I am in a very similar boat - I have had my 1989 300E since 1992 when I bought it from the original owner with less than 50K mi. It now has 204k miles and is driven by my son at school and since the car has sentimental value to him he does not want to get rid of it regardless of the cost to maintain it so I have taken to helping him maintain it. I am going to change the front struts to Bilsteins with the strut mounts. I could use your help because I'm really confused with all the posts that say you need a spring compressor and then there are others that say you don't need it it can be done with using a car jack and jack stands without killing yourself.. How did you do it and any instructions would be very helpful.. Also, if you have detailed steps to change the differential fluid I would like to do that also, - btw, how long did each of these jobs take you in terms of hours spent?