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?

Springs:

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

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"Senior Luna, your sense of humor is still loco... but we love it, anyway." -rickymay ____ "Your sense of humor is still loco... " -MBeige ____ "Señor Luna, your sense of humor is quite järjetön" -Delibes

1982 300SD -- 211k, Texas car, tranny issues ____ 1979 240D 4-speed 234k -- turbo and tuned IP, third world taxi hot rod

2 Samuel 12:13: "David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die."

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).

__________________
"Senior Luna, your sense of humor is still loco... but we love it, anyway." -rickymay ____ "Your sense of humor is still loco... " -MBeige ____ "Señor Luna, your sense of humor is quite järjetön" -Delibes

1982 300SD -- 211k, Texas car, tranny issues ____ 1979 240D 4-speed 234k -- turbo and tuned IP, third world taxi hot rod

2 Samuel 12:13: "David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die."

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.

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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

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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 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

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

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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 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

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

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2008 Chevy 3500HD Duramax 340k
2004 Chevy 2500HD Duramax 220k

yessir

Arright!

__________________
"Senior Luna, your sense of humor is still loco... but we love it, anyway." -rickymay ____ "Your sense of humor is still loco... " -MBeige ____ "Señor Luna, your sense of humor is quite järjetön" -Delibes

1982 300SD -- 211k, Texas car, tranny issues ____ 1979 240D 4-speed 234k -- turbo and tuned IP, third world taxi hot rod

2 Samuel 12:13: "David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die."

Sweet! Post some pics as the conversion goes along. There's nothing better than a 240D 4-speed. How many miles on the parts car?? Besides the obvious paint issues and other cosmetics, it doesn't look too shabby.

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Only diesels in this driveway.
2005 E320 CDI 243k Black/Black
2008 Chevy 3500HD Duramax 340k
2004 Chevy 2500HD Duramax 220k