I just finished replacing my fhift link bushings and wanted to share how I did it. This is for a 1980 300TD wagon. It was fairly straight forward and easy to do. I just wanted to make it clear as I had a difficult time finding exactly what I needed and pictures to explain it. So I will try to explain in order and in detail. I hope this helps others in the future. The bushing that I ordered and the correlating numbers from the exploded diagram:

Qty 2 115 267 1250 (14 & 17 on 1st diagram) Brand: Mercedes
Qty 2 115 992 0310 (11 & 101 on 1st diagram) Brand: Febi
Qty 2 115 267 0950 (32 on 1st diagram) Brand: Mercedes
Qty 2 000 994 4160 (98 on 1st diagram)

I ordered these through my local foreign auto parts store. Got them next day. I like to support the local shops rather than online if I can and the price is not drastically different. The last bushings were probably not needed in my case, but I ordered them so I replaced them.

Tools needed:
Snap ring pliers
10mm socket and ratchet with small extension
Two 10mm wrenches to remove bolt holding the lever to the control arm
Small wrench (don't remember size) for screw that holds follower
13/16" 1/2" drive socket
Misc. regular hand tools as needed

Supplies:
Qty 1 1/4-20 bolt approximately 3 inches long
Qty 2 1/4-20 washers
Qty 1 1/4-20 nut
Grease or other lube


Step 1: Safely jack up the car so you can get underneath to the driver's side of the transmission. I put the front wheels up on ramps and then put on the parking brake. Next I jacked up the rear driver's side as high as the stock jack would go. I then used a jack stand with a piece of wood as a cushion and then lowered the car down onto the jack stand. I left the jack in place with a little bit of weight on the jack as a backup. I also put an old rim under the car in the rear as a just in case if the jack stand and jack gave way. You just can't be too careful. It always scares me a little going under a car that is lifted off the ground. Finally, I chocked the rear passenger side tire, both in front and in back of the tire.

Step 2: Go underneath the car and remove the lever (245 in the 2nd diagram) from the control shaft (252 in the 2nd diagram). Basically you need to remove the bolt that goes through the lever and holds the lever onto the control shaft. The shaft sticks out through the center of the NSS (Neutral Safety Switch) All of this is on the driver's side of the transmission. There is also a small screw in that holds the lever to the follower (249 on 2nd diagram) that turns the NSS. You will need to unscrew that as well. Then just slide or carefully pry the lever off. You will be left with it dangling on end of the shift rod (92 on the 1st diagram) Let it dangle.

Step 3: Go inside the car. You will need to remove the shifter assembly. To do this you need to remove the center console cover. I already had mine apart, so I will not go into how to open it up. You will need to look that up if you don't know how. Once you have the shifter exposed, you will need to unscrew 3 bolts that hold the shift case (53 on the 1st diagram) down. Once you do that, there are 4 bolts that hold down the plastic part (called the bearing) the shift case was screwed into (5 on the 1st diagram). Remove the four bolts. One of the bolts holds down a ground wire for the shifter light. Pop out the light and the wire and push it aside.

Step 4: You should now be able to remove the whole shifter assembly by jiggling it out of the hole in the transmission tunnel. It will have the shift rod and lever attached to it. It may get hung up on the speedometer cable, so don't force it. I had to climb back under once I had it part way out and help it along its way a little.

Step 5: Take the shifter assembly to your workbench and remove the clips holding the shift rod on both ends (98 on the 1st diagram). You can throw the clips away as you will be replacing them with new ones.

Step 6: Remove the bushings from the lever and the shaft (8 on the 1st diagram) where the shift rod was clipped. If yours was like mine, there might not be any bushings left, so ignore this step.

Step 7: Remove the clip (38 on the 1st diagram) and slide out the pin that holds the yoke to the shaft. You will be replacing the bushings set inside the spring so you can throw the old ones away.

Step 8: At the end of the shaft, there is a snap ring (20 on the 1st diagram) that will need to be removed. I own a pair of snap ring pliers that would have made the job much easier. However, I did not have them with me. I managed without them, but it was a bear getting the snap ring back on. I strongly suggest you get a pair of the snap ring pliers if you don't own them already. Remove the snap ring and washer and then slide the shaft out of the bushing. There are two bushings on either side of the bushing (plastic part the shaft slides through) that will need to be replaced. You can throw the old ones away.

