To boldly go... - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

MTUpower · #1 05-16-2011, 06:34 PM

where no wagon has gone before.... My passenger side is now "listing" a inch below the drivers side at the rear wheel. It was doing that last summer and so I changed that side sphere and it was back up- the sphere was toast. Now it's listing again and I'm thinking the spring is bad, because there is no leak in the strut. How long is the stock spring? I still have a set of vogtland rear springs and while I have to get a shipping quote and they are perhaps sold- if they are close to the same size I might consider putting them in instead of the stock springs. Can it be done without screwing the stock SLS up? I do not want to do that. Advice?

sky44 · #2 05-16-2011, 08:41 PM

Is there any way to simply delete the whole air suspension thing on the wagons? It seems like it's an issue usually...

vstech · #3 05-16-2011, 08:51 PM

the wagons do not have air suspension, it's hydraulic.
and yes, several members have found that changing over to Performance SD springs gives the wagon a good ride height, but you lose the best feature of the wagon. it's ability to handle ANY load with perfect ride level control!

OP. which car? the 123 wagon rear wheel well is lower than the front. so it will APPEAR to ride low, when it is not. you need to look at either the jack points, or the trim line to see if it's riding low or not.
if it's a 124, then something is up.

layback40 · #4 05-16-2011, 10:28 PM

If you have had 2 spheres fail in a year its time to look further. Any chance that some idiot in the past topped the fluid with engine oil? When replacing spheres its best to do a full flush of the system.

MTUpower · #5 05-17-2011, 07:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sky44

Is there any way to simply delete the whole air suspension thing on the wagons? It seems like it's an issue usually...

The SLS is one of the best parts of the w123 wagons, so no I do not want to change it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by vstech

OP. which car? the 123 wagon rear wheel well is lower than the front. so it will APPEAR to ride low, when it is not. you need to look at either the jack points, or the trim line to see if it's riding low or not.
if it's a 124, then something is up.

The height on the drivers side is spot on and the passenger side is about 3/4 of an inch lower. If you search threads I've started you'll see I changed the rear passenger side last year about Nov. My front end has vogtland springs and 16 inch wheels, plus HD shocks so comparing it to stock wagons specs is not an option. I've had three wagons since 2002 and still have two of the three- mine is an altered wagon and the wife's is all stock. What I'm looking for is the height/dimensions of the stock rear springs, unloaded. If it's very close to the vogtland rears I have I may put them in.

Quote:

Originally Posted by layback40

If you have had 2 spheres fail in a year its time to look further. Any chance that some idiot in the past topped the fluid with engine oil? When replacing spheres its best to do a full flush of the system.

No- because when I got the car in 2005 it was operating as designed, and has been until mid summer last year. There is an outside chance the sphere is no good- I don't know the service age of the sphere I replaced, and the one I replaced it with was "used" but working as new. I've had used sphere's in the all three of my wagons and there is no difference from new- they both work until they fail. I did a full flush last Nov- I had bought 4 containers of Febi from a fellow member just for that reason. If the spring is weak/bad, then it would put more stress on that one side- and that could be causing that sphere to fail.

layback40 · #6 05-17-2011, 08:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MTUpower

If the spring is weak/bad, then it would put more stress on that one side- and that could be causing that sphere to fail.

I dont think so as the 2 spheres are connected. A bad spring will cause equal extra pressure on each one. The anti roll bar takes the extra load as it has the job of keeping the car level from side to side.
Maybe you just got a bad s/h sphere. I got one once that looked like it had atf in it. I returned it & got an other that only had traces of the proper fluid in it.