I know it's never going to be the same number from car to car, but i could use some thoughts on this ...
I discovered some bad rust on one of my upper spring perches, and need to repair that. I decided to do as much as I can while I have the springs out, since taking those out has been a looming fear of mine for years and I don't really want to have to relive the stress anymore than I have to.
The ball joints and LCA bushings, as well as the strut mounts and bumpers, have about 125,000 miles on them, and almost 15 years, so I decided to replace all those things. I think the springs are original and I am replacing them as well (one has a break at the bottom).
The struts themselves (for some reason not the mounts, bumpers or plastic covers), however, were replaced 50,000 miles and 6 years ago by a shop, and I'm torn on whether to replace those. They are Bilsteins. Neither leak and the ride feels great, though one has made an odd creaking sound when the wheels are off the ground the and steering wheel turned (it's the same wheel that was hit in an accident, so I've wondered if this was related). Still, haven't had any performance effects. I hate to be wasteful, since they aren't cheap, but I'd also hate to have to replace them in 10,000 miles, given that I'm not real keen on dealing with the springs again. I'm thinking I can put them back in and reasonably hope for another 40-50K ... does that sound realistic?

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1987 300D, arctic white/palomino--314,000 miles
1978 240D 4-speed, Euro Delivery, light ivory/bamboo--370,000 miles
2005 Jeep Liberty CRD Limited, light khaki/slate--140,000 miles
2018 Chevy Cruze diesel, 6-speed manual, satin steel metallic/kalahari--19,000 miles
1982 Peugeot 505 diesel, 4-speed manual, blue/blue, 130,000 miles
1995 S320, black/parchment--34,000 miles (Dad's car)

FWIW I have original struts on my 91 at 117k miles. I've been told for several years now that they are weeping but don't need to be replaced yet.

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14 E250 Bluetec 4Matic "Sinclair", Palladium Silver on Black, 157k miles
06 E320 CDI "Rutherford", Black on Tan, 175k mi, Stage 1 tune, tuned TCU
91 300D "Otis", Smoke Silver on Tan, 144k mi, wastegate conversion, ALDA delete

19 Honda CR-V EX 70k mi
Fourteen other MB's owned and sold
1961 Very Tolerant Wife

Put them back in and ride. The struts on a w124 car can be changed without having to mess with the springs.

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Current fleet
2006 E320 CDI
1992 300D - 5speed manual swapped

former members
1984 300D "Blues Mobile"

1978 300CD "El Toro"

I replaced mine on my 87, 3 years ago, one was seeping oil a bit, but they did seem to work fine, as no difference was noted when putting in new billsteins.
I probably could have saved the mony and ran them another 10 years.

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1959 Gravely LI, 1963 Gravely L8, 1973 Gravely C12
1982 380SL
1978 450 SEL 6.9 euro restoration at 63% and climbing
1987 300 D
2005 CDI European Delivery
2006 CDI Handed down to daughter
2007 GL CDI. Wifes

Yep. this one.


The only way I'd change them out is if I consistently drove on poorly maintained roads, gravel roads, or headed out to the woods on forest service roads often.


...or, I wanted to get a heavier duty shock.

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Run 'em!

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Allen Kroliczek
Oak Grove Autosport | Oak Grove Autosport
01 G500, 82 300TD, quite a few more.....

Just me being nitpicky... if I'm correct, I think you guys are talking about dampers/shock absorbers, not struts. A strut is defined as a load-bearing component that resists longitudinal compression, whereas the shock in a W124 just damps the oscillation of the coil spring (which actually supports the car) so that the car doesn't bounce up and down repeatedly after hitting a bump.

Some cars (almost all FWD, for example) do have MacPherson struts, a combination coil spring and shock that bears the weight of the car. It looks like this:

__________________
"Senior Luna, your sense of humor is still loco... but we love it, anyway." -rickymay ____ "Your sense of humor is still loco... " -MBeige ____ "Señor Luna, your sense of humor is quite järjetön" -Delibes

1982 300SD -- 211k, Texas car, tranny issues ____ 1979 240D 4-speed 234k -- turbo and tuned IP, third world taxi hot rod

2 Samuel 12:13: "David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die."

I always thought they were shocks before, but called them struts because the FSM refers to them as "shock absorber struts". So it's MB's fault.
Whatever the name, I will put them back in ... thanks for the advice, all. One less thing to worry about on a job that I feel like will take me forever.

