Jackstands are made by AC Hydraulics, they are made in Denmark. I got them from Steve at the Ultimate Garage. Here’s the link. http://www.ultimategarage.com/acstands.html Steve was responsible for the flat top design and he had exclusive rights to sell them for a certain period of time. I’m thinking they may be available elsewhere by now.

I put together a group buy a couple of years ago for a bunch of people on a Porsche board I frequent. We bought little over a 100 of them so we got a price break, I think they cost us about $70 each with most everyone buying 4. They are by far the best and safest jackstands I’ve ever seen. I’ve also got a AC floorjack that can go under cars with as little as 3 inches of undercar clearance.

Check out the main page of Ultimate Garage too, Steve has some very cool stuff. http://www.ultimategarage.com/ Go to Garage Consulting & Design and check out the photo gallery, the highlight photos are especially impressive.

Ron, thanks so much for the info!

Another jack stand source, http://www.asedeals.com/jack_stands.html

Has anyone tried to purchase the 163 320 23 13 Sachs strut assembly lately? I just got a quote for $225 each from the same source someone else in this thread got for around $50. How can this be? Was this low price always a mistake and MB just now caught it?

4 months ago I bought all four of mine for about $100 each. Yeah, I also read that $50 price as well, I think someone just got lucky.

-Kevin

I knew that had to be a erroneous price on the 23's. When I compared them to the dealer replacements they were identical in every respect except for the differences mentioned in an earlier post.

Amazing they took so long to correct a price discrepancy...especially one so large. I'm sure that doesn't happen very often.......thanks to Bobby for originally posting the great price that many of us were able to take advantage of........

Phil from fastlane stated via email to me that there is no Bilstein option for my 00 ML430 rear, just the OEM Sachs strut assembly. However the Bilstein web site shows a shocks for both front and rear. Any idea why Phil would state this?

With the Bilstens you buy for the rear you will have to remove the coil spring and reinstall it on the new shock. So Phil is correct there is no direct replacement strut assembly from Bilstein, only the shock is available from them.

The internet auto parts houses (online catalogs) call for the shock mounting kit 163 323 01 85 to be used with the front shocks. I'm planning on using the Bilstein's on a 1999 ML430. What is this kit (looks like the Bilsteins come with everything I need)?

Re-use old bump stops? Thanks.

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Jim

My new front Bilsteins came with new rubber mounts and plates.

I have a 2000 ml55 with 81,000 on it. Want to change front and rear shocks as it makes noise over bumps and bounces over uneven pavement.

Does anyone have any suggestions for replacements - I.E. Bilsteins or Sachs? Where to purchase? On-line instructions for front and rear?

Thanks
marc

I just purchased new Sachs rear shocks for my 2000 ML 430 on 12/12/05. $46 a piece at http://***************/ and free shipping. When I received them, it was actually the entire assembly, so may want to give Rusty a try. Bilsteins were available for around $150/shock.

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Steve32

Looks like the price has gone down since I ordered mine at $58. each.
Rusty is who I buy most of my parts from, he also sells parts for Porsche and I think a lot of other makes too.

Great to hear this deal is still around. Get'm while there available !!!

The parts that Steve32 bought are part number 163 320 13 13. According to EPC, this is the correct part if you have code 589. My ML430 does not have code 589. Since there is large price difference, I would like to try these struts for code 589. Does anyone know what code 589 is or what possibly could be different in the struts? I did some searching and code 589 could be the full size spare tire carrier. Would a different strut just be made a little stronger for the extra weight? I do have a hitch installed but apparantly that does not change the strut requirement. Any comments are appreciated.