My 95 E320 needs new tie rod ends. The problem is I don't know which vendor has the best product for the money. My head is swimming from the choices. Can someone sort it out?

$15 - First Equipment Quality
$23 - Beck Arnley
$33 - ACDelco
$34 - Raybestos
$36 - Moog
$37 - TRW

 

Lemfoerder or Meyle
Autohausaz

 

don't fool with just the ends, buy the whole tie rod assemblies ~~~ the dealer prices i've found are very reasonably priced



.

 

Thanks, I'll take the advice of both.

 

I went ahead with Lemfoerder.

When I got the parts, they were labeled right and left:

124 330 08 03 Front Left
124 330 09 03 Front Right

I put them in the proper locations. What confuses me is that the two parts were virtually identical. I could see absolutely no visual difference between the two. The LH and RH treads were at the same locations. So, why the two different part numbers?

 

I think the driver's side has something in there that absorbs shock a little better than the non drivers side, or at least the Genuine MB ones do......

 

Still -- why would they complicate things and make two different numbers? The cost to me the same. Wouldn't it be easier with inventory control for the manufacturer to make the "premium" version and use the same part number for both sides?

 

Apparently not, there is a good reason one has better shock absorbing qualities than the other, it all adds up to the bank vault smooth feeling these cars are famous for. You can put the tighter one on each side and stiffen things up a bit of you like.......

 

No. Just no.

The left tie rod outer is normal thread, and the right tie rod outer is reverse thread.

If they were both the same, rotating the collar would not adjust the overall length. Ultimately, it really doesn't matter which goes on which side as long as it is a left & right pair together.

 

Not true - at least in my case. The threads are identically the same between the two rods. Outer ends are RH threaded, inner ends are LH threaded, for both.

 

Kestas, I recognize your name and good input to the forums, so if you believe you have two identical tie rods but with two different part numbers, then I believe that you really believe that

However, the genuine MB left tie rod is green colored with a normal threaded outer tie rod end, and the genuine MB right tie rod is black with a reverse threaded outer tie rod end. Again, if one of the two was not reverse threaded, there would be no way to correct toe in/out on both sides.

Please don't take my word and experience with replacing 6-8 sets of MB tie rods over the years. Ask the mechanic who does the alignment after you replace the tie rods. Look in the FSM section 45-540, or look on page 169 Steering section of the Mercedes W124 Owner's Workshop Manual.

Now, the heat broke last night after a storm front, and I'm out to lower the top and go for a cruise in the Cab

 

You might want to also check with someone who knows about the absorbing qualities of these too.........

 

It sounds as though I removed the original tie rod assemblies. One is green, the other is black. I still have them so I didn't report from memory. Besides color, one difference I saw is the thickness of the rod adjacent to the inner tie rod end.

The threads are consistent between the L and R. As I posted, both are RH thread on the outer end and LH thread on the inner end. This allows adjustment on each tie rod as needed.

I'm not sure if the photo shows the outer end thread well, but you can see the inner threads of both original tie rods are LH threads.

I aligned the front wheels myself using the home alignment method. The steering wheel is straight with the prescribed amount of toe-in.

 

I think the reason why the green forged end is larger is to accomodate the shock absorbing feature of these. This from a Tech with 21 plus years experience with MB, Factory Trained on 124's and Workshop Forman of NZL's largest shop. He may be wrong though, but if so this would be the first time I've found him wrong........

 

That's the only reasonable explanation.