Pelican Technical Article: Mercedes Benz - Rear Shock and Spring Replacement

In figure 4, Can I simply remove the nut mounting inside the trunk in one go instead of just lossen it and leave it there for removal later?

So, in figure 8, I can skip placing floor jack directly under the control arm to support its weight and remove the nut at the top of the shock that you previously loosened.

P.S. This shows for W210, but I think it is essentially the same for most (non-airmatic/non-ABC) Mercedes including W203, W211, W140 and etc, because they are sharing the same rear suspension design.

In most cases you can indeed remove the nuts at the top of the shock - what has been missed from the DIY and is most important is that you do not allow the shaft coming out of the top of the shock to turn. Some gas filled shock absorbers can undo "themselves" internally causing sudden loss of gas pressure and possible fluid too. At best it is just messy - at worst (really extreme worst case) you could damage yourself or your car.


The point about using a jack under the control arm is twofold

1) The jack is there so you keep control of the situation - you can move the control arm up and down to help get the shock absorber IN and OUT - I guess you plan to fit a new one!

2) When the shock is removed there is nothing (much) stopping the spring from pushing the lower control arm into the ground. Whilst many rear springs on Mercedes vehicles are not as vicious as the front ones they can still potentially cause damage to you or the car.

The point of the exercise is to fix one thing and not break several things trying to fix the one...

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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!

I've tried to add a comment at the end of the DIY directing to this thread but I don't think it worked...

...I give up!

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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!

I don't know if its possible on the W210 or not but on a W123 you can drive the rear of the car on ramps and then you have enough room to remove the shock from below without bothering to remove the wheels. Much safer and easier than pitting the car on jacks. Again I am not familiar with the rear suspension on the later cars.

I don't know how the rear shock can be removed while the wheel still on the ground.

The shock keeps supporting the weight so how you remove the nut and bolt mounting the shock to the lower control arm?

On my W201 I don't think there is enough room (slightly more modern suspension than my W123) to remove the old let alone struggle with a healthy new one (putting it in)!

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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!

The spring supports the weight, not the shock.

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Prost!

That is the case for struts but not shocks.

vr2whf, drive the rear wheels onto ramps or jack up the rear wheels and place several 2x6 pieces of wood under rear wheels so the rear tires are bearing the weight of the car, and the car is elevated sufficiently so you can work on the rear shock attachment to the control arm.

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Fred Hoelzle

Pelican Technical Article: Mercedes Benz - Rear Shock and Spring Replacement

I am preparing to do the replacement of shoch absorber this weekend.
Having reviewed the procedure again, I have 2 questions.

Figure 8 states : "Place your floor jack directly under the control arm to support its weight and remove the nut at the top of the shock that you previously loosened. Now remove the rear shock from the car. Now lower the jack and remove the bolt from the bottom of the control arm. "

Is it the typo? Should we lower the jack and remove the bottom bolt before we an remove the the rear shock from the car?

Second question. What's the torque requirement of the nut at the top of the shock absorber?

I am reading this as removing the top of the shock from (the interior/trunk of )the car. Yes the bottom is still connected until the next step.

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1983 300SD, 1999 200 cdi and 1998 1,6 (gasser)

Thanks all! I've got the rear shcok replaced by myself.