W123 Battery Tray Confusion???
 

So a few months back I bought a used battery tray for my W123 300D. I did some research first and as far is I could tell, all W123's used the same battery tray. After having it sit around for a few months I finally sanded it down, cleaned it up and spray painted it black with the intention of installing it. I tried to install it yesterday and low and behold, it doesn't fit. Everything about the tray looks the same and the main two screws matched up fine but the the little arm that extends from the tray was about an inch shorter than the original tray that I had. I looked online and all the trays I have been finding have the longer, correct length arm. I'm not finding any info on the shorter arm version.

So my question is, did W123's have different trays? Is this for a different W123 model or year or is this tray from a something other than a w123? I must be going crazy because I'm almost positive that I pulled it off of a W123.

It looks like one to me. Do a search on W123 Battery tray and click on images, then compare yours to the images.

Good luck!!!

Just a guess - the battery tray for W123 cars may be different for a federal car than a California car.

What kind of W123 did the tray come out of?

Also, I just put in a new tray, and mine definitely had a longer arm. That one is short

Looks like a W126 tray?

Interesting .

I definitely did.

Hmmm, maybe?

Yup.

I think you are on to something. I just found one online and it looks exactly like the one that I bought.

I have no clue, it was months ago but I'm certain I pulled it out of a W123 for sure. I would never look at or pick anything from anything else since I know nothing about any other models. Only thing I can think of is maybe someone installed this battery tray in a W123 since the two main screws are compatible and the left the arm unattached? Sounds unlikely but I have seen some pretty surprising things on junkyard cars. Or I'm losing my mind. Ha!

W123s had about a dozen different engines or variants of, so there's probably a bit of variation there- although probably only 2 or 3 sizes (I've just swapped battery tray in my 240D which was a 200, to a bigger tray). Even though those two trays were different sizes, the bolt holes are the same, so yes, the tray would be from a different car - I'm a bit late ;)