i just finished successfully rebuilding a leaking sls strut on my 1984 300TD. despite warnings that these struts are not user serviceable, i discovered a step by step approach to accomplishing this repair on a forum here: 84 300td rear struts | Mercedes-Benz Club of America

i would rate the article as excellent with two exceptions—1) i would recommend that you drill a hole behind the upper circlip rather than in the space between the two ends of the clip. in my case the circlip was rusted in place and refused to turn in its groove enough for me to push it out. i ended up drilling a second hole behind but near the end of the clip. this allowed me to push the clip out of its groove and pull it out.

exception number two—the writer of this how-to gives the specs of the two o-rings that must be replaced as 4mm X 39mm and 2.5mm X 26mm. he is correct about the size of the larger one. but the smaller of the two should be 3.5mm X 26mm. i ordered both o-rings without measuring the smaller one only to discover the size was wrong.

the only other tips/tricks i might add to the diy listed above involve the difficulty you may have in removing the lower plug or "gland" as it is called in the repair document. in my experience there was enough corrosion between the plug and the wall of the strut case to prevent me from pulling the plug out by hand. i ended up bolting both ends of the strut to separate blocks of 2" X 4" and used a fulcrum and bottle jack to extract the plug.

the former mbca member who wrote the guide stresses the need for cleanliness and to avoid scuffing/scratching any part of the plug, piston, and/or inside wall of the strut. as he suggested i used a fine 3m scuff pad to hone the interior walls of the strut before final cleaning and reassembly.

the first strut i rebuild first began leaking slightly in the hot summer months here in ohio last year. the leak had worsened over the winter prompting me to consider chasing down a good used one or biting the $300+ bullet for a new one. i remembered seeing some posts about rebuilding struts and finally tracked this one down.

as it turns out the procedure is quite straight forward and it works! this post is my effort to pass on what i learned in the process and add what i can to this excellent article.

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