Hi everyone from sunny portugal...I have W123 estate diesel 240TD 1978... I am a reasonably competent home mehanic but can't figure out how to dismantle rear shock and springs setup... Self levelling is stuffed and not all there, and I want to know if its poss to replace with a standard shock and spring , AND I cant figure out (no manual) how to get the shock an spring assy off the car... Do I have to split the balljoint at bottom of shock, and that tiny little allen key socket in a 40mm diameter top mount inside the car....?? am I missing something... I can't move that top mount with a hex key wrench... surely I don't have to dis the whole subframe to replace a shock... Thanks for any advice UJB

 

greetings if you have a 123 chassis you schould have a coil spring with a hydraulic schock instead of the regu. schock , to change the car to reg. suspension all you have to do is buy reg. schock absorbers and install them, you have to take the rear seat out and pop of the white plastic covers and you find the top of you hyd. shock,takeof the hydraulic line that conects to the shock andon the bottom you schould have 2/ 17 mm nuts on on the top there schould also be 2/ 17mm nuts counterlocked so they dont come loose , lift up the side you want to take off and the A frame has a stop so the spring does not push the A frame down, you dont have to worry about that , the only thing you have to make shure is that you have the car high enough becorse the old schock only comes out thrue the bottom hole and the new shock needs to go back the same way, make shure you have the washer and the rubber grommet on the new shock before inserting it , if you need more help let me know

 

Sir you are a scholar and a gentleman.... five mins after the info, job done... well almost... For others out there here's the stuff... My top shock mount was as described in my 1st post .. but it did shift after a bit of grunt a good thump with a persuader... the allen fastening sits in a larger collet and I hadn't seen this and I had to break the seal with a clout and some WD40( My other merc has an ordinary 17mm nut fastening on the top mount) the shock is loose and does indeed come down thru the bottom hole, but also with a bit of persuasion as the rubber sleeve is an intereferece fit in the hole and didn't look like it would go...every thing stays in place as Zaci said, didn't even need spring compressors... Just one question Zaci... what shockers should I buy... To fit the standard saloon/sedan or did some W123 breaks /estates not have the self levelling set up.....and I use those..?
Thanks again UJB

 

greetings they made a 123 station wagon without selfleveling if you cant get one of those just use rear schocks for a 123 chassis sedan 300 turbo car the schocks are stronger .........viel spass

 

Well, new Monroe shocks fitted as recommended, according to the catalogue all the 123 s have the same ones.. They were a bit different.... 'upside down' as opposed the SLS which had the centre shaft at the bottom,, and slightly different fitting but no modification needed...a straight swap over. The new shockks needed jacking 4cm to compress them into place but that just gives a bit more support and seems to cure the lowride I had....One thing though Zaci, the top mount has a standard disc retainer, rubber, bodywork , rubber , disc and bolt, and watching the shocks in action from insie the car on the test run on a really rough but tarmac road (Portugal !!!) there was a load of up and down movement in the rubbers... you could see the top of the chrome central shaft bouncing in and out a cm or so.. seems like the rubbers were doing more work than the shocks....Maybe I should close down the hole in the body mounting to the diameter of the shaft...? or is that normal....?
Otherwise seriously improved ride, though a touch harder, less thumping, and the back end stays where its meant to be on fast bumpy curves . less fun but 'er indoors approves ' you want scary handling go out on the Sportster ' she said... she's right there....

 

Fifty Kms later on grotty roads and the top rubbers are stuffed... don't use the ones that come with the new shocks, or close the hole down to 13mm as I wonderedabout doing...I dropped the shocks out (getting good at this) and made up a couple of plates based on other shock mounts and used, inside the car, the hemispherical original with a reducer to size down the hole.... basically the problem is the hole in the top mount of the bodywork is 25 -30 mm because the original SLS has the body of the shock at the top, and you only need 12 -13mm to take the centre shaft ....The rubbers could jiggle about and got shredded by the large hole edges.... following this...? anyone remotely interested apart from Z...?.. Off to the inspection now to see what the Big Vibrator shock tester thinks ... let you all know later UJB

 

how do you change the coil springs, especially on the left rear?