I just got two brand new looking front seats out of a w124 and in one way or another I want to use them to replace my W126's leather ripped from seats. I know that the W124's are smaller seats and the attachment points do not match the w126's. I thought of finding a way to detach the top part of the W124 seat from the rail and install it on the W126's seat rails. Has anybody tried something like that before? Any lessons learned? Otherwise, I will start working on it and document the mod with a lot of pictures. Thanks!

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87 300SDL
92 300D 2.5 TD

Hmmm - I have a pair of w126 seats in my 87 300TD. So they must not be too hard to make fit (don't know how it was done cause I got the car that way). I want to put w124 seats back in.

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1987 300TD named Klause
1987 300TD named Spouse
1987 300D named Seabiscuit
1980 300TD names Chloie (now sadly gone)

The w123 and w126 Spring Box or Base will fit either chassis. the Spring Box is basically the same. The only thing is you have to swap over is the manual/Electric seat tracks.

Since the W126 has electric controlled seat back adjustment, you would have to swap over the 123 seat back or wire in a switch for the electric set up.

To install a set from another Chassis type, you will have to measure the distance between the holes on the Spring box where the screws attach the Tracks.


I have often wondered if a W124 or W201 seat would fit a W123.

Charlie

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there were three HP ratings on the OM616...

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3) Not nearly enough power!! 240D w/auto

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80 240D Naturally Exasperated, 4-Spd 388k DD 150mph spedo 3:58 Diff

We are advised to NOT judge ALL Muslims by the actions of a few lunatics, but we are encouraged to judge ALL gun owners by the actions of a few lunatics. Funny how that works

I would agree with you. If somebody was able to fit Larger W126 seats into a 300TD you should not have any problems switching back to the smaller seats. If they kept the original 300TD tracks and just bolted the W126 seats to it it should not be very difficult (just remove the seats from the tracks). If they kept the w126 tracks and modified them, then you will have to find W124 tracks.

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87 300SDL
92 300D 2.5 TD

Charlie, I am not really familiar with the seats setup for the W123 and W201 although in essence the mod should be very similar. I will be documenting the work and share it as I advance. You can never know how the material could can be of help to other members.

Any other thoughts are of course welcome. I will be out to the beach next week taking a family vacation and let me tell you, you don't know how much I would like to take those seats with me to rework them.

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87 300SDL
92 300D 2.5 TD

A long time ago I build a set of furniture based around 124 seats.

I replaced one of them with a 126 seat of the same color.

I remember having to drill new rear mounting holes for the seat as the 126 seat was longer.

Width wise I think they were OK.

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82 300SD 145k
89 420SEL 210k
89 560SEL 118k
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91 300D 2.5 Turbo. 241k
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93 300E 195k

interesting thread...awhile back, I scored some front seats from a 1993 300CE to put in my 1982 300CD. I also have a 1990 560SEC and the seats looked identical. A rough measurement with a tape measure seemed to show they are basically dimensionally the same, although I could have been off a tad bit (as in about a 1/16" to a 1/4" if that much) here and there so to speak. However I did notice that the w126 seats do seem to have a lot more "cush" in the bottom than the ones out of the w124. Hmmmm, a 1993 300CE is a w124, isn't it? Anyway, I found that the power seat frame work wouldn't evem come close to bolting into the w123 floor, duh! Plus it seemed to make the seat sit entirely too high in the car to be usable for me so removing the seat from the frame was executed immediately and so to with the original w123 seats to swap frames. A little bit of quick measuring lead to drilling only two new holes in the bottoms of the seats because there weren't any holes on the rear at all iirc. If memory serves me correctly, there were bolts holes at the front that lined up perfectly. The lame part of this is, I didn't make any notes let alone take any pictures, duh. Kinda of a case of "not helping" I guess. Sorry. My point is, it's really very do-able with rather satisfactory results, especially if your originals a ratted out all to hell!

just a side note, I've never removed the seats from the w126 coupe for any research on mounts, dimensions, etc. so I can't speak to any of those issues for comparisons. Best guess is, probably run into rather similar issues.

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Dedicated to the preservation of antique Mercedes Benz's, one rusty ol' bucket of bolts at a time!

Brief update -- After looking at different alternatives to make this mod work I found that the best one was to transfer the entire spring assy from the w124 to the w126. At first I did not think it was going to work because when measured installed in the seat frame the distance between spring anchors was different. I decided to go for it and try it and to my surprise it fit quite well. This was very important because the covers of the w124 seats would not go with the w126 springs. I will expand and add pictures in a couple of days.

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87 300SDL
92 300D 2.5 TD

Ok, I just finished the mod and have some pictures to show. I own an 87 300SDL. The seat covers are not in the greatest condition and I've been wanting to get better ones. Unfortunately, I can only pay junkyard prices for them, so my wait has been long. A few weeks ago, when I started this thread, I found a W124 with palomino interior and the seats (vinyl, not leather) were in almost pristine condition. I knew that the dimensions were not the same but I could not let the opportunity pass and I was committed to figure out a way to do the mod.

After removing my car's seat cover, I could see that it did not have any foam support of any kind and on top one of the springs was broken.

The W124 seats I bought were not powered but my car seats are. My alternatives were:
1) Modify the attachment points to fit the W124 seat (I would loose the power feature).
2) Retain the power operated seat frame of my car's and adapt springs and cover.

I decided for option 2. But I was not certain if it was going to work because the dimensions of the seats and spring frames are so different. Believe it or not, when I installed the W124 spring on in the W126 seat frame it fit without a problem.

I am not sure if I want to mess with the back of the seat yet.
Here are some pictures from the mod.

Attached Thumbnails

         

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87 300SDL
92 300D 2.5 TD

I just recently acquired a spring assembly for a 1993 300E W124. I have a 1983 300SD W126. I would like to do as you did but am finding I don't quite understand how you went about doing it. It seems like you made yours work quite successfully. I have a couple questions for you.

1. Did you remove the springs from the W124 seat bottom and put them into the W126 seat bottom? If so, how did you accomplish this, did you need any special tools? My springs in my W126 are toast and I am desperate for new ones. (by seat bottoms I am referring to the black piece that the springs are fixed to)

2. How did you remove your W126 seat from the guide rails? I am having a very frustrating time getting to that center bolt thats on the guide rail.

Any help is appreciated! Thank you!

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"When the going get's weird, the weird turn pro." -Hunter S. Thompson

'83 300SD - 288k - Sarge

Trying to revive this interesting thread. Was actually thinking of doing the reverse and using 126 seat bottoms on a 124 just for the extra cushy feeling. Anyone ever try it?