W123 seats -- disassembly, skin removal padding refurbish, misc. notes - Page 3 - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

scottyc · #31 12-16-2014, 10:05 PM

Where are the bolts on the rear part of the seat bottom, that hold the seat in to the tracks or the tracks to the floor? I can't figure out how to remove the seat. Thanks

scottyc · #32 12-16-2014, 10:09 PM

It's an 85' w123

TheDon · #33 12-16-2014, 10:13 PM

To remove the bolts to the car you need to use the side handle, the height adjuster, and slide it forward. Then you can access the bolts at the rear.

Once you have it out you will see 6 large Phillips head screws, two of which are hidden by the seat rails. You have to move the seat rails to egg the access joke over them so you can remove the screws.

In all honesty, the first time I took a seat apart I just winged it.

scottyc · #34 12-16-2014, 10:41 PM

I figured it out, you gotta pull up on the side handle. Thanks

unkl300d · #35 02-23-2016, 06:59 PM

Thanks Molyp* for this opportune tutorial. I just finished taking apart my old '79 driver seat.
Mine did not have hog-wire clips. In order to access the large nut to remove the arm rest, one has to remove two Phillips screw that hold a metal frame bar. One side of that bar rests on the nut in order to keep it from turning. Then remove one 10mm bolt next to the nut.

All in all this tutorial was great. Easy to remove the upholstery.

THANKS

sknittymama · #36 01-31-2020, 04:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BillGrissom

I rebuilt both front seats in my 84 & 85 300D. I posted photos in another post. I also unbolted the bottom from top, and didn't fool with the top in both cars. My main additions are that I tied the top wires together with either "rebar tie wire" or a net of 1/4" poly rope, covered w/ spiked carpet runner, then a layer of thick rubber foam (garage shelf liner at 99c Store). The 85 had horsehair, which was more degraded, so covered the top w/ thick burlap. I hog-ringed the carpet runner and burlap to the steel frame. I glued the felt runners back to the seat covers. I repair broken springs by inserting the ends into 1/4" copper tubing w/ epoxy and crimping. I spent more time freeing up and lubing the seat tracks. I used harsh-weather bicycle chain lube since it is supposed to stay put and handle dirt. For the finale, I use sheepskin covers which feel fantastic.

Hi, Bill. Just seeing your comment about gluing the felt runners in place... I am on my third attempt at figuring out how to keep these in place - no luck so far. First I tried a few drops of hot glue, but when I reassembled the seat, these spots were very visible as small bumps, so I removed all traces of the hot glue and tried a spray adhesive. Luckily, I tried first on the side, as I quickly found that it soaked through to the outside of the seat cover. Now, I am considering using double sided tape to hold these in place. Can you tell more about your experience gluing these in place? What type of glue did you use? How successful (e.g. "invisible") was it? Thanks!

vwnate1 · #37 02-01-2020, 12:10 AM

Subscribed, I need to do the seats in two of my W123's....

cmac2012 · #38 02-01-2020, 12:55 PM

Hey, great save. I found two excellent palomino seats in a 300SD a few months back and then discovered that they wouldn't swap into my 300SDL. They changed the seats and electonics in the post '85 W126s. So I pulled off the skins, also had a freebie palamino seat, just the platform, no base. Now I need to put them on my SDL. Not sure if the skins would fit on my 300D seats, also palamino but the vinyl sort. I haven't finished reading the thread yet, might be in there.

Shern · #39 12-18-2020, 02:09 AM

I'm in the process of refurbishing. I currently have two passenger seat-back pads, donors from two different cars. One is spongy, supple and greenish, the other is hard and brittle, mostly brown with some green. Both appear to be horsehair with some rubberizing element. The spongy one seems like it'll last another 20 years while the (clearly) horse hair pad has a year tops before it meets the same fate as the pad its replacing.

I suspect one of them is only synthetic horse hair, whatever that might mean, while the other likely ran the Kentucky Derby.

Does anyone know if Mercedes used different seat-back material across 123s over various years?

