Does any one know if or what the difference is between a driver's seat and passenger seat above the rails in a W123? I have a bit of MB Tex wear and sagging springs on my driver's seat. 'Found a dismantler with good passenger seats, but I am uncertain if I can make the switch.

Anyone have any experience with this?

__________________
'78 W123 280E, 58,000 mi!
'97 Mazda Miata
'94 Isuzu Trooper, 4WD
'03 MB C240 4-matic Wgn - Wife's
From the Archives:
'73 2002
'68 TR-250
'67 Austin Cooper "S"
'59 Austin Seven (Mini)
various p'up trucks

Aside from driver's seatbelt sensor, center armrest and positioning of reclining crank..... am willing to bet MB uphostery is interchangeable between passenger and driver seats. As you've noticed - rails are easily removeable with phillips screws - so maybe you have to tap out new positions for the screws at worst if right and left sides dont agree.

Ask yourself if having the recliner crank on inboard side bothers you and you can live without the useless 'too low' armrest and annoying seatbelt buzzer.... thats all.

Havent made the swap myself - but its been reported to me that it can be done. Does that '78 280E with crunched drivers seat actually have only 46k miles?

You can pull the covers and springs and exchange them side to side, I think. The only problem might be the seatback adjuster on the upper cushion, it may leave a hole on the "wrong" side.

I'd swap the springs for sure.

Peter

__________________
1972 220D ?? miles
1988 300E 200,012
1987 300D Turbo killed 9/25/07, 275,000 miles
1985 Volvo 740 GLE Turobodiesel 218,000
1972 280 SE 4.5 165, 000 - It runs!

240DieselDog

Actually, the question is 'does a 46,000 mile 280E have crunched seat springs?' Not yet, but the last couple of times I've taken over the helm from my "in-training" daughter, that is switching from the passenger seat to the driver's seat, my left cheek feels lower than my right. The larger issue is that the side panel of the seat is tearing away from the upholstry piping revealing a 3 inch gash of the white foundation cloth of the MB Tex.

Alex

__________________
'78 W123 280E, 58,000 mi!
'97 Mazda Miata
'94 Isuzu Trooper, 4WD
'03 MB C240 4-matic Wgn - Wife's
From the Archives:
'73 2002
'68 TR-250
'67 Austin Cooper "S"
'59 Austin Seven (Mini)
various p'up trucks

i bought a pasnger seat and installed it on the driver side on my 77 300D without any problem, the only thing i did is take the armrest off and installed it on the other side there is a hole already in there. the rest is strait forward installation. i hope this helped.

__________________
124Bill