124 DIY spring replacement woes

[tjamesbo]

Any tips on 124 spring replacement welcome I thought this would be the easy bit of replacing the Lower Arm on my 1993 220TE so far It can be described as a Nightmare and has consumed considerable time
So far after purchasing the Kit below

I had a lot of Trouble setting the compressor up and getting it open enough and aligned without fouling in order to get enough compression to manoeuvre the spring out, when I finally got it out and I went to decompress it ