I just went out and looked again. neither of my 123 Euros (sedan &TD) have the hole for the shocks, where as the holes are quite visible on my US 79 240D which I installed a Euro bumper on some time ago.

I think the REAR US bumpers look better on the TDs than the sedans and defiantly give better protection for those "hard to come by" lenses and everything else back there.

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1985 Euro 240D 5 spd 140K
1979 240D 5 spd, 40K on engine rebuild
1994 Dodge/Cummins, 5 spd, 121K
1964 Allice Chalmers D15 tractor
2014 Kubota L3800 tractor
1964 VW bug

"Lifes too short to drive a boring car"

... only one euro? and only one wagon?

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John HAUL AWAY, OR CRUSHED CARS!!! HELP ME keep the cars out of the crusher! A/C Thread
"as I ride with my a/c on... I have fond memories of sweaty oily saturdays and spewing R12 into the air. THANKS for all you do!

My drivers:
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5-5SPEED!!!

1987 300TD
1987 300TD
1994GMC 2500 6.5Turbo truck... I had to put the ladder somewhere!

I'll stand corected, to some extent! I don't think it's a year model issue as the two Euro cars I know had holes are an 84 sedan and an 83 TE and your's are 85 & 84, but both had Euro hitches so the holes must be cut out as part of the factory install as there was no obvious, after the fact bare cut, repaint, sealer etc. one would expect if it was done that way. Both cars where grey market cars so maybe it was done as they where being built rather than as an after thought.

I have a great US bumper with both back up lights that I would gladly trade for a Euro wagon bumper. I will even pay shipping.
Thanks!

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1985 Euro 300TD Turbo

I need to figure out if I can even install a US bumper, doesn't look like it without more modification than I'm willing to pay for.

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1985 Euro 240D 5 spd 140K
1979 240D 5 spd, 40K on engine rebuild
1994 Dodge/Cummins, 5 spd, 121K
1964 Allice Chalmers D15 tractor
2014 Kubota L3800 tractor
1964 VW bug

"Lifes too short to drive a boring car"

Do these Euro cars w/ the hitches have a factory option code? If so then this might mean there is a provision on the vehicle frame to accommodate the US bumpers when the hitches are removed.

What about the front bumper mount of Euro cars? Do they already have the provision for the bumper shock absorbers?

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http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7271/7...144c3fc1dc.jpg

I guess I should look at mine to see they'll fit. What exactly should I look for?

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1984 300td euro turbo

From the VIN of the 83 TE which I know was a grey market car ordered specifically, picked up in Europe and a couple months later shipped to the US.

550 trailer coupling (с 01.03.1965)

I just deleted a pile of picturse I took when stripping it and can't find one of the rear bumper mount holes, I just went out and looked at the nose I’d chopped off and still have from this car and there are holes that the US bumper shocks will fit, absolutely.

I'm not sure as to the reasoning you’re getting at as far as US bumpers after Euro hitch removal. The Euro hitch is basically a bar across and behind the Euro bumper and mounts to the two vertically arraigned outside bolts (these are two bolts fixed by a steel spacer; they are loose inside the frame. On each bumper mount the inside single fastener is a stud welded in place and not removable) of the bumper mount, the bumper is attached to the hitch.

There are holes in exactly the same position and size as the holes for the US bumper shocks, the Euro hitch has tubular extensions off its rear side, towards the front of the vehicle, which extend into the channel box of the frame. Up inside the channel box two holes are drilled and two bolts and a plate secure those bumper extensions to the wall of the frame's channel box. The hitch is rated at 2500kg as a result of this mounting design.

So I think that the holes are there because the hitch requires them rather than as an ability to mount US bumpers with shocks, that's just a coincidence. I've also had an 84 300D NA Euro with a 5 speed which also had a hitch and that wasn’t exact but very similar with the mount design having extensions that went into the holes also used by US bumper shocks. I'm all but certain that vehicle had holes in the front bumper mounts because I use a tow bar which I attach to the front of the vehicle after removing the front bumper, with which I flat tow the vehicle. I’m pretty observant and think I would have noticed the lack of holes, but I guess anything is possible. For sure there is always something to learn about these cars that you didn't know before. I'm completely surprised of the lack of the bumper mount shock holes; I'll be looking at every 123 chassis for this difference from now on though. And 126's for that matter, I pulled a massive Euro hitch of a 126 gasser that had holes because it had extensions attaching to the frame through then but it also had other extensions external and below that attached to the frames box channel also.

Here’s a pic of the bumper/hitch with the extensions:

Thanks for clarifying, I worded it wrong. What I meant was there were holes made for the hitch which in turn would allow us to mount the US bumpers to the European car. Without this option the US bumpers would not mount to the Euro car properly.

But of course they probably did not mean for the US bumpers to fit European cars. As with MB engineering these features also serve another purpose and are "modular" (functional).

