subframe bushings and diff mount done
 

well, this past weekend i finally got around to doing the subframe mount bushings and differential mount that i ordered two months ago and kept looking at on the garage floor. they both were not
difficult but did require some persistence.

subframe bushings were not easily coaxed by prying, so i resorted
to the old carriage bolt with nuts and washers routine; applied
pressure with the jack to the suspension and waited about a minute, and man did that thing pop out with a bang!

hardest part was realigning the differential mount to be bolted
back to the floor. after wasting a half hour pushing and pulling
every which way, i finally realized it wasn't going anywhere until
i moved the jack stands from below the shock absorbers to the
frame. duh! then she cooperated!

anyway, everything's shipshape now as it were. next stop: bilsteins. slowly but surely, all that sloppiness in the rearend
is going away.

I'm about to embark on the same journey
 

Congrats on your work. I actually went about things in the opposite order as you. I just finished the front end and the rear felt about as tight as abowl of jello. There has always been an annoying clunking sound. I popped in a pair of Koni reds and adjusted them to medium stiffness. Infinitely better ride quality, also restored ride height. There is still a trace of the clunking. My question for you is whether or not you feel that the bushings made much of a difference in terms of sound and feel.

Thanks

hotskillet,

yes, it's definitely improved the feel. i'm actually working my way
towards eliminating a noise that sounds like i'm riding around with a trunk full of loose tools -- er, well, actually i guess i was; but that's been narrowed down to some bad monroe shlocks
that the PO had on there. the biggest motivation for doing the
subframes was sloppy handling at the back particularly where there was a change in road grade, even as slight as hitting a manhole cover. sometimes it just felt like the front was going one way and the back wanted to go the other. that's now eliminated. the whole back end just feels tighter in handling.

the old diff mount was dry and cracking -- had definitely lost its tone.

there's a lot of dry rubber under there!

Take it from me.

Make sure that you put penetrating oil on all of the shock nuts/bolts and give it a few treatments of penetrating oil in the week or so before removing the shocks.

Generally if I am going to take off an "original" part, I try to work in a few treatements of penetrating oil before I start the job. The one time I didn't was with the shocks and I broke a bolt on the rear shock.

Good luck and enjoy the ride.

JCD

Replacing the shocks should be the easiest
 

The best part is that you've done all the grunt work. Replacing the shocks took me only about an hour including removing the seat. I'm sure that someone more acquainted with Benzes coul easily do it much faster than that. What looks like the biggest PITA for me are the trailing arm bushings. I just gotta wait until I can get my hands on a spring compressor. Good luck!