My W116 rear window regulator solution

[thorsen]

The rear windows on my 1980 280SE never worked well. You could get them to go down with the switch but to get them to go up you had to remove the door panel and push up on the frame to get it all the way back up.

I took one of the regulators out and inspected it. The frame is a cast assembly with several strengthening ribs but mine was bent anyway, as I expected. I clamped it into the vice and got it relatively straight, but the damage was done. Once the frame warps the gears don't run straight and they start to wear down. I considered welding and grinding new teeth but I knew that was a lot of work for a temporary solution.

New regulators were about $300 each. I had a hard time justifying that amount of money for a rear window regulator.

I talked with SquiggleDog who had converted his W116 to manual windows. He indicated the conversion was straight-forward but the manual regulators were hard to find. This sounded like an easier challenge than grinding new teeth into my bent regulators so I accepted.

I hit pay-dirt pretty early in the search. AutoZone sells Dorman reproductions of the manual regulators for about $55. If that's too rich for your blood, ********.com sells them for $30.

There is one modification you have to make to the regulator. The plate at the end of the arm is not long enough to bolt to the window. I had to grind off the rivet, remove the plate that came with the new regulator, and bolt the original plate to the lift arm.

The manual regulator bolts in perfectly to the holes already in the door. The shaft for the crank handle exits out the same location where the window switch was so no cutting the door panels is required.

The next issue was window cranks. I have been watching some on eBay but someone keeps outbidding me. In a rush to find a crank that would work, I found a Help! crank that would work in a pinch. It's part number 76906 and it's a GM crank. I'll keep searching eBay for a Mercedes crank but for now this will work fine.

I was going to do the front windows too but interesting enough both of them still work perfectly on mine. The gears on the front regulator are about twice as thick as the ones on the rear and seem to live up to the strain much better.

[wolf_walker]

W114 front power reg's do the same warp and strip routine, they aren't cheap new now either.

[Squiggle Dog]

The aftermarket Dorman regulators actually work? I saw those too, but I thought they were W123 or W126 regulators that were incorrectly put in their books as fitting the W116. Very interesting! I didn't know that anything but a stock W116 regulator would fit in the doors.

[thorsen]

It looks like the standard 123 window cranks will fit the regulators, plus they look correct. Part number is 1237600102.

[gerkebi]

The drivers front on my 116 cracked. This is great information.