560SL Rear Shock Replacement
 

I just did my front brakes on my 82,000 mile 86 SL (1 caliper bad,frozen piston, 1 seems OK) and put Bilsteins on the front (nasty, but doable at home). The rear calipers feel like crap so I'm going to replace those - I spent a lot on rotors/pads and furthermore, I don't want to do this again anytime soon! Anyway, I'm a little worried looking at the shop manual instructions about "removing the shocks from the bottom"...my question is, how high would I have to get the back of the car to do this? I have EXCELLENT jacks, jackstands, ramps, chocks...but I hate to jack up a car more than absolutely necessary and I've got to have a complete backup system for me to even think of putting any part of myself under a car. Some people think I'm paranoid but after you know someone who had a car fall on them you tend to be this way.

Also, if I scribe or paint exactly where the shocks were in relation to the top and bottom mounts, will the alignment still be good enough? Seems like it would be, if it was OK to begin with...

I have a 87 560SL and need some help with replacing the rear shocks. I can't seem to find the location where the piston connects to the body. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I did do this, and it was fairly easy, the top of the shock is easily seen after removing the wooden platform behind the front seats, which should pop off from the lip at its front. Then, you remove the two plastic sides, which are held in with trim screws. On the left side, you also have to remove the handle for the boot lid. Note the exact positions of the handles when you remove them. The clip holding them on is under the vinyl trim on the handle, which is actually glued on to the clip.

The shocks are self aligning. Just bolt em up and go. Nothing to worry about.