front fender removal

[Silber Adler]

I got in my 300D this evening. I opened the front door and looked at the front fender bolts. they all were exposed behind the open door.

Gotta love these old beasts.

[whunter]

Yes, actually made to be repaired..

.

[Mark DiSilvestro]

Tricky part might be where the fender connects to the panel below the front bumper. That joint may be glued with sealer/undercoat.

Happy Motoring, Mark

[BillGrissom]

Not sure what that is "... as opposed to". I replaced the front fenders on my 1969 Dart and 1996 Voyager after accidents. Both bolted on & off fairly easily as I recall. Getting them painted was the hard part. If really lucky you might find a junkyard fender in the same factory color.

[charmalu]

Originally Posted by Mark DiSilvestro

Tricky part might be where the fender connects to the panel below the front bumper. That joint may be glued with sealer/undercoat.

Happy Motoring, Mark

Wait till you have to remove one like on my 80 240D. the whole thing is glued on with under seal.

PNP had a %50 sale last summer, and there was a 300D the same color. (Ivory) I removed all the bolts and screws about 4 days before the sale. then all I had to do is pull the fenders off the day of the sale and this would save time so I could then grab other things. Didn`t realise they were glued on under the top edge. I used a Razor blade knife trying to cut through the goop, but in the end I lost.

If they have the short splash shield, they are glued, full splash shield then they are not, except for under the front lower panel.


Charlie

[whunter]

Originally Posted by BillGrissom

Not sure what that is "... as opposed to". I replaced the front fenders on my 1969 Dart and 1996 Voyager after accidents. Both bolted on & off fairly easily as I recall. Getting them painted was the hard part. If really lucky you might find a junkyard fender in the same factory color.

Some of the W126 and W123 fenders where installed, then heavily sprayed inside the fender well with a (hot high pressure) rubber adhesive sealer, along the top and rear joint area at the factory.

Worst case in the shop with unlimited tools, it has taken me six hours to remove one fender without damage.

Later vehicles used a plastic inner fender liner instead of the sealer.


.

[charmalu]

Haven`t tried it, but a guy told me if Acetone or MEK is sprayed on the under seal it will soften it. Don`t breath it, spray and run.


Charlie

[Zacharias]

Originally Posted by Silber Adler

I got in my 300D this evening. I opened the front door and looked at the front fender bolts. they all were exposed behind the open door.

The trailing edge bolts are there. Then two bolts underneath the lower garnish trim on the trailing edge of the fender. In addition, on your '85 you have to pull the plastic fender liner to get to the two or three inside the wheel well.

The remainder are accessed by removing front trim items, starting with the turn signal lamp assembly. As I recall on mine I removed both the headlight and the front bumper filler rubber trim to get at the front ones but memory isn't clear on whether I had to actually pull both.

Then underneath the bumper there are three screws to join the lower sail panel, which seem like some sort of odd afterthought as they aren't as nice a setup as you'd expect from Mercedes.

The fender actually wraps around the front of the car, under the headlamp and bumper, as one piece. Makes it just dandy to try and ship one unless you use Greyhound, which doesn't charge it out as "dimensional weight" due to the odd shape .

[Mark DiSilvestro]

I think the 1982 calender-year was when they went to the full fendr-liners. My '81 240D and '81-built 82 240D had the short liners and the fenders were badly rusted round the headlights.
My late-production '82 240D and '84 TD have the full liners and their fenders are in much better shape.

Happy Motoring, Mark

[daw_two]

I know the 1985 300D are glue free under the lip hanging edge. Not for sure if it was 1983 or 1984 that they quit using glue on that lip edge.

[zeke]

The glue free ones are interchangeable with the glued ones, right?

I want to pull one off an older model at PnP have it sprayed and replace my glued on one that is damaged.

[charmalu]

I don`t see why not, they are all W123 bodies.

Would be a good idea to add the full splash shield and dump the shorter one.

Charlie

[Mark DiSilvestro]

Originally Posted by charmalu

I don`t see why not, they are all W123 bodies.

Would be a good idea to add the full splash shield and dump the shorter one.

Charlie

Did that on my first 240D before I sold it.

[daw_two]

Originally Posted by zeke

The glue free ones are interchangeable with the glued ones, right?

I want to pull one off an older model at PnP have it sprayed and replace my glued on one that is damaged.

Yes, they are.....however, as has been indicated by others, if the fender was GLUED on, it will be very difficult to get it off in a PNP place without proper tools. Maybe if you are allowed to take a torch in....then you could loosen the glue with heat.

[zeke]

Originally Posted by daw_two

Yes, they are.....however, as has been indicated by others, if the fender was GLUED on, it will be very difficult to get it off in a PNP place without proper tools. Maybe if you are allowed to take a torch in....then you could loosen the glue with heat.

My plan was the reverse...my fender is glued on, so I want to find an 85 at the PnP to pull so I don't have to mess with glue in the yard. I can deal with the glue on my car at my leisure in my garage.