240D refresh time
 

Its finally time to start refreshing my 240D and I am going to start with the suspension. The car has been basically parked since last fall since the rear end of the car started feeling loose and making all kinds of strange noises so I am going to start there. I am having a nearly impossible time finding parts that are not URO or Meyle though. I am also thinking that I should replace the rear springs since it seems that the car is sagging a little in the rear compared to other W123's I see. Are all W123 sedan rear springs the same? I don't want to end up with a jacked up rear. Pelican sells Bilstein brand rear springs. Han anyone used these?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...psa544d23c.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...ps8087e1fc.jpg

Springs:

V8 in a W123?? | Mercedes-Benz Club of America

It looks like the link to spring part numbers in the link I posted is dead, but if you have an FSM or the disk, you can just look it up there... (I assume).

Time for the 4 AP's. Raise the rear of the car safely and use a pry bar to Push, Pull, Pry & Prod on all suspension points to find where it's loose. Subframe mounts and control arm bushings would be likely culprits.

Good luck with it and let us know what you find.

300 and 240 spec springs are different heights, dont know if they are different coil diameters, didnt look like it. the problem i had was finding any site that sold 240 specific springs without listing it as a general 123 chassis spring for all models. it seems like the default spring you can buy is a 300 spring.

this will give you some serious height back there which is exactly what you say you dont want. if you like the current height, i wouldnt change the springs out. they are cheap enough though you could buy a set, remove the current springs, compare and mark and cut down your new springs a little to get the desired ride height

I was hoping you would chime in on this one. Did you replace the rears on your 240D or just the front? My front ride height is fine so I was planning on keeping those springs whenever I rebuild the front end.

I am planning on replacing all rubber when its out and I want good quality parts so it doesn't have to be done again for a very long time.

i replaced all 4 because after replacing the front springs alone the car looked preposterous, like it was doing a pushup. i think if you did the opposite the effect would be quite different though. a bunch of years ago i had an 81 240 and the rear springs were tired, and fronts were fine, so i did just the rears and it settled to a nice rake with a slightly hunkered front look to it.
on my current car i gained 3.5 inches at first in the rear once i did it, its settled about half an inch since then. my initial rear ride height was a little lower than the yours all around though

i was forced into it, but it worked out because at the mileage the car was at, the rear springs were heavily worn with flat spots and corrosion.


EDIT-
actually I take that back, in the rear both are cars were about the same initial height in the rear

here is a pic of the 240 and 300 rear springs next to each other, I think it was about an inch height difference-

http://i1217.photobucket.com/albums/...ps360ea792.jpg

At 141K miles the rear Springs shouldn`t too worn and saggy, but ya never know, and then you could have corrosion that can weaken them I guess.

I looked up the part numbers as I need to do this refresh project also.

123-350-01-75, $68.15 Meyle Sub Frame Bushing kit
126-352-01-65, $7.64 Meyle, trailing Arm Bushing (4 ea)
123-324-06-04, $55.88 Lesjofors Rear Springs
115-325-24-44, $13.92 Rear Spring Shim Genuine MB
xxxxxxxxxxxxx, $7.54 Meyle
123-351-14-42, $47.20 Meyle Differential Mount

I got these off another site. Then punched in the Part #`s with www.benzpartswholesale.com our local Dealer.

http://www.partswebsite.com/benzpartswholesale/oemparts/mercedes-benz-137/1233240604-1153252444-1233511142-1233500175-1263520165.html
RUBBER BEARING http://www.partswebsite.com/images/recycle.png
Make: Mercedes Benz | Part#: 1153252444List Price: $14.50
Your Price: $11.60
Core Price: $0.00
http://www.partswebsite.com/custom_c...oads/clear.gif REAR SPRING http://www.partswebsite.com/images/recycle.png
Make: Mercedes Benz | Part#: 1233240604List Price: $66.00
Your Price: $52.80
Core Price: $0.00
http://www.partswebsite.com/custom_c...oads/clear.gif ENGINE MOUNTING KIT http://www.partswebsite.com/images/recycle.png
Make: Mercedes Benz | Part#: 1233500175List Price: $230.00
Your Price: $184.00
Core Price: $0.00
http://www.partswebsite.com/custom_c...oads/clear.gif SUPPORTREAR SUBFRMEMETL http://www.partswebsite.com/images/recycle.png
Make: Mercedes Benz | Part#: 1233511142List Price: $162.00
Your Price: $129.60
Core Price: $0.00
http://www.partswebsite.com/custom_c...oads/clear.gif MOUNTCONTROL ARMVLRUB http://www.partswebsite.com/images/recycle.png
Make: Mercedes Benz | Part#: 1263520165List Price: $17.50
Your Price: $14.00
Core Price: $0.00
http://www.partswebsite.com/custom_c...oads/clear.gif The sale of a remanufactured part involves a core charge, this is a form of deposit until returning your old part. As long as core is not damaged, this charge is refunded when you return the core.





Hope this helps to compare MB priced to after market.

Charlie

another caution on the springs, looking at what charmalu posted, the 55 bucks is typical for ONE spring, yet there are more than one online vendors who have it mis-advertised. i even called and was told a set of two would ship and it was BS. the phone people have no idea.

you would be in good shape assuming the springs would be priced around 50 bucks individually

I got the car up on my ramps this morning to look at everything down there and all of the rubber is still soft. I was expecting it to be all dry and hard after 37 years of use. I did determine that I have a blown shock though. I'm sure those are original too.

Finally some progress... and by progress I mean getting a transmission :rolleyes:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...psd752f86c.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...ps03275468.jpg

I'm just going to assume here that 240D is a 4-speed and you're going the way of standards for the MBs?

Somewhere in These.... there should be a pic of the chassis manual pages on springs...

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