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Old 07-28-2014, 07:09 PM
badgator badgator is offline
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Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Central FL
Posts: 394
Thumbs up w123 / w126 rear trailing arm bushing replacement, without removing subframe

I did it on my 300D, I think it will work on w126's also.

use care when working under cars, a couple spare wheels should under car as a backup in case it falls off of jackstands,
loosen wheels,
chock both front wheels
jack up car, use jack stands with wood under rear jacking points,
mark DS/flex joint, DO NOT have parking brake on! you need to remove the DS

driveshaft- need to move rear out of the way to remove inner arm bolt
loosen front DS sleeve (30mm)?,
13mm center bearing bolts (I only loosened a couple turns),
remove flex disk bolts on rear end flange
pry ds off of flange, will only drop a few inches, will need to move around to access inner arm bolts

loosen 15/16 or 24mm inner arm bolts w/3' pipe - check condition of spring shims on top of springs while you're down there

loosen both sides subframe, remove bolt on the one side you are working on, remove wheel.

wedge piece of 2x4 under sf, loosen outer arm bolt, remove inner bolt then outer, you will need to pry/push the arm/hub assembly back 1/2"? to go past limit stop?

I did use a bottle jack under the arm to limit the drop, but the shock holds if from dropping to far, no need to take off to shock bolt, remove 2x4 on top of sf, jack sf back up to access bushings, use 2x4 between sf and arm to gain enough room to press bushings out and in.

trim rubber around large end of bushing so it can be pressed out, press bushings out and in, with home made tool, use dish detergent to lube new bushings (I used my impact wrench, worked smoothly) use drilled out washer that doesn't contact inner bushing and install new bushing, only go in until the rubber shoulder contacts the arm, do not go too far

now is a good time to replace subframe mounts, if needed

reassemble, jack up arm near hub to preload arm before torqueing arm bolts down

tighten both sides of sf bolts, I did use a bottle jack under a ratchet to get bolt started, only light pressure is needed, and had a nut inside of socket so it was pushing the head of the bolt up, not the sf bracket

replace rear ds, tighten center bearing bolts, and large ds nut, remove jackstands, tighten wheels

homemade tool-
1 1/2" iron pipe coupler homedepot $8
8" 5/8 bolt, I used a carriage bolt because it had more thread (or allthread)
5/8 coupling nut (long)
assorted large washers
one washer needed to be drilled to go outside of the inner metal sleeve when assembling - you don't want to press the new bushing on using the inner sleeve, it will stress or tear the rubber - see picture, used a step drill

It took about a hour to unbolt arm and press out/in bushings on the last side today, now that I figured out how to do it.

I used LEMFOERDER German bushings $8.07 ea, from RM european
Attached Thumbnails
w123 / w126 rear trailing arm bushing replacement, without removing subframe-0728141741-01.jpg   w123 / w126 rear trailing arm bushing replacement, without removing subframe-0728141741-00.jpg  
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mercedestopseals custom seals to rebuild your r129 hydraulic top cylinders
used updated engine harnesses, ETA's including v12 c/s/sl 600
m119 aluminum cam oilers
Parting out:
92 500SL White Blue/White 110k -scrapping soon
92 500SL Sm Silver(bronze)/Tan -scrapped have all body parts + trans
92 500SL Blk/Palomino -scrapped have hood,trunk, pass fender+door
+ Lt Grey (white car) and Black front bumpers
+ Grey kinder / rear seat r129 90-95 style

Last edited by badgator; 08-13-2014 at 02:25 PM.
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