Dear All,

I'd like some advice about rear spring replacement on my 1981 W123 300D.

According to the MB dealer I need part number

123 324 35 04

These cost about 200 euros a piece.

I've asked an independent chap and he says he can get

Monroe SP0660 springs for me (suitable replacement for 123 324 35 04)

These cost 75 euros a piece.

I've also seen others advertising replacement springs for 50 euros a piece.

Does anyone know what is good?

I don't want to have to replace them again! (I've taken the overwhelming advice from this forum and bought HD Bilstein shocks all round)

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

I don't really need or want some reinforced super stiff spring - I don't need a Stuttgart Taxi effect!

(A search on the forum for recommended spring manufacturers was not successful!)

Id go with the dealer ones. Monroe does not make good stuff.

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1981 300SD 401k, 330K on motor
1985 300D Federal 127k
1985 300TD (getting signed over soon) 275k
1984 300D, 285K (engine used on SD) RIP

"If we dont change our direction, we are likely to wind up where we are headed."

If your springs are just sagging a bit and not broken you might be able to help yourself by installing thicker spring pads at much less expense.

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Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 82 300cd stick (parting out), 83 240/300d five speed, 82 240d (converting to turbodiesel 300D), 99 Miata, 03 Dodge 3/4 ton with cummins six speed; I have had about 32 benzes. I am looking to buy a pagoda SL at the moment

Thanks for the tip - but will it work? I thought the saloon already had the thickest rubber pads (the ones that are installed on the top of the spring).

If you don't rate the Monroe stuff how would you rate German made but cheap stuff?

honestly I have no idea if Monroe makes good springs or if Mercedes (or whoever makes them) still makes good springs. I did have a set of monroe shocks which only lasted 20 thousand miles though. These springs have a lot of metallurgical engineering behind them and I'm not sure Id trust an american manufacturer over a german one. Id pay the premium seeing as how these can affect ride quality, handling and safety.

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1981 300SD 401k, 330K on motor
1985 300D Federal 127k
1985 300TD (getting signed over soon) 275k
1984 300D, 285K (engine used on SD) RIP

"If we dont change our direction, we are likely to wind up where we are headed."

Yep - very good points - thanks.

Finding the originating manufacturer or source of "original" Mercedes parts is indeed a big problem - not just for rear springs

Here is a picture of why I want to change them:-



The closely compressed coils (shown here at the bottom of the picture - the spring is shown upside down) at the top of the spring are very close to each other. I'm sure that these bits are meant to be a bit stiffer as I can easily compress them to nothing by pressing down on them. The over all length of the spring, however, is not that far from the new specifications...

How about Sachs P/N 996-167 for 90 euros a piece (plus shipping)?

They've got a really nice web page:-

http://www.zf.com/brands/content/en/sachs/products_sachs/online_catalog_sachs/online_catalog_SACHS.html

and

http://webcat-services.zf.com/index.asp?SPR=4

That's a progressive rate spring. Not stock for a 123. I would simply go to the salvage yard and get some factory springs for not much money and go for it. They pretty seldom wear out.

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Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 82 300cd stick (parting out), 83 240/300d five speed, 82 240d (converting to turbodiesel 300D), 99 Miata, 03 Dodge 3/4 ton with cummins six speed; I have had about 32 benzes. I am looking to buy a pagoda SL at the moment

Not entirely true.



How many nubs were on the rubber spacer? 1 2 or 3?

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1987 300D Sturmmachine
1985 300D Weekend/Camping/Dog car
2000 Volkswagen Eurovan MV moneypit
1991 300D Nearly Perfect

There are 3 nubs on the spacer - there is also a part number clearly stamped on it 115 325 22 44 (Probably the first time I've been able to clearly see a part number on this car!)

What does the coding of 1 2 3 nubs mean?

So you think they "seldom wear out"? That's interesting - here in Holland there is a cottage industry of W123 rear spring suppliers that say they DO wear out and that is the reason why so many older Mercedes have saggy rear ends. They are also quite keen on selling "help springs" here - these are dodgy looking things you attach to the side of the existing suspension in some way or other. (I considered that to be an undesirable solution)

Having taken the whole suspension apart I can see that a saggy rear end is also dependent on the sub frame bushings, trailing arm bushings and the rear differential mount...

I've found some information for the nubs by looking through some old postings on this forum: the nubs indicate the height or thickness of the rubber

There seems to be some confusion about what means what so I looked on the febi website to see what they sell ( www.febi.com )

Number of nubs Rear Springs Front Springs
1 9.5mm 8mm
2 N/A N/A
3 19mm 18mm
4 N/A 23mm

I don't know (yet) the connection between the rubber thickness and the type of coil spring though.

Oh cr*p all my nice spaces for the table above got automatically removed. There are meant to be 3 headings "Number of nubs" "Rear Springs" and "Front Springs" - you'll have to align the information by sight to see which number fits under each heading