allen. But if I hold the nut with the 17mm wrench, and turn the bolt with a 5mm Allen socket, won't that tear the rubber boot?

And if I use a 17mm deep socket to tighten the nut, will that turn the bolt and rip the boot?

I'd appreciate any help I can get before I go and ruin my friend's new links.

Thanks very much in advance for any help anyone can give me.

dmatre

Use the allen wrench and a box-end wrench (with the wheel off). Hold the bolt & turn the nut.