'84 300D: Do ball joints creak?

Could be a few things but I just finished up a suspension/steering rebuild on our 87 300D (well over 200K miles on them). The front ball joints were frozen solid! One creaked badly when moved - even after I had the lower arms off the car an put a piece of pipe on the joint.

I took the arms down to the local machine shop and they pressed new ball joints in.

Scott D

Hmmm ... interesting question. As we age, most of our joints do begin to creak, especialy when we first get up in the morning. Now as to our ball joints ...

mcbrue agingly under the bridge in the trailer down by the river

96 S420

84 300D.  That's W123, right?  So the front end looks like W126.  I just replaced the lower ball joints a few months ago.  Take out the steering knuckle and have a machine shop replace the joint for you.  I paid around $50 each, labor only. Don wrote: The right front of my 300D creaks when I bounce the fender up/down.  I thought it may just be a dry bushing, but it makes the same noise when I run the engine and simply steer the vehicle.  While my son bounced the car, though I could not pinpoint the noise, I got the most vibration feel while holding the lower control arm.  As I write this, I can't imagine what else it could be. Assuming the lower ball joint, I see it is pressed into the control arm.   Is this a bitch to get out with just big hammers? Don P.S. I bought the car new, and know all the ball joints have never been done, 172,000 miles now.

No problem as long as they get enough movement and lubrication...