Anybody have an article or a how-to fix the rare occurrence of the saggy seatback nets on early W124 front seats?

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'87 300TD Estate (Panzer Wagon, Sold)
'95 E320 Estate (Sabertooth, Sold)
'94 E500 (Stark 1, For Sale)
'04 VW GTI (Rhino, Sold)
'12 VW GTI Autobahn (Shadow)

I fixed mine by cutting the top about two inches from each side and tied a bungee cord that matched the color. The nets are now tight and look good. Keep the knots small and they are hard to see.

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85 300CD Gramps 390K
89 190D Baby 322K
93 300D Grumpy 176K
99 SLK230

Buy '90-up seatbacks with the pouches, then your stuff won't fall through.

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Gone to the dark side

- Jeff

On the back of the seat on the bottom there are two screws, take them out and pull the back panel down and out. On the back of that panel you will see screws that hold the net on, take the two screw out on one side. you then can lift up the plastic piece and see the net behind the plastic. Pull the top rope of the net through the hole to how ever tight you want it, then put the screws back in and put panel back on. I just did my 190D.

Great tips here guys, can't wait to try this on the weekend!

__________________
'87 300TD Estate (Panzer Wagon, Sold)
'95 E320 Estate (Sabertooth, Sold)
'94 E500 (Stark 1, For Sale)
'04 VW GTI (Rhino, Sold)
'12 VW GTI Autobahn (Shadow)

I pulled my backs off, pried open the two metal clips on the ends and found some black bungee online that is an exact match. I'll get the name of the place and the part # when I get home.

I've been looking for a crimping tool that could make similar barbs to fit into the backs. I could make a nice penny on eBay making new ones for folks.

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'85 300TD "Puff The Magic Wagon" - Rolling Resto
'19 Mazda CX-9 Signature - Wife's sled
'21 Morgan 3-Wheeler P101 Edition
'95 E300d - SOLD
'84 300TD "Brown Betty" - Miss this one
'81 240D "China Baby" - Farm grocery getter

@Andrew - You probably could, I'd buy em!

Does anybody have a photo or photos of the removal process? Just wondering.

I took the cover off the seat back and then pulled out the elastic piece that is at the top of the pouch and put in a new piece of small diameter bungee cord from the hardware store.
A real easy DIY

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1983 300SD
200000miles

I'd seen a write up someone did a few years back, about replacing the top bungee with one that they'd bought at a local sewing supply shop.

I've just ignored mine, but occasionally think of it when I end up in the back seat for some reason or another.

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-Josh
Testing the cheap Mercedes axiom, one bolt at a time...

This is what mine look like now.

Attached Thumbnails

   

Follow 04's advice. I did mine a while ago and they are still tight. Just be careful when removing the plastic frame work. I found some bungee cords that matched for size and reused the crimps. Like they say in Germany "goodntight".

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If it ain't broke take it apart and find out why.

1983 300SD, 4 speed
1994 C280
1987 300TD wagon
1996 HD Road King

Ride in Peace Eric Peterson, Harley of Macon

Not so fast........the staples that hold the pouches into the seat backs fail.....as on my '99 E300TD

Everything get saggy when you get older...

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Michael LaFleur

'05 E320 CDI - 86,000 miles
'86 300SDL - 360,000 miles
'85 300SD - 150,000 miles (sold)
'89 190D - 120,000 miles (sold)
'85 300SD - 317,000 miles (sold)
'98 ML320 - 270,000 miles (sold)
'75 300D - 170,000 miles (sold)
'83 Harley Davidson FLTC (Broken again) :-(
'61 Plymouth Valiant - 60k mikes
2004 Papillon (Oliver)
2005 Tzitzu (Griffon)
2009 Welsh Corgi (Buba)

Do the 'newer' seat backs fit on the old seats? That's a sneaky way of getting around all this lol -- actually Phil's write up is brilliant thank you! =)

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'87 300TD Estate (Panzer Wagon, Sold)
'95 E320 Estate (Sabertooth, Sold)
'94 E500 (Stark 1, For Sale)
'04 VW GTI (Rhino, Sold)
'12 VW GTI Autobahn (Shadow)

All 124 seatbacks are interchangeable.

The pouches don't seem to fail on the 124s Joe, IIRC it's in a plastic bracket.

__________________

Gone to the dark side

- Jeff