Early 124 Wagon Tailgate hatch strip removal
 

Anyone know the trick to this?

I have taken apart the post '90 wagon lower hatch strip before, which has two sections. But I can't figure out how to do it on the early wagon, 87-89 without the stainless trim strip.

Many thanks

I've been trying to remember this also.

Seems that the two are not interchangeable, the newer screws on and IIRC the earlier one is in T-slots, but I wouldn't bet my life on it. FSM?

on the early wagon the strip simply pushes to the right, then off. you can do it with the heel of your hand or a rubber mallet.

how do you get the later one off? i have an '87 but it has the late strip with the stainless strip on top and i want to remove that strip but it's different.

The later one has screws hidden under the stainless trim. They are not interchangeable, as the early wagon has T-slots in the sheet-metal for the clips (like the door moldings), the late one has screws into IIRC square-hole mounted clips.

so on my '87 the rear hatch would possibly been replaced in order to install the late model cladding? i guess i'll find out the answer soon. i guess you use a spludger to pry up the stainless and the rest is obvious.

it makes sense about the screws because i tried to mallet the strip on my car off the hatch and it wasn't going anywhere.

There should be a vin sticker on the hatch edge that matches your other body panels. Check also the bottom edge of the rear bumper. All original body panels have these bar-code vin stickers, it's one of the first things I check when looking at a Mercedes to buy to see if any panels have been replaced.

If they're painted over (common on cars with paint issues), hard to tell, especially on the later cars with painted bumper covers.

To match the cladding, I retrofitted the later tailgate trim by drilling small holes and using small sstl sheet metal screws. The early trim is difficult to remove since the plastic gets brittle and cracks easily.

i haven't had a chance to remove that strip off my '87 yet but we'll see what they did to get the trim on there, tomorrow perhaps. some of the panels on my car have the vin tags and some don't. it's been painted once. now i'm really curious.

on my '88 TE the lower strip is broken around where it goes onto the clips, probably as you say from deteriorated plastic.

How is the tailgate trim piece removed on later models (wth the chrome strip on it)? Based on what I have read above, there are screws concealed beneath the metal piece. How is the metal strip removed?

Many thanks in advance for any guidance.

cheers.