Hey all-

I'm trying to remove my brake calipers on the front of my 88 560 SEL and they are on there tighter than all hell. Does anyone know what the torque specs for these are/should be?

Any tricks I should know?


Thanks in advance!


Scott

Years ago MB quit using lock tabs and started using lock tite. When you reassemble, clean the bolts, apply blue lock tite, and torque to specs.

Peter

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Auto Zentral Ltd.

18 inch breaker bar.

Or, a gorilla.

Specs call for these 19mm bolts on your 560SEL to be tightened to 115 Newton meters with Loctite. (This is equivalent to 85 foot pounds -- NOT 65 foot pounds as misstated above.)

Note to all: Please remember that there are lots of us DIY'ers who rely heavily on guidance provided by more knowledgable and experienced members here. If you don't know an answer for sure, disclose this fact--ESPECIALLY when offering advice about critical systems like the brakes!

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Eric

1991 560SEL-Euro (214,000 miles)
1989 420SEL (Retired from daily use at 325,000 miles; Use as donor vehicle)

I don't see any misstatement above unless someone withdrew a post, but I second Eric's advice. Many newbies may take some of the advice given here as gospel, so if you are guessing on info or only offering suggestions, please state so. Although 65 or 85 lbs doesn't make much difference in this case, other info offered may be critical and should be accurate.

Peter

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Auto Zentral Ltd.

Peter,

A post that recommended 65 ft.-lbs. has been deleted by the person posting.

Yep I removed my post after reading the later reply.

Matt.

Hey all, thanks so much for the info!

After a while I was finally able to get the bolts to break free... I hit me that if they had used a locktite type material then heating up the bolt could only help. Then I was able to track down a 6-pt 19mm socket rather than my 12-pt socket and I think that more than anything else sealed the deal... Hopefully I can get the rebuild kit in sometime this week and have the calipers ready to install soon... I've had this 560 for over 6 months now and haven't been able to enjoy it beyond the drive home and now I see the finishing line!!! Of course I've gone over my origional budget and I've probably got about $13k in it now but hey, its got a rebuilt top end, will have rebuilt brake calipers and a bunch of other things that are in top notch shape... Better off than buying a Hyundai!

Thanks again for help and the info for my first brake work... Once the 560 is rolling again, then it's the diesel's turn to have new pads and rotors all the way around! The fun never ends...


Scott


Working on my 560 has been like wrestleing a gorilla:
You're not done when you get tired...
You're done when the gorilla gets tired!

Scott,
You have discovered the professional mechanic's secret. Heat and loc tite are a perfect match. You should not have needed heat on caliper bolts unless some a hole used red loc tite instead of blue. If you ever need to pull the hydraulic cylinders to work on the load leveling on that car, be sure to heat the fasteners the hold the top of the cyl in place. If you ever develop a clunking noise from the rear over bumps, you will need to replace the top buffers on those cyls. If you have to do the job, PM me for a secret trick.


Peter

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Auto Zentral Ltd.

The locking compound on the bolt was a blueish color, so I don't know how much help i actually got from the heat... but I knew it wouldn't hurt

For starters I'm just doing the front brakes and only because the driver's side caliper started leaking fluid... Other than that there seems to be decent pad life and rotor life left... After this car is driveable again, my 78 300CD (my primary car) is coming out of rotation for a bit for new rotors and pads all around with a flush and bleed brake job (It's still got good braking power, but its overdue) One the 300CD is back in operation, then I'll do the rears of the 560.

Now that I'm thinking about it, I need to stop by Checker on my way home and get some grease to re-pack the bearings... I may as well since I'm this far


Thanks again for the help. I'll let ya know when I get to the rears!


Scott

If the caliper bolts were that difficult to remove there is a good chance that they were installed with an impact wrench last time and probably overtightened. You should inspect the bolts very closely to be sure they are not streched. I have had to replace quite a few of these bolts over the years for this reason. Good luck, Robert.

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Mercedes Benz Master Tech - Retired

For the rear caliper bolts, is it 85 foot pounds too?

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1989 420 SEL

These bolts are cheap compared to the rest of the work I'm doing, so I'd already figured on replacing them... Gotta love it when people torque by braille... The Westchester NY Mercedes took such poor care of this car, its not even funny... I dunno if these bolts are origional or if they were tightened since, but I figure new is better safe than sorry!

Thanks again for the heads up!

Yeah I definitely have to agree with RPM55. Those bolts were probably blue loc-tited, then an impact was used to secure them. Over time and with heat, rust, they definitely must have been frozen pretty good in there. Impact ggun would've helped instead of a constant work out for the gorilla

85 ft-lbs is a lot for caliper mounting bolts, geez, my Tahoe is only 38 ft-lbs and those brakes are pretty big, 2 bolts only.

I might be delving into my 560SEL brakes maybe this weekend, where did you get your pads?

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'86 560 SEL - W126 - 158K - for sale!

'97 Chevy Tahoe
'85 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham limo !!!!

I ordered the rotors, pads, sensors, and a few other goodies through the catalog on this site. Best prices I found for what I was looking for, plus supporting the board, I call it a win-win


Scott