^ Thanks, added comment about insert material longevity.

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URO Parts online catalog: https://apaindustries.com/catalog

I hear you about the injuries / pain and no more junkyards, me too although I'm still plugging away it it, nothing like I used to .

here's hoping Uro gets on the ball ~ all they need to do is actually LOOK AT the crappy junk they sell then tell their supplier : this is breach of contract, selling us defective goods, we're not paying until we get what we contracted for .

I did this as a buyer for the City of Los Angeles and it worked like a charm .

I was the -only- buyer who cared enough to do this simple thing .

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-Nate
1982 240D 408,XXX miles
Ignorance is the mother of suspicion and fear is the father

I did then what I knew how to do ~ now that I know better I do better

It's actually too large. The contours do not follow the rubber inserts snuggly at all.

Amen to this... reading this comment on a screen really underscores the absurdity of the issue.

Uro -There's a well earned reason this board is dismissive of your products. Penny pinching through manufacturing tolerances and rubber quality is a pretty short game to play. Increase the price a few bucks if need be. Else, over the medium to long run, OEM becomes a more viable alternative.

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1981 240D 4sp manual. Ivory White.

Check out the photos on the other thread; the radius at the top of the "hat" is too small on one side, which creates the gap between the bracket and the insert. We're both thinking the same thing though, cheers!

It can be tough with items like this. We buy tooling and set up production for items that we develop directly from the original, that way we're the only source for a few years until the competition catches up and we have to lower our price to remain competitive. That turns into an amazing value for the end user - they're getting our higher quality part (with a warranty) at the going rate for the cheap no-name, no-warranty stuff.

Other times the market is already flooded with cheap aftermarket alternatives, and it's a loosing fight for us to enter with a new part that costs more than the competition, even if it's a better part. You have the folks who will pay any price for OEM, and the others who will only buy the cheapest parts. So at some point in the past it made more sense to just sell the same door striker that everyone else is selling, and compete on price.

There aren't a ton of buyers in the middle, but thanks to forums such as this and easily-found online reviews, people are learning that doing a bit of research and paying a little more can definitely be worth it. We're trying hard to reach these buyers with the new, exclusive parts we develop, as we transition away from commodity parts whenever feasible.

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URO Parts online catalog: https://apaindustries.com/catalog

There has been a race to the bottom as far as parts are concerned. It's so bad for example that I have any alternator or starter bench tested at the store before bothering to install. Several have failed out of the box.

It's also a good idea to keep the core until certain that the new part is going to work. I learned this when Autozoo ultimately refunded money paid for a starter but had sent the core off. I ended up replacing their bad starter with one that didn't require a core. Live and learn.

I prefer paying a little more and not having to do the install repeatedly.

One of my relatives imports and sells crash parts. He can buy parts of varying qualities and says that some factories will build to whatever specs he wants.

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85SD 240K & stopped counting painted, putting bac together. 84SD 180,000. sold to a neighbor and member here but I forget his handle. The 84 is much improved from when I had it. 85TD beginning to repair to DD status. Lots of stuff to do.

Thank you but I prefer to deal with things using my own resources. As I mentioned I bought 2 new cheapie ones that did not last but about a year and developed the same issue.

But, that means I still have the 2 original Mercedes ones if I could remember where I put them.

Apparently the solutions are to buy the kits with the new rubber or buy the cheapie ones and remove the rubber and install them into the original Mercedes ones.

But, the focus of this thread was what to do right now if you have the problem and that is what I tried to have some answers for. My Wife who lives in another Town drove 3 days unable to close here door till she could bring it to me to fix.
It took about 30 minutes for me to see what was wrong gather the stuff and do the fix. Fortunately I had used the hot glue gun for some other repair a week previously if that had not happen I doubt if I would have thought to use it on the Striker.

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

Spoke with my Wife on the Phone about 30 minutes ago She said the repair is still working.

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

I just want to mention to everyone, I've seen threads where members are worried about parts becoming NLA.

