Converting a 230TE to conventional suspension

[Veryfruity]

I have a 124 230TE and the suspension is hellish. I have to endure tuts when we are driving on any road that is not smooth, and thankfully it is law that the children are strapped in, otherwise they'd rocket arround like squash balls.

Consulting the forum, I then have had it checked at both dealer and independant, and both qoutes are in excess of my funds and the cars worth, due to nearly all the componants being corroded.

I understand it is possible to drain the oil from the hydraulic pump, and then replace the levelling 'shocks' with conventional saloon shock absorbers. I would like to do this, but I am at a loss as to which shocks to buy

Can anyone help?

 

[Bolide]

Converting a T to dry suspension

The hydraulic suspension on the rear of a W124 estate provides self-levelling, springing, damping and load carrying. I don't think the rear springs are sufficient (or designed) to suspend the car so you won't be able to just put shockers on. At best the car would be too soft at the rear and at worst it would have no suspension travel, no load-carrying capacity and be downright dangerous

I would think you could buy a complete secondhand hydraulic rear suspension setup for less than it would cost to re-engineer the back end to take conventional springs & dampers. It's basically Citroen BX technology plus a pair of tiny coil springs - hardly virgin territory if you're in the South of France

I'd get a price for the bits you need from Mercman and a quote from your local tractor & BX specialist for fitting. I'd recommend selling the car before I'd recommend taking off the hydraulics


Nick Froome
www.w124.co.uk

 

[mercmonkey]

sounds like a big job, not for the faint of heart

 

[andy_k]

to replace the entire rear suspension with parts from the dealer would cost about £1k but it's unlikely they've all failed so step back and take a close look at it.

1, If it's bouncy and harsh then you need to replace the rear spheres (cost about £130 for the pair)

2, if it's not leaking fluid from the struts then they are OK (breath a big sigh of relief as they are the expensive bit although a guaranteed secondhand one will cost you about £80 so it's not too bad)

3, all that will be corroded is the piping, get it from your dealer they are made to size and fit like a dream - cost is less than £50 front to rear

4, give the self levelling valve a good clean and blow it through with an airline, if it's failed there is a service kit for it which Mercedes hate selling to you as it only costs a fiver as opposed to a new valve which costs £150 but the part number is on the computer but if you've any engineering ability a simple fibre washer or O ring can provide a perfect fix.

First stop is to change the spheres, pipes and fluid which should cost you no more than £200 if you do the work yourself - that's a lot less than the cost of changing the whole rear suspension system. The standard saloon shocks/springs won't work you'll need to get a custom kit put together

If you need any help/advice about changing the rear spheres please ask

Andy

check this thread

 

[Veryfruity]

230 te shocks

Many thanks gentlemen. can anyone suggest the best mail order/ net part seller as things are more expensive here?

I shall persevere with the hydraulics and the car

cheers

 

[clive williams]

Many thanks gentlemen. can anyone suggest the best mail order/ net part seller as things are more expensive here?

I shall persevere with the hydraulics and the car

cheers

Very Fruity,

Here's another alternative that may work for you:
1) Replace the shockers with conventional units but get advice from the supplier regarding the shocker rate.
2) Replace the rear springs with custom springs to suit the anticipated load. This selection will again have to be carried out in conjunction with a reputable spring manf. or a suspension engineer (properly qualified)
OR
3) Add spring assisters such as Air Lift bags www.airliftcompany.com to the springs. As they don't have specific products for MBs they might have something that will fit. Its low technology and easy to install. You vary the spring rate by changing the air pressure in the bags between 5-35psi, 0.35-2.4Bar.
4) Remove the hydraulic pump and pulley and replace the belt with a shorter one from your local mechanical parts supplier - see equiv. to yellow pages or check out the web e.g Gates Belts. Poly vee belts are used in all sorts of mechanical installations and its easy to specify a belt of a higher spec than the normally supplied for automotive application. I've used non-auto belts for some years now as a cure for failing auto-belts.
Make sure that the poly-vee belt has enough purchase on the other pulleys in the new configuration.

The above returns the car to a simpler form more in keeping with its age and value.

Clive

500E
320CDIT210