Installed rear shocks on my W123 today!
 

I got my Bilsteins in last week and had a chance to work on Rag Doll this afternoon before the game.

Put her on jackstands and it was a VERY simple operation. Removal of the rear seat was a little confusing, but opening the armrest partially revealed the last screw.

Lifted up carefully on the rear seatback and she came right off, access covers open and remved the 2 nuts on each side that held the shocks on from the top. After the first nut, I have a 'tool' that holds the stock itself still while I turned the 17MM retaining nut, and removed it. I had already removed the bottom 17 MM bolts, and out came the old units. Both I assume are OE units, still stamped with 123 and the rest of the part number on them, as well as Bilstein. I used a screwdirver from the inside of the car to drop the lower bushing that sticks to the body, and prepared to install the new unit.

I installed new hardware and bushings and aligned them with the hole on top, and with the help of a floor jack, held the shock in place while I bolted her on in and torqued em down. Secured the tops and reinstalled the nifty access covers.

Old shocks still had spring action but no resistance whatsoever. The new units feel GREAT. Took her out for a ride and the rear end no longer 'swings' side to side over 60 MPH, also, there's no more 'walking' over washboard pavements!

I look back at her 6 months ago when I brought her home, and I wonder how I made it home without dieing in a firey crash. THis car feels so much more stable now than it did 6 months ago, with over 4" of play in the wheel, bent right side tie rod, worn out tie rod ends, clapped out upper control arms, worn idler bushings, busted steering stabilizer and a worn out, mal adjusted steering box, and many mechanical items I addressed (filters, banjo bolts, ALDA etc). Each little repair I do makes the car drive closer and closer to what a benz is supposed to drive like. I drove my moms 420SEL the other day, and I was suprised and how smooth it drove and rode compared to my car. I know its not fair W123 vs W126, but I guess all mercedes have a certain 'feel' to make sure you know that what you are driving, is indeed a Mercedes Benz. Today, after the new rear shocks, the ride is more Mercedes esque than ever.


Only things left to really look at suspension wise are lower ball joints and lower control arm bushings, the box still has play in it and I dont think I should adjust any more, theres not much more to adjust. Theres still 2" of play in the wheel, but its stable enough for me to commute to work on the small roads daily. Maybe front shocks at some point, but rides good right now and the shocks look okay, and pass the bounce test. Will probably end up replacing them this summer anyway, damn OCD. LOL.

Whats next? A new windsheild and seal, and then paint! AC work to fall in there somewhere. (Larry Bible, can you answer my PM? :D)

Has anyone noticed theres no upper shock boot? Is there any concern about dirt etc getting on the upper shock shaft? I imagine the OE ones lasted 23 years, so perhaps no?

Thanks for a great site, and all the help here! Rag Doll wont be rag doll much longer!!!

i think
 

all my bilsteins hav e had upper boots.

tom w

I need to start some serious suspension work soon. I drove my gf's mom's new Toyota (yes I know I shouldn't compare the two) and I was shocked at how much tighter a newer car handles than mine does. I have about three or four inches of play in the wheel and it tends to slop around on the road. I'm going to put Bilstein HD's in the back because I usually carry stuff back there and I guess I need to start replacing steering bushings.

Rear shock boot
 

I recently installed new Bilstein shocks front and rear W126 '91 300SE.
I ordered the standard shock, NOT heavy duty. There were no boots or plastic covers for the rear, just for the front shocks which I reused the original that came with the car. My mileage was 120K. I had no problems.
The rear seat removal was the most difficult part of the whole deal. I do not think the rear shocks will get that much water spray or whatever as the front ones will.

just curious Red.. whatcha pay for the bilstiens?

I'm still on the fence for the HD or the Comfort ones. :o

Hitman, I have the HD ones and kinda wish I had the comfort ones. When you go over bumps and lane dividers with the HDs it thuds and rides pretty rough. Even with the HD's these cars won't be the best handlers, you need to do a lot more than shock absorbers to get any "performance" out of the suspension. Im not saying these are bad handling cars, you can pretty much feel everything through the steering and oversteer is pretty predictable but there can be a lot of slop after 20 years.

I bet a good set of stiff high speed rated tires would do more than the difference between the comfort and HD.

I don't expect it to handle on rails by anymeans, sway bars typically fix that. The front is HUGE already, seems like a slightly larger rear would help.

I was leaning toward a set of Michelins when the tires on the SDL are used up. Their sidewalls are very stiff even in the touring tires.

I have some Michelins on my 300D, X-Radial's i think they're called and they're very...squishy.

Yeah the front sway bar is pretty ridiculous... you are 100% right on the rear bar, its way too small. I think it was Mercedes's way of adding some understeer into the suspension (plus that cast iron mass under the hood :) )

I paid a little under 60 a piece, part number B46 713, ordered from Mercedesparts.com I tried other sites, and only Adsitco had them cheaper, but I heard some folks had customer service issues.

I did install new rear sway bar end links on the car when I first got it, I was terrified when I went over bumps and heard the rattling noise when I went over bumps!

As far as tires go, I went with the Kumho Touring A/S 795. So far so good. I know the 795 is probably not going to do great if I autocrossed her, did frequent high speed driving or had to do some fancy driving moves (thats what the W rated tires are for on the Marauder). Its a good overall driving tire with good noise, ride and grip traits. For under 35 each, I cant complain. I only wish I got 205s to get the 5 tread ribs vs 4.

I have researched and tried many tires on other cars over the years, and currently I use Yokohama Avid V4S on my mothers 420SEL, with good wear and a good ride. We used Energy MXV4s for years on the car, but only found a little over 20K of use out of them before the wear bars were down. Just my .02 When you go to a tire store, usually they insist on putting on the speed rated tire that the car came with, i.e. W126 came with V rated, the tire place will insist on putting V rated tires on, probably for liability and profit reasons, even though I dont think my mother has ever taken the car over 70 MPH, or ripped around a corner before.

In any case, Car rides beautiful now, I need to bite the bullet and buy a steering box. *SIGH*

me too
 

Just put four of the comfort Bilsteins in, and yeah, it really tightened things up! Funny, now I notice other things that weren't as obvious when everything was mushy - like the play in the steering box itself (I think). My rears did not have bushings on the old ones or on the new ones out of the box, but the fronts did.

Getting the bottom inside nut off the control arm was kind of a pain; though I'm glad I happened to have the right kind of multi-splined 10mm needed for the job. Why MB went with this kind of a nut is anybody's guess, but a little WD40 and some persistance made it come off.

I compared a dead shock to a new one by compressing each. It was tough to tell the difference. I almost thought maybe they didn't need replacing, but once I drove it, the difference was incredible. A worthwhile fix for about a hundred bucks and three hours of labor.

[QUOTE=sailor15015;1088755] I have about three or four inches of play in the wheel and it tends to slop around on the road.
thats not good, in fact thats pretty dangerous... i like the handeling of my w123 every monring i go on a backroad to school that is twisty and going 10 over the corner speed limit she still grips and body roll is evident but it follows through with the next corner.. i wish i had a video camera

where do you get them for a $100 ?