Step 9: You are now ready to start putting it all back together. Install the new bushings into the bushing (plastic part the shaft came out of) and then slide the shaft back in. Reinstall the washer and snap ring.

Step 10: Install the new bushings into each side of the yoke spring. Re-assemble the yoke to the shaft by sliding the pin back in from one side. Then put the retaining clip back on. It is a tight fit getting the pin pushed back in and was a tight area for my fingers.

Step 11. Install the first spool bushing into the lever. This is the step others talked about where it was difficult to get the spool bushings in. I found it very easy and this is how I did it. You will need a 1/2" drive 13/16" socket, a 1/4-20 bolt, two 1/4-20 washers, a 1/4-20 nut, and some grease. Grease one side of the spool bushing then stack the parts as follows so it looks like the picture below: Bolt, washer, spool bushing (greased side toward the lever), lever, socket, washer, nut. Once you have it all sandwiched together, just start tightening the nut until the bushing is pushed in. It will compress and flatten a lot, but that is ok. Make sure you use a 1/4-20 bolt. I tried using a larger bolt the first time and there was not enough space between the bolt and inside of the bushing for it to compress and slip into the lever.

Step 12: Install the second spool bushing into the shaft (the part hanging down from it where the shift rod attaches). Basically it is the same as Step 11 except it is for the shaft instead of the lever.

Step 13: Slip each end of the shaft rod into the spool bushings and then install the new retaining clips. I don't think I had mine together properly in the picture as I had to unclip it under the car and put it back together correctly. Just use the diagram to put it back together correctly.

Step 14: Now that the shifter assembly is back together, slip it back into the hole in the transmission tunnel and climb underneath the car and fish it back to its approximate original position.

Step 15: Go back inside the car and position the bushing (plastic part the shaft goes through) to it's original position. There is a rubber gasket that stayed stuck to the tunnel and allowed me to line it up easily. Install the 4 bolts that hold down the bushing to the tunnel. Remember to put the ground wire back on the front driver's side bolt.

Step 16: Reinstall the shift case with the 3 bolts.

Step 17: Go back under the car and reattach the lever to the control shaft. Install the bolt and washers that hold the lever to the control shaft. Screw the small bolt that holds the follower to the lever. You may have to adjust the NSS if your reverse lights do not come on in reverse. If you need to adjust it, just put something behind one of the reverse lights so you can see when it comes on. Make sure the car is not running but the ignition is on. Also check again that the wheels are blocked so the car cannot roll. Move the shift lever to reverse. Loosen the screw that holds the follower to the lever and adjust the follower so that the reverse lights come on. Retighten the screw.

Step 18: Go back inside the car and make sure everything is working as it should. Check that the light that goes inside the shift case is working and then pop that back into the shift case. Reassemble the center console. And that's it! Congratulations, you are done.

(Hopefully I did not leave anything out as it is all from memory. Let me know if I did and I will edit it.)


This job took me about an hour and a half from start to finish. It would have been much faster if I had my snap ring pliers. I figure it is really about an hour job from start to finish, give or take depending on your level of skill. It really is not very difficult, though. I hope this helps and is my way of saying thanks to all of the people who have taken the time to give advice on this forum and make it such a great resource. Thank you.

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Some more pictures.

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Even more pictures.

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Very nice write-up! I did this last summer and really don't have anything to add other than to take a picture of how the spring is setup so you dont do like I did and install it the wrong way and have to remove everything to fix it

This is a very detailed write up. this ought to be placed in the Wiki DIY articles section.

Thanke for posting this.

Charlie

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there were three HP ratings on the OM616...

1) Not much power
2) Even less power
3) Not nearly enough power!! 240D w/auto

Anyone that thinks a 240D is slow drives too fast.

80 240D Naturally Exasperated, 4-Spd 388k DD 150mph spedo 3:58 Diff

We are advised to NOT judge ALL Muslims by the actions of a few lunatics, but we are encouraged to judge ALL gun owners by the actions of a few lunatics. Funny how that works

is this process and parts list the same for a w126?

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1982 300sd from craigslist $800 greased on one tank with NO CONVERSION in the Hot Texas Sun. (currently dead & awaiting engine damage investigation and/or longblock swap)
new daily: '03 vw 5speed jetta tdi wagon. bagged&chipped