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Hi creeper,
To test the "play" in the outer tie rods, first raise one front wheel and grab the tire at the 9 o'clock and 3 o'clock positions to wiggle it back and forth. Do the same test on the other side. If you find much play at all, it can be either inner tie rod ends or outer tie rod ends, or both.
OUTER TIE RODS
Try to have a look at the outer tie rod end while a helper does this test. If you find them loose, they are a fairly easy item to replace. I recently replaced my outer tie rod ends on my '93 240 and it really tightened up its front end looseness and stopped a major "clunking" when I would go over speed bumps and potholes (great NE roads!) You can get the parts online quite inexpensively from our brickboard advertisers!
INNER TIE RODS
Are your steering rack boots intact? No cuts or cracks? If they have cracks this let water in and the inner tie rod ends will, over time, lose their lubication and begin to rust, starting a rapid decline. I looked into replacing the steering rack too, as it included the inner tie rods, but I decided to do it in two steps to see how much fixing the tie rods helped.
Also, replacing the ball joints can make a big difference in the tightness of the front end. You should get an alignment after these replacements, so you might want to do ball joints and outer tie rods at the same time.
I can't speak directly about shocks (strut inserts) yet, but with the right tools (spring compressor, etc) they are straigtforward. Check the FAQ on this site for good info on that.
I would recommend getting the Bentley repair manual, it will save you many $$$ over the long run.
Hope this helps.
Good luck!
TomD
'86 240
'93 240
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