-

vwnate1 · #40 12-22-2020, 02:26 AM

IIRC it's coconut fibers, not horse hair .

The green ones seem to be better .

In the past I've found good condition seat buns that were crispy and use 3M upholstery spray glue to save them .

For certain you'd be wise to cover the springs with muslin or other sturdy cloth before re installing the buns....

Please take and share pictures, it's been decades since I did much auto upholstery and I'm wanting to re skin my '82 240D's seats front and rear .

Shern · #41 12-24-2020, 02:26 PM

Apparently horse hair is a popular urban legend. Though difficult to confirm one way or the other.

I ended up ditching the crispy back and god am I happy I did. Here's a shot of them below.
Crispy left, bouncy right.

It was a fiddly but enjoyable process. I had two donor seats to play around with -a passenger and driver- from a generous forum member.

My driver, or course, required the most work. Here's the original back exposed.

And here it is where it belongs.

No more hoovering clydesdale/coir!

New back installed:

While it may have been possible to salvage the crispy back by wrapping it in glue, there's no chance it would have been as comfortable as a backing that's still bouncy and pliable. I found another passenger side cushion in the yard. What's odd is the difference. I pulled two perfect backs off of 1980 model 300Ds. On 81s? Junk. I suspect the manufacturing process varied between years...

Meanwhile, the seat back springs were heavily worn.
While it's possible to take a passenger seat back frame and install it on the driver's side (the arm rest can be moved with ease), the adjustment will then be on the wrong side. This sucks for a number of reasons I've not seen mentioned.

1.) the adjuster will be in a super awkward place, behind the seatbelt latch and under the armrest. Good luck to you.

2.) You will not be able to reinstall the plastic trim on that side because the shape required does not exist.

3.) Don't do it.

Instead, it's easy enough to pry open the mounting tabs and swap the spring assembly, keeping the otherwise solid driver back frame:

Skin going back on:

The seat bottom/base, is interesting. My 81 did not come with this style of spring box. I pulled it from the Yard. See the circular coils in the front? That appears to be a later addition. My original base did not have those. The nice thing about those coils is that MB makes very cheap foam inserts to bolster them. Believe they were originally a taxi upgrade. They're like 5-7 bucks each and well worth it. Here's how they look and fit:

And here's the money:

I drove nine hours yesterday. Imagine replacing a lazyboy stuffed with hay for one filled with memory foam. It was a bit like that.

Refurb those seats!

ROLLGUY · #42 12-24-2020, 04:25 PM

Awesome write-up, thanks! I have done pretty much the exact same thing many times, so I know exactly what you went through. The driver seat in my 629,000 mile wagon has parts from four different seats. Having nice comfortable seating in these cars make the miles go by fast!

Shern · #43 12-24-2020, 04:59 PM

It sure did... how we spend time and money on tires, shocks and spring coils and neglect the other obvious “point of contact” is beyond me. Mad I didn’t do this sooner.

Oh one other thing. The headrests are supposed to move up and down. This seems obvious in retrospect however every headrest I’ve touched either in my own car or in the yard has been completely seized, shafts to the sleeves. Once you wrestle the things out, you can sand the corrosion, oil or grease and slip them right back in. Voilà, height adjustable headrest.

Turns out these used to be luxury cars or so I’ve been told.

vwnate1 · #44 12-25-2020, 12:40 AM

Those cylindrical black front bolsters are a W126 part and the M-B Classic Center sells them....

I don't think I have any good covers at this point .

I'm so wanting to re do the seats in my '82 240D .

unkl300d · #45 12-25-2020, 04:55 PM

Shern, nice write up tutorial !
Thanks!

I found a nice set of Sienna driver and passenger front seats for my 300D 1979 a few years ago. I posted about this swap.
Big difference from my old horse hair/coconut flat driver seat.

Original 79 300D color is Tabacco but the different front seat color is negligible.
I just bought a rear bench in Sienna but have yet to find a decent rear back rest in Sienna. So, the Tabacco stays in the rear..

vwnate, what color is your interior?

I got the Sienna from an 82 240D...