How to change A Class springs

[Steve!]

Right, first off Hello everyone including mercedesclub.org TEAM.

I have joined this forum because from now, I am going to be the service guy on my Father in laws A Class.

My first job to do on the car is........

Broken Springs.
The car went in for an MOT last week and failed on three broken springs. Today I replaced the rear with new springs, only one was broken so I am guessing the two front ones will be broken.

How do I remove the front strut?

I opened the bonnet, first thoughts were.........Where's the engine
Its so neat and tidy. Much different from my BMW.

On the top of the strut there is one big bolt, and on the car there are two torx bolt heads and two white plastic arrow thingys.

Do I undo the two torx bolts and the strut will be free or is it more involved?

The car in question is a '01 on a 'Y' A class W168 classic!

Any help mucho appreciated!

Thanks Steve

 

[hawk20]

Wow. You are straight in at the deep end! Sounds like you may need manuals. Try these links: -
You can download the manuals for some MBs (including the E320) in PDF format from http://mb.braingears.com/.

If that doesn't help why not log onto:- www.russek-manuals.co.uk Retails at just under £20, postage included uk but costs a bit more for customers abroad. One forum member I read said the A class copy is very informative, However it does not cover the body work or interior, but it's a very good reference for all things electrical & mechanical.
The thread for this is

http://www.benzworld.org/forums/gen...des-benz-workshop-manuals-class-included.html

Hope this helps at least until the techies come in and tell you how to do it without a manual (not my scene that, sorry).

 

[turnipsock]

Hope this helps at least until the techies come in and tell you how to do it without a manual (not my scene that, sorry).

The problem is that there are not many techies that know about the A class.

My guess is that the torx bolt will just remove the shock and you won't be able to do the spring with that...but I will probably be wrong.

How can a car break three springs and not be noticed? It must have been all over the road.

I know what you mean about the missing engine. My mums Audi A2 was like that. I could find damn all when I looked at it.

 

[television]

How can a car break three springs and not be noticed? It must have been all over the road.

I.

The little lady in Sweden I reported on had 4 broken springs, people thought that she was driving over ploughed fields. It seems to be a normal thing with the A class.

Malcolm

 

[Steve!]

My father in law said it drove fine???

From reading the interweb, I also believe it is a common fault on the A Class and other Mercedes.

Wow. You are straight in at the deep end!

Tell me about it, the car went to Merc for all its needs but this time around...........he got sick of the costs. Merc quoted £600 for the job, I told him I could do it for £100. He took me up on the challenge

 

[Steve!]

Hello,

Thanks Turnipsock and everyone else.

Did it today in two hours, thing thats a record for me! I removed the shock and then it was a case of, clamp springs remove strut top........easy really! Then in good ole Haynes fashion, put back together in reverse order.

 

[television]

As there will other people wanting to do the same, it would be nice if you could put the details and procedure up here

Best regards. Malcolm

 

[Steve!]

OK HERE GOES!

I was going to take photo's but couldn't find camera.

From memory, I did the rears first. Because I am lazy and thought that it would be easier. I was wrong once I moved onto the fronts.

Anyway, back to the story......

I jacked up the car with a trolley jack for safety, then removed the five wheel bolts. I removed the road wheel.
I attached spring compressors to the coil springs, any spring compressor will do.
Remove spring, then remove spring compressors.

Get new springs, attach spring compressors, then fit into place. Small loop on spring at the bottom.
Undo spring compressors, re-attach road wheel to car.
Repeat for other side!

Move onto the front.

Once again, Jack up the front of the car and remove road wheel.

On the back of the strut, the anti roll bar is attached, undo the nut using a 14mm spanner and a 7mm spanner.....You need to use the 7mm on the bolt to prevent it spinning when undoing nut!

On the bottom of the strut there are two bolts joining the strut to the hub. Undo the 19mm bolt and nut, remove bolt.....undo nut on the other bolt but leave bolt in place.

Open bonnet.

Go the strut top on the side you are working, and undo the two torx bolts.
The other two white arrow things help keep the strut in place.
Squeeze them with some pliers, and push them through the hole.

Remove the bolt that you left in place and the strut should be free.
Before removing the complete strut, you may wish to place an axle stand under the hub assembly.

Once the strut is free and on the floor, it becomes very easy to remove the springs.
Place spring compressors onto the springs, once the springs are compressed. Undo the strut top nut, you need a 7mm allen key in the strut and a 21mm spanner to remove the nut!

Once the strut top is off, remove compressed spring. Replace with new spring, but compress new one first or you will NOT get the strut top on!

Replace in reverse order!

 

[Steve!]

Hope that helps!