I was chasing down creaking noises in the front suspension. I saw at the end of the strut assembly, the rubber was disentigrated. I see smooth silver behind the rubber. Is this a lower endlink bushing? If so what does it do and should I try and fix it or take it a mechanic shop?

Are you talking about the part of the strut mount that is visible when the hood is open? The sway bar links connect the sway bar to the control arms and are sometimes refered to as endlinks.

Thanks for responding- No I was referring to the very bottom of the strut assembly if you followed the shock assenbly all the was to the bottom there is where I found the torn rubber...
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1990 240- 270K- Original Owner-M-47, VX cam, bilstiens, spt exh, euro lamps-turbo whls,- still slow but handles well- Near Houston- also 2004 XC90 T5 AWD

which bolts into the bottom end of the strut assembly.

I would replace the ball joint -- dirt in there is a Bad Thing.

Replacement is straightforward, if a bit grimy, and you shouldn't need an alignment afterwards.

I will say that air tools will help (especially to remove the top nut on the ball joint, the one that's hidden in the strut tube). You'll also need a big torque wrench for the three bolts that hold the ball joint to the control arm. They need to be torqued to 85 ft-lbs.

Here's the diagram from Bentley showing the strut assembly and torque values:



I recently installed these on my '88, so a printout of the diagram was a good way to keep my Bentley free of grease :-).

Michel

1979 242DL
1988 244DL