Replacing upholstery on my 83 SL. How do I remove the two large screws on seat back?
 

First off, if anyone can direct me to a tutorial on this, that would be great. I did find a brief and generic one on Diesel Giant,....but need something more specific to the 107 cars.

My current road block is the two large countersunk phillips flat head screws holding the hinge plate hardware on to the seat backs. I first tried a large phillips bit with my 3 foot breaker bar when a regular phillips screw driver would not budge it,....then went to a hammer-driver with phillips bit........wacked it several times while twisting and still nothing,......next got out my impact wrench, hooked up the air and let it rip,.........nothing.

Any suggestions for getting them out?

I noticed when removing the single large allen head bolt that held the hinge plate to the seat bottom, that they had blue thread lock on them. I used my 3 foot breaker bar with an allen bit to get those out,......and those suckers were reluctant to come out,.....probably never would have gottne them out if they were the same phillips screw used on the seat backs.

Brian in Austin

Heat. Pencil torch.

They also have thread locker on them. I have managed to use the impact driver and BFH but have broken them. A PITA to drill out.

IIRC someone tried heat with some success...

Alan

Use this KD tool but you should also purchase a #4 Phillips bit for it.

http://www.amazon.com/K-D-Tools-1140-Impact-Driver/dp/B000CODDYE

Different brand, but thats one of the tools I tried,...but w/out heat.

I used a rattle gun to get mine out......I didn't try anything else first....right to the rattle gun.

I have done it this way - solvent of some sort - PB blaster or similar, tap around edges respray, let sit heat as Rowdy mentions , get large well fited to screw, screwdriver and remove . They are on there to stay , it takes effort but they will pop loose , good luck!

I just went through this on my 81 380sl, and couldn't loosen them with a torch, a Phillips socket, and a 1/2" breaker bar -- evidently because they and many other fasteners on these cars (like that steering wheel bolt) were tightened way beyond what they had to be to insure safety.

Luckily, however, the seat back cover was in decent condition. So I was only changing the bottom covers, and didn't have to remove the Phillips screws.

Nevertheless, I was still wondering how I'm going to do that when I do decide to change the seat back cover. So I did some research, and found that if the head isn't stripped, putting a valve-grinding compound on it will allow the driver to grip it better. OTOH, if it is stripped, someone suggested cutting a deep groove in the head with a dremel, and using a breaker bar and a bladed socket to remove it.

The only problem I'm having after replacing the covers is that the cardboard strip that fits into the slot surrounding the seats keep coming out when I sit down, apparently because you're supposed to fold the leather over the strip before you insert it into the groove. So someone over in the Interior Forum just suggested "carefully crimping" it -- which I guess means trying to close the metal groove down on the cardboard with a hammer.

I was therefore wondering if anybody else here had this problem and, if so, how you corrected it.

Thanks in advance.

I got them out last night using a friends battery powered impact driver and a very larger phillips tip that he had. It did deform the phillips slots a little,...but I think they are still usable,....but will try to source new ones for the re-assembly

About $2.00 each at the dealer

Do get new ones.

A SMALL and CAREFUL amount of crimping is OK, with, for example, the pliers used in welding sheet metal to straighten it. But you do not want to bend this metal much. It will break and then you are in a world of $$$ trouble.

I have found that generally, less expensive upholstery has cardboard in this area, and good upholstery has plastic sewn in. The plastic is better. If you goof around with the cardboard too much, it frays, swells, and then is EXTREMELY difficult to install or keep in.

Absolutely get the original screws from MB and pay the money. These are hardened. You do NOT want to have home improvement store screws break and then have yourself impaled by seat hinges in, God forbid, an accident.

Thanks for the advice, Strife, but the metal is too high on the seat to reach with pliers. However, I managed to close the slot by placing a board over the cover, and hammering it until it held the cover tightly.

I threw the original cover away. So I can't compare it to the new one. But I'm pretty sure the new one, which I bought on Ebay, was OE, and that the old also had a cardboard hem.

Since I only changed one of the bottom covers so far, and the seat back was in fairly good shape, I didn't have to remove those screws. But if I ever have to, and can't reuse them, I'll take your advice.

Take care :-)