just for the sake of posterity, the above described procedure did in fact work on my 95, so its clear that nothing was changed over the entire live of the W124 with regards to the hatch.
three things of note:
1)the forward most pins, the one held in place by the sheet-metal tab are about 1 3/4" long. For some reason I couldn't release the tension on the driver side pin and it took a lot of prying, vice-gripping, lubing and swearing to get it out. Once it was though, the rear-most pin practically falls out and the subsequent pins one the other strut are easy as pie.
2) I was a one man show, but with some lashing connected to my garage door frame acting as an emergency catch, and an tall a-frame ladder wedged under the hatch I was able to work with a mitigated fear of being guillotined to death. the hatch is heavy btw. It would have gone a lot faster with some helping hands.
3) once you're all said and done and ready for a test, watch your face. I was used to a flaccid hatch and with the new shocks, that sucker rises with reckless abandon. Seriously, its got velocity. I was only able to avoid decapitation thanks to my cat-like reflexes.
in closing, it was a fun easy project and now if I ever need to catapult anything over a castle wall, I'm set.
11-16-2007, 02:01 AM
Hybrid Mode