Do you think, if the bumpers of the Euro cars w/o these holes were removed, one can simply drill a hole into the chassis exactly where the US bumper shocks should slip into and add the corresponding two extra threads per side for proper installation of US bumpers?

Or is there more to it than just the hole?

I remember a thread similar to this:

http://www.benzworld.org/forums/w123-e-ce-d-cd-td/1535693-euro-trailer-hitch-any-value-us-4.html

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http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7271/7...144c3fc1dc.jpg

The hole would be easily cut through the sheet metal allowing US bumper shocks. Of course the edges should be attended to after removing the metal. The best method in doing this would be to get to a bone yard, find a 123 without bumpers or remove them from one, then make a nice template out of oaktag or thin aluminum that fits over the stud and some other reference points on the outside of the mount area. When you decide to modify a vehicle put the template in place secured in the correct position and scribe the hole's opening. I would drill a series of holes and clean things up with a die grinder, prime amd paint and it would almost be factory!

I just spoke to a friend that had an 83 Euro 300D. I traded him a front clip to fix the front end damage which made the car a good buy. I also traded him a US REAR bumper, It was a few years ago but he said he doesn't remember any modifications to swap it in, indicating the holes were there on his Euro and he just "bolted it up" ....So some do and some dont have the holes??

Another observation is that my Euro TD (85) has a US FRONT bumper, other Euro TDs that I've seen around town also have the Euro bumper on the rear and US on the front. I'm wondering why that would be or maybe its just coincidence.

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1985 Euro 240D 5 spd 140K
1979 240D 5 spd, 40K on engine rebuild
1994 Dodge/Cummins, 5 spd, 121K
1964 Allice Chalmers D15 tractor
2014 Kubota L3800 tractor
1964 VW bug

"Lifes too short to drive a boring car"

Bumper holes, naked.

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--frankb

1982 300TD 617.912 <NLA> . 1975 2002 E10-EFI . 1976 914c6 . 1983 MG LMIII <NLA>. 1988 Montero / 616<NLA> . 2001 TLS . 2005 Saab 9-5 Wagon

2500 KG? As in 5,500#? I'm not doubting, but that's a pretty strong number given
the number of "moment" connections I see in the picture... so I'm just double checking.

No doubt. Agreed.

Any chance of a picture of this hot little number ???? I'm working on the structural
design of a Class III for the TD that would -- ideally -- accept a weight distributor ....
so I'd love to see an example ....

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--frankb

1982 300TD 617.912 <NLA> . 1975 2002 E10-EFI . 1976 914c6 . 1983 MG LMIII <NLA>. 1988 Montero / 616<NLA> . 2001 TLS . 2005 Saab 9-5 Wagon

I did mis-remember just a bit, the capacity it was 2400 kg! Here's a pic of the hitch installation info"



I didn't take any pictures of the 126 hitch; it was the same basic system though. The bar across the back behind the bumper was twice the size if the 123 hitches I have, about 4-5" high and 2" wide of very heavy steel rectangular box channel, plates on both ends which used the two vertically arranged bolts as attachment points. On this hitch the factory two bolt/plate setup was removed and there was a heavy stamped steel sort of L shaped bracket which had two holes that lined up with the holes in the chassis through which two heavier bolts where used to sandwich the chassis sheet in the rear bumper mount area metal between the bumper on the outside and this bracket on the inside. These brackets where bolted vertically in three places along their bottom edge into the channel at the bottom of the frame's box channel in the space behind the wheel well. The where two bolts that went through the bracket's up-right face, these bolts passed through the bracket, the chassis sheet metal, and through exterior underside heavy steel straps that attached at the other end to the bottom edge of the hitch's main box channel.

The fellow I gave this to intended to weld a 2" receiver to the bottom of the main steel box channel, along with some appropriate reinforcement. The main channel box was very heavy duty and weighed probably 75+ pounds, the stamped steel brackets where also heavy duty steel probably 3 maybe even 4 mm thick and formed in such a way that the main section was "L" shaped but had a 1" deep lip completely encircling the "L". It was an extremely strong and rigid design. The exterior underside straps where also quite thick about 1 1/4" wide maybe 5 or 6 mm thick, they had a 90 degree twist to allow attachment on the flat side to the horizontal bumper main channel box and the other end to the vertical side of the interior bracket. These straps also where attached inboard of the other bumper mount points and as such ran diagonally outward triangulating and reinforcing the hitch from racking side to side.

The reinforcement bar goes into the bumper shock holes and attaches to the chassis frame as described:





Also interesting to see the US bumper mounting threads but no hole for the shock. This was for a Euro W123 with the trailer hitch (without reinforcement that goes into chassis):



This is how the standard Euro W123 rear bumper mounts look like without the two extra screws:



Again, in this thread: http://www.benzworld.org/forums/w123-e-ce-d-cd-td/1535693-euro-trailer-hitch-any-value-us.html

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