Apparently one of my shock's lower bolts was broken. When the mechanic put the car up on the lift, the second bolt sheared off, and the spring shot out to the ground. He recommends that the bolts gets drilled out and the holes retapped.

What is the part that the shock bolts into on the bottom, and would it be cheaper for me to just get a replacement? The time spent on repair would probably cost the same as a new part.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

The front shock bolts to the lower control arm. New ones are $250. You might be able to find a used one for less.

I had a broken lower shock bolt in the rear. Indy drilled it out for $50.

Did they remove it to drill it out? I think this guy just doesn't want to work on the car because it's a Mercedes or because it's a diesel. He's being difficult. I told him that I could get him the spring compressor tool, but he wants me to take it somewhere else.

On the rear, the shock bolts are accessible from the bottom so they drilled without needing to remove the trailing arm.

On the fronts, the bolt heads are on the top. More difficult to drill, but once the shock is removed it seems that there would be enough room to drill without needing to remove the spring.

If the guy doesn't want to to work on it you should take it somewhere else (or do it yourself)

__________________
'82 300SD - 361K mi - "Blue"

"Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement."

listen, look, .........and duck.

I think I will need to do a combination of the two - rent the spring compression tool from someone here, and let a different mechanic do the work. There are no MB dealerships or MB mechanics around here. And I don't have a lift, or a proper garage.

This guy doesn't have a spring compression tool, and the car was up on the lift as he was replacing my upper control arm. Is this why my shock bolts broke off? Is this all the mechanic's fault?

When you lift the vehicle, all the force from the spring goes through the shock. The mounting points at the top and bottom of the shock must take the full load of the partially compressed spring. If you take the top mount of the shock off, via removal of the nut, the spring can extend further until the lower control arm hits a hard stop on the body (W126).

However, the W123 may or may not have this stop (can't remember). So, if the lower shock mount breaks away, and the lower control arm is free to swing down, nothing stops the spring from going airborne.

The mechanic didn't plan for this. He was working on the upper control arm and was simply letting the lower arm hang from the shock..........a normal procedure.

The repair involves simply drilling out the broken fastener, retapping the hole, and installing a new shock (if the shock mount has actually failed). The spring compressor will safely reinstall the spring.

It is also possible that the shock mount failed and all you need to do is to unbolt the remaining broken section from the lower control arm. Take a careful look and report on exactly what has failed.