Just received a SWAG "banana rail" for my engine, it is JUNK!! The photo looks the same as offered under the febi and TrucTec brands on other sites, thin plastic loosely clipped on, very sloppy fit to the guide pin, there is more plastic remaining on my 250,000 used one than these have new (even if I did trust it to not come the rest of the way unclipped while in my engine).

Does anyone know if the Mercedes OE part is still a thick-plastic piece bonded to the aluminum like original? None of the area M-B dealers stock it, can't get it until Monday and I need to know if it is a better part than aftermarket or if the whole thing has been downgraded (in which case I'll install a used one from one of my engines).

Thanks.

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Gone to the dark side

- Jeff

Almost certain you would have to find a 'new old stock' rail. Same thing for 601 and 602 when I looked into this.

...I ended up using my old one based on the depth of the wear. I bet you could have it refinished by a shop if you were concerned about the grooves interfering with the chain.

Dealer says the old number is no longer in use and they buy after market rails with thin plastic on them.

I did find this though.

pm for the link if it does not work.

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That looks correct, I guess I'll call and see if the part is the old one.

At this point I'm planning to use the old one if I can't find the correct one, the old one with 200,000 miles has more plastic left than the new febi/swag/etc one has to start with, and I don't want the engine ingesting plastic parts into the timing gears at this point.

Thanks.

__________________

Gone to the dark side

- Jeff

Called the supplier (linked), they don't know the part manufacturer, but the salesman tells me it is Asian-sourced. If it's the one pictured, it's possibly better than the Italian one that everyone else is selling!

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Gone to the dark side

- Jeff

I'd love to see pictures if you get it. What are they asking for it?


On the 61x, the 'thick plastic stuff" is actually a rubbery compound when new. I would imagine this helps reduce noise. Perhaps the wear we see on our rails mostly occurred when this material was still soft?

If thats true, putting a crumby piece of thin plastic on there should last... but will just be noisier.

Regardless... its a tough call to buy something like that from an unknown source. Would be nice to have a better picture.

Good Luck, fingers crossed.

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