PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum - View Single Post - Request to members in Germany

stevebfl · #8 04-13-2003, 05:10 PM

Definitely be careful supporting the car on the control arms. You do not need to do this though. The shock will hold the spring just fine. It better as its loading over bumps is a whole lot worse.

For those working on 126 and 123 cars one can make a very sturdy spring compressor using the crosshead of a six inch puller, a length of 5/8in threaded rod and a hunk of 1/4in steel plate about 7inches by 3inches with a 5/8 hole in the middle.

The puller head on that size has a bigger than 5/8 in hole in it and is usually a inch thick casting. Place it over the hole in the upper spring perch, drop the rod with one or two nuts on it through the hole and into the center of the spring. As far down the spring as possible slide the 1/4 plate through the coils and pass the bolt through the center hole and place one or two nuts.

Tighten the nuts. The spring is pulled tightly against the upper perch and everything can be removed. This works on a number of chassis. If the spring is to be replaced just make sure your threaded rod is long enough to alllow all the tention to be released before the end of the threads.

We have done it this way for years. To facilitate matters we took a deepwell socket the size of those 5/8 nuts and cut it in half. We took a fifteen inch section of 1 1/4in chrome moly thick walled tube and welded between the two socket sections to make a 15 inch deep well socket to allow quick turning of the upper nut with an air wrench. Not including labor the total costs couldn't be much. The puller or reasonable facsimile ought to be less than 50 bucks on ebay and is always usefull for its original purposes and the socket can't be too much, the rest can't be more than ten bucks.