sak335

Have any of you had trouble with these on your GL? Mercedes calls them "Stabilizer Bar End Links" and some folks call them sway bars. Anyway, I'm getting a super-annoying occasional knocking sound coming from the front right corner and asked the dealer to check it out when it was in there a week ago for the oil cooler seals.

They said everything was tight and they couldn't hear the noise when test driving it. My wife hadn't noticed it either but did when I pointed it out, but she doesn't pay attention to anything like that. It's not an obnoxious noise and is mostly present a low speed, which is consistent with anti-roll bar ball joint failure.

I may just buy a pair and swap them out. I can always stick the old pair on the shelf if it doesn't do anything; a pair is only $80...

alx

yes, they go bad. very common.

there is a good chance you will have to cut the old ones if you live in the northeast...

however, it could be also your shocks. if your ride height has changed (frozen height sensor levers) and the shocks are out of their comfort zone they will knock on occasion. very annoying as the height varies during the ride and shocks knock on a seemingly random basis.

sak335

Thanks Alx. I am in the NE but there isn't any appreciable corrosion on the vehicle at this point. I like to think that it's because I'm fastidious about rinsing the undercarriage after snow/salt events. I believe that the ride height system is operating properly so I'll order a set of end links and install them and hopefully it will eliminate the noise. Given the weight of this vehicle and the amount of roll it endures on my daily commute, it's unsurprising that the joints have a short life.

sak335

So last night I disconnected the passenger right roll bar link. They are a 21 mm nut and I only have a shallow-well socket in that size and the bolt protrudes pretty far out which made it difficult to get the socket to bite on it, which made removing it a bit harder than it should have been. I guess I need to go ahead and order a deep well in that size (I have every size up to 22 deep well except 21 for some reason). I ended up heating it up with a torch to loosen it enough to get it with the shallow socket.

Anyway, the noise is blissfully gone this morning so I've ordered a set of end links ($60 shipped.) I don't want to start a Meyle vs. Febi/Bilstein vs. Lemforder debate, but I went ahead and ordered Lemforder since I've had good experience in the past.

It's worth noting that running with the front bar disconnected makes it easy to understand the short service life of these things. The GL was rolling like crazy on the back roads which are far from smooth, so these parts obviously get a workout if you're driving anywhere but the highway.

sak335

OK, the parts arrived quickly but with the holidays I got busy cleaning up and remodeling the garage and just got to this the other night. I had ordered a 21mm wrench and a 21mm deep well socket because I'd never had a need for one until now, and that made removing the second link and reinstalling them much easier than with the shallow socket that I used on the first one. Removing is easy; you just loosen the two bolts that hold the link on with the deep well socket. To tighten the bolts on the new link, you use a box end wrench on the nut while holding the 'bolt' on the end link with a torx socket on a ratcheting wrench. You have to be very careful to hold the ratchet at the correct angle or the torx bit will come loose and you can strip it out quickly. The bit on the replacement link (Lemforder) was a different size than the OEM link that I removed.

For those that have no idea what I'm talking about, here's a photo. I replaced the shiny piece (the wet area is from me spraying Kroil on the nut to loosen it up):