I've certainly steered clear of URO parts in the past due to hearing of the rubber quality on the engine mounts and boots on the steering parts.

But they are trying. The attitude and professionalism they show in trying to resolve these issues might just be what ends up saving our cars as other manufacturers stop providing parts.

I have fits getting some parts for Honda PWCs which were discontinued in 2009. Turbos are NLA. IHI (the OE supplier) stopped making turbos and parts for the turbos used on the aquatrax line the same day honda announced they were discontinuing the line of PWCs

Finding an aftermarket supplier that is willing to make parts for a fairly niche market, and then communicate with those buyers and make an attempt to correct the issues with their products is phenomenal.

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1982 300D (w123, "Grey Car")
1982 300D (w123, "Blue Car")
2001 Ford F150 "Clifford" (The Big Red Truck)
1997 Dodge Ram 2500 12V Cummins
1996 Dodge Ram 2500 12V Cummins
Previous Vehicles:
1995 E300D, 1980 300SD, 1992 Buick Century, 2005 Saturn Ion

Concerning aftermarket suppliers. I will pick the W123 Mercedes as it has world wide distribution which of course is much greater then the Cars sold in the USA. That world wide sales is going to be what drives the aftermarket suppliers but it is going to be for parts that keep the vehicles on the road.
The problem with that is the what us are foreign owners might not have the cash to pop for the highest quality of parts and that means the aftermarket parts are not going to be the highest quality.

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

I appreciate your candor and transparency.

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1981 240D 4sp manual. Ivory White.

Here is some pics of the bottoms of the strikers that I used the hot glue on. Neither one of them has the rubber or plastic parts on the underside.

Notice in one of the picks the area that would normally be covered with plastic or rubber where the door latch hits and pushes the latch up inside of the square recess. In the first picture look at where he red arrow points.

On the rear one apparently door latch is not making the same contact as there is minimal marks on the metal.

Both are so far working like that.

Attached Thumbnails

   

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

I know this is an old thread, but as I had to deal with it, here it is:

- my front pass. door has to be slammed to close, it's missing the rubber 'bumper' shown above
- I saw a u-tube by some scammer selling a 'tool' to overcome possible screw-stripping (no details and no comments allowed)
- I used an impact driver (5mm Allen) to loosen the bolts - the first went OK, the others stripped
- I bought a #3 extractor (and a 5/32" drill bit it called for) $5 each
- I drilled deep with this bit, and then used a 5/16" to remove the bolt head
- as the most friction was between the bolt head and the plate, the bolts then came out (sort of) easily

A couple of notes:
- drill the small bit deep! - once the head is off, drilling into the stub will cause it to unscrew backwards, fall into an inaccessible channel and rattle for ever
- drill in the center! - otherwise the extractor may jam itself into the threads or you won't the able to turn it if it's not centered

Pics: the bolts and the door jamb where you can see it is somewhat adjustable

Attached Thumbnails

   

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1983 240D "Matylda" 4sp conversion 312-blue
1983 240D "Jituš" 4sp 623-beige
1983 240D "Tina" 4sp 751-grey (pwr windows)

Good to get those out. I drilled mine on my 126. Replacement screws were hard to find. I didn’t want to put the same MB ones back in after spending time drilling them out. I got some black ones made for two piece mag wheels online that fit well.

I noticed this part was posted on Thingiverse. I haven’t had the chance to print it and try it out but maybe it’ll come up on my 123.

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3716040

I think this is the little part that needs replacing. I ended up buying some junkyard parts for the 126. URO is likely an option now.

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79 300TD “Old Smokey” AKA “The Mistake” (SOLD)
82 240D stick shift 335k miles (SOLD)
82 300SD 300k miles
85 300D Turbodiesel 170k miles
97 C280 147k miles

I found that any electric or pneumatic impact tool will instantly and easily remove every screw with no damage .

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-Nate
1982 240D 408,XXX miles
Ignorance is the mother of suspicion and fear is the father

I did then what I knew how to do ~ now that I know better I do better