__________________
1987 300D, arctic white/palomino--314,000 miles
1978 240D 4-speed, Euro Delivery, light ivory/bamboo--370,000 miles
2005 Jeep Liberty CRD Limited, light khaki/slate--140,000 miles
2018 Chevy Cruze diesel, 6-speed manual, satin steel metallic/kalahari--19,000 miles
1982 Peugeot 505 diesel, 4-speed manual, blue/blue, 130,000 miles
1995 S320, black/parchment--34,000 miles (Dad's car)

Wow, you're right... and they do it over and over, too. It doesn't look like they serve a load-bearing function, though? Interesting.

__________________
"Senior Luna, your sense of humor is still loco... but we love it, anyway." -rickymay ____ "Your sense of humor is still loco... " -MBeige ____ "Señor Luna, your sense of humor is quite järjetön" -Delibes

1982 300SD -- 211k, Texas car, tranny issues ____ 1979 240D 4-speed 234k -- turbo and tuned IP, third world taxi hot rod

2 Samuel 12:13: "David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die."

...the thing to remember about these "struts" is the top mountings. Once they crack and go soft the handling goes a bit gooey - if anything replace the top mounts before the "struts" but then again age as well as miles is going to have an effect on the damping.

If you look in ye olde FSM there's actually a test with bathroom scales bricks string and paper cups to check if they are still good.

(disclaimer => not all items mentioned are necessarily necessary for this test - "comedy" is being used to encourage reading of said book!)

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1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver
1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone
1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy!
1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing

I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior



Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits!

To be clear, they are struts because they locate the upper part of the suspension (instead of an upper control arm). They are not MacPherson struts, which are inside the coil springs, just struts. The rear suspension on the 124 does not have struts, just dampers (shocks).

__________________

Gone to the dark side

- Jeff

I went ahead and ordered the mounts, bumpers and boots on principle ... the shop that put the shocks in 50k ago didn't replace any of that, and I figured it could use a refresh.

__________________
1987 300D, arctic white/palomino--314,000 miles
1978 240D 4-speed, Euro Delivery, light ivory/bamboo--370,000 miles
2005 Jeep Liberty CRD Limited, light khaki/slate--140,000 miles
2018 Chevy Cruze diesel, 6-speed manual, satin steel metallic/kalahari--19,000 miles
1982 Peugeot 505 diesel, 4-speed manual, blue/blue, 130,000 miles
1995 S320, black/parchment--34,000 miles (Dad's car)

This! Test them, and know what you have.

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Respectfully,
/s/
M. Dillon
'87 124.193 (300TD) "White Whale", ~392k miles, 3.5l IP fitted
'95 124.131 (E300) "Sapphire", 380k miles
'73 Balboa 20 "Sanctification"
Charleston SC

Unfortunately the paper cups specified in the FSM are NLA at my dealer. Does anyone know where to source these parts? Perhaps they can be found in the special tool rental postings?

__________________

Gone to the dark side

- Jeff

Struts.

They certainly are struts.

Shocks mount to rubber on each end... 124/201 struts mount to a bearing mount and steel... they definitely locate and function in steering...

Shocks can be removed and the car will drive.

Don't try it with a 124!

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John HAUL AWAY, OR CRUSHED CARS!!! HELP ME keep the cars out of the crusher! A/C Thread
"as I ride with my a/c on... I have fond memories of sweaty oily saturdays and spewing R12 into the air. THANKS for all you do!

My drivers:
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 560SL convertible
1987 190D 2.5-5SPEED!!!

1987 300TD
2005 Dodge Sprinter 2500 158"WB
1994GMC 2500 6.5Turbo truck... I had to put the ladder somewhere!