Just a few days ago I got a new K1 repair kit for the transmission, and I was fiddling with it, seeing how it works, and I broke the black plastic piece. Pictures would be better, but I'll try without...

I had the directions with pictures obtained recently from this forum. It appears obvious (?) that the white plastic piece mates with the black plastic piece inside the two springs -- the end of the white piece that goes into the two springs consists of a shaft with a larger diameter end, a sort of piston. This looks like it should be pushed into the black pastic piece (the cylinder), and lock in place when the white piston goes past the ridge inside the black piece. When this is done, the white piece can move back and forth inside the black piece under spring tension. The problem is when I pushed the white piece into the black one, the tip of the black one cracked!! It didnt have enough "give" to allow the piston to push in and seat properly!

It seems obvious that the white piece must be pushed into and mate with the black piece...otherwise, the inside spring doesnt do anything.

Did I do something wrong? Was I supposed to assemble in this way prior to installation. Or does it assemble automatically during installation when screwed in place (if so, wouldnt this have cracked inside without me knowing). I doubt if MBZ will replace this free of charge.

Mark

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1984 300TD Wagon, 407,800 mi (current daily driver)
1985 300DT Sedan, 330,000 mi (gone to that great autobahn in the sky)

That's exactly how it goes together. I've installed 2 of these.

Put it together first, then put it in the car.

They cost me $10.50 each from the dealer.

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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)

I cant see installing a cracked piece. I will go back to the dealer and make some noise, order a new kit, and ask the service manager to assemble it! The problem is, the folks at the dealer dont want to give you the time of day over an $18 part, and they really dont want to hear grief from a DIYer!! Be-astids!!

Mark

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1984 300TD Wagon, 407,800 mi (current daily driver)
1985 300DT Sedan, 330,000 mi (gone to that great autobahn in the sky)

The exact same thing happened to me, when I installed mine spring kit last friday!! I couldn't get the parts together without breaking it either. My mechanic got them together properly though, but after I had broken the piece. I couldn't get another from the dealer soon enough, though, because the k1 spring kit was a special order item that took three days to arrive. Somewhat to my surprise though, the broken kit assembled works perfectly. The new spring kit makes a night and day difference. Transmission shifts perfectly now. Extremely pleased wth the results.

I hope you can read this shrunk to size...

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You have to be sure to push the two pieces linerarly without cocking them till they snap together..you let them get cocked and thats how it broke.........I had no trouble doing mine last week.

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Proud owner of ....
1971 280SE W108
1979 300SD W116
1983 300D W123
1975 Ironhead Sportster chopper
1987 GMC 3/4 ton 4X4 Diesel
1989 Honda Civic (Heavily modified)
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Section 609 MVAC Certified
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"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche

This reminded me of a girl in my class that was from Boston...we LOVED getting her to say certain words. Accents are cool.

Sorry for the threadjack....

I was thinking that we got the girls to say things like "cocking".

MBZ did replace the broken k1 kit for free...how about that...they're not so bad afterall! What I did with the new kit to prevent the tip of the black plastic (female) piece from cracking when you push in the white (male) piece was to take a rat-tail needle file and file the plastic burr on the retaining ridge inside the black piece. Then, take it down a little more, especially on the edges of the ridges near the slot, to further reduce the spreading apart when the white piece is forced in. This ridge only functions as a retainer for the white piece, so taking it down a little with a file has no impact on function of the part. I wet both pieces to reduce friction and in one swift motion, with springs in place, forced the pieces together with no breakage.

Mark

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1984 300TD Wagon, 407,800 mi (current daily driver)
1985 300DT Sedan, 330,000 mi (gone to that great autobahn in the sky)

yeah i also got the white part to slide in the black part with the springs by just putting the white part in my mouth, then it went together without too much effort.

Do you guys know if someone has pu up a picure utorial of his procedure?
i need a lile more help before underaking this onmy 83td.

I dont know, seemed like the service desk guys did back flips for me when I bought 3-30 amp fuses for my 300d. They only had 2 in the drawer so they went back in the shop and found one in somebody's toolbox. They only charged me for the two new ones even though the one from the toolbox was obviously new too.

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1982 300CD Turbo (Otis, "ups & downs") parts for sale
2003 TJ with Hemi (to go anywhere, quickly) sold
2001 Excursion Powerstroke (to go dependably)
1970 Mustang 428SCJ (to go fast)
1962 Corvette LS1 (to go in style)
2001 Schwinn Grape Krate 10spd (if all else fails)

its odd how the dealer prices vary... I was pleasantly surprised to find they were only charging $7.50 for the k1 kit... so I bought 2, the parts guy also said there were a little less than 400 of them left in the country... dunno if its true or not... was @ Sun Moters in carlisle PA.

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Cheers,
Robert

Search around using .. "K1 spring kit" as terms. If you can't find one detailed enough, PM me and I'll see if I can find my old one and get it up on my blog this weekend.


I was bored this morning so I went and got my old writup from when I replaced my K-1 spring kit and put it up on my maintenance blog. It's here if anyone is interested.

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'83 300DTurbo http://badges.fuelly.com/images/smallsig-us/318559.png

Broadband: more lies faster.

I think this is what you are looking for.

www.peachparts.com/shopforum/showthread.php?t=211618

go down to post #6 click on link

Charlie

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there were three HP ratings on the OM616...

1) Not much power
2) Even less power
3) Not nearly enough power!! 240D w/auto

Anyone that thinks a 240D is slow drives too fast.

80 240D Naturally Exasperated, 4-Spd 388k DD 150mph spedo 3:58 Diff

We are advised to NOT judge ALL Muslims by the actions of a few lunatics, but we are encouraged to judge ALL gun owners by the actions of a few lunatics. Funny how that works