My 87 300D has had jackport rust which has really worsened recently. I had planned to get the bodywork done, for whatever ungodly price it will run me, after I finished the brakes and flex discs so I can drive it to the body shop. The frame is basically solid, and the jack supports looked fine. I went to jack up the rear today to do the brakes and as it was going up (using the hand crank) kind of heard a loud noise and felt the car shift downward. I didn't see anything noticeably wrong ... i.e., nothing punched through anything or broke off. But then I looked closely, and it appears the entire jack support had shifted down and outward. Has this happened to anyone else? What the &%*^ happened? I can see up inside that hole and the jack support looks normal as does the frame it attaches to. But something is wrong. I can't jack up the car now, and I'm so frustrated I can't even express it. I should never have let the car get like this. This car is my favorite thing in the world and now everything is going wrong with it.


I don't really have to do the rear brakes ... I did the fronts and the pedal is squishy, but if a bleed fixes that, should I just drive this to a body shop? Or is this not the panic situation I'm turning it into?
Sorry to whine. My non-car life isn't going too well right now and I'd really like my "friend" back.

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1987 300D, arctic white/palomino--314,000 miles
1978 240D 4-speed, Euro Delivery, light ivory/bamboo--370,000 miles
2005 Jeep Liberty CRD Limited, light khaki/slate--140,000 miles
2018 Chevy Cruze diesel, 6-speed manual, satin steel metallic/kalahari--19,000 miles
1982 Peugeot 505 diesel, 4-speed manual, blue/blue, 130,000 miles
1995 S320, black/parchment--34,000 miles (Dad's car)

That support member, "H-member", around the jack tube is a structural piece tying the jack tube to the outer rocker (at the top and bottom) and depending on location front a-pillar or other structural member. The fact that it has shifted down and out is not good, can you move or wiggle it, is it still attached inside the rocker?

As far as the brakes, what did you do? Mushy brakes are usually a sign of air in the brake fluid or boiled fluid, did you bleed the brakes?

Yes is is still attached, but I can't move it. I can sort of wiggle it, but not so that it moves profoundly ... it feels like it's still on there strong ... just crooked.

I repacked the front wheel bearings and put in new pads. I did crack the bleeders to push the pistons back so maybe somehow air got in. I was going to flush the whole system anyway, but one of the rear bleeders is broken off ... hence trying to jack up the rear. I haven't touched the rear brakes yet, though, so I'm going to bleed the fronts tomorrow so the car is at least drivable.

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1987 300D, arctic white/palomino--314,000 miles
1978 240D 4-speed, Euro Delivery, light ivory/bamboo--370,000 miles
2005 Jeep Liberty CRD Limited, light khaki/slate--140,000 miles
2018 Chevy Cruze diesel, 6-speed manual, satin steel metallic/kalahari--19,000 miles
1982 Peugeot 505 diesel, 4-speed manual, blue/blue, 130,000 miles
1995 S320, black/parchment--34,000 miles (Dad's car)

Oh goodness. Do you have a floor jack by chance? I finally invested in one and it makes jacking up the car a dream and a half.

The ultimate in car working nirvana would be a hydraulic lift, but only one can dream.

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-Typos courtesy of my mobile phone.

I could put the floor jack under it, or a bottle jack, but I'm a little worried about the structural integrity. While things aren't great now, I think they'd be a lot worse if a car fell on me.

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1987 300D, arctic white/palomino--314,000 miles
1978 240D 4-speed, Euro Delivery, light ivory/bamboo--370,000 miles
2005 Jeep Liberty CRD Limited, light khaki/slate--140,000 miles
2018 Chevy Cruze diesel, 6-speed manual, satin steel metallic/kalahari--19,000 miles
1982 Peugeot 505 diesel, 4-speed manual, blue/blue, 130,000 miles
1995 S320, black/parchment--34,000 miles (Dad's car)

No silly sam, jack the car up by the differential and put the bottle jacks under the subframe bushings. There's a little hook that I rest the jack heads on. Leave the floor jack under the differential as a back up.

You should have more than enough clearance to work on the rear breaks. If you don't then you're doing it wrong

Edit: Oh geeze I didn't see that it was the '87. I thought it was the w123. I want to guess that you can still jack the car up my the differential but i am just not familiar with your vehicle.

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-Typos courtesy of my mobile phone.

Order a new set of rear calipers. If the bleeder is broken off, that's a PITA that you don't need to extract. And considering the rust on the car and the broken bleeder, fighting with rusty calipers is the last thing you need -- if you decide the get the frame fixed.

I agree, find a good body shop and have them do an evaluation to find out what it will take to fix it correctly. Have them take care of any structual issues before doing the cosmetic body work. For $5-10k you can probably get everything fixed and get a decent paint job.

Obviously the jack point looks bad and the structure has been compromised, especially since it dropped and shifted outward. I don’t think you could of prevented this issue if it started years ago as it might have been rusting from within the structure and you may never have detected it until it was too late. As sentimental as your car is to you, don’t be beat yourself up on this. It can be fixed.


It would seem that you will need a rocker panel from a donor vehicle to grafted on.
Contact forum member bob_98sr5. He could have some insight and advice on how to proceed since he himself has done some major surgery to his own rusted ’87 300D. You can take that advice to the body shop you choose to have the repairs done.... Or possibly attempt to do the repair yourself if your confident enough.
But here are some links to his blog and some pictures of his repair on his car from his site.


http://biodieselbob.blogspot.com/2007_09_01_archive.html
http://biodieselbob.blogspot.com/2007_11_01_archive.html
http://biodieselbob.blogspot.com/2007_12_01_archive.html
http://biodieselbob.blogspot.com/2008_01_01_archive.html


















Best Wishes for Bodhi.






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1983 123.133 California
- GreaseCar Veg System

just got some of my rust fixed this week

here are some pics from what I cut out. I will post the welded in patches that I later POR-15'ed and then Wurth stone-guarded the whole rocker.

I feel your pain. but its all fixable!



drivers side rear



pass side rear (note pass. side much worse thats were all the salt is !!)



pass side jack point

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87' 300DT (Grey w/ red leather)
87' 300TDT (silver w/ palamino tex) SOLD

2012 VW JSW TDI (on tdiclub.com all the time "btcost")

Thanks for all the input/encouragement. It's good to see others have survived similar situations, or worse ... poor Bob's rocker rust made mine look pretty good! I did more inspection of the area and can see what happened. The bottom of that jack support is supposed to anchor to the bottom of the frame behind the rocker, and mine pulled loose. The top is fine ... in fact, if you look up under the rocker, no rust is visible on the frame of the car. It just a disaster in that one area. I'm really impressed with the bodywork others have done here and I wish I could weld. I'm reading up on welding, but it might have to hold off until I have my own garage.
In good news, I bled the front brakes and they're fine now. So I can drive the car ... I just don't want to until I get the flex discs and diff bushings done.
Just to clarify ... in searches of the forum I have found some people say NOT to jack up the w124 by the diff. Thoughts? Alternatives?

__________________
1987 300D, arctic white/palomino--314,000 miles
1978 240D 4-speed, Euro Delivery, light ivory/bamboo--370,000 miles
2005 Jeep Liberty CRD Limited, light khaki/slate--140,000 miles
2018 Chevy Cruze diesel, 6-speed manual, satin steel metallic/kalahari--19,000 miles
1982 Peugeot 505 diesel, 4-speed manual, blue/blue, 130,000 miles
1995 S320, black/parchment--34,000 miles (Dad's car)