Revision of the suspension

[Honza]

I would like to do a complete revision of the suspension on my car so I would like to ask you for the list of spare parts which are needed on the axles. If someone has this list I will be very happy with it. I would like to replace the engine and transmission mount as well because the car has already 236.000km on the clock

Thanks in forward

 

[gerryvz]

Hi Jan,

What do you mean by "on the axles"? Are you talking about things that would include parts such as the lower control arms/ball joints, drag link, tie rod ends & bushings, steering shock, sway bar bushings, control arm bushings, etc.? Not sure how far (extensive) you want to go with this. I think if you replace all of the soft parts (bushings, ball joints, etc.) and a few of the hard parts (steering shock, drag link, etc.) then your suspension should be as new. I did this within the past 2 months both with my wife's 1994 W124 E320 Estate and my 1989 C126 560SEC and both cars are driving like brand-new cars again!

Also 236k km seems like a low amount to have to replace the engine. Transmission, sure, I can see that a rebuild could and perhaps would be necessary. But these engines are quite durable and 150,000 miles seems very low to replace the engine unless it has been abused or not well-maintained in some manner. Can you clarify as to why you want to do this?

Cheers,
Gerry

 

[Honza]

Hi Gerry,

thanks a lot for your advice. I?m not so familiar with the english names of the parts so I would like to change the soft parts and a few of the hard parts on the axles. Then I want to change these parts on which are the engine and the transmission sitting because the engine is sitting quite low and if I want to do that I will replace all these 3 parts (in german is it 2x Motorlager and 1x Getriebelager). Then I want to replace these bearings on the cardan and after that all it should work properly
The engine and transmission are after 236.000km OK so maybe there will be a time to make the revision of the transmission in 2 years but now it is not needed.

I wouldn?t like to do these in local Mercedes dealership, because they are really not relible for works like this so that is the reason why I?m asking for the list of parts which are needed.

Thanks a lot

 

[chappardababbar]

Hey guys, I'm actually in the process of doing this myself.

A company I'm talking to about doing it are saying it's around 70 hours labour to change out the suspension incl subframe out for the bushes. Sounds like alot to me. I have most of the suspension bits so most of my cost is labour. Has anyone one here done a complete refresh?

 

[gsxr]

If you mean just replacing all the rubber items for the rear subframe & suspension, yes, I have done that on my 1987 300D (photos are here). If you have the proper tools, removal of the subframe isn't required, but it's a lot easier with the subframe out of the car. 70 hours sounds excessive for a pro mechanic. Maybe 70 hours as DIY without a vehicle lift or proper tools, but I'd think it should be 20-40 hours, tops. Maybe they were including time to take apart the differential and re-seal it? That would add a decent amount of time.

 

[chappardababbar]

Wow! I am so impressed with how clean you car is underneath!

Mine has just been at the garage and I had a really good look underneath - it's not even close. Damn salt on the roads!

 

[chappardababbar]

Is it possible to replace the rear anti-roll bar without taking the subframe out? Doesn't look like it ..

 

[gsxr]

Yes, you lower the front half of the subframe several inches, and the swaybar will just sneak out of there. It's a real pain since you need to loosen the driveshaft center support and disconnect the rear flex disc, so the diff will drop down enough. Details are in this PDF file:

http://www.w124performance.com/docs/mb/ ... nstall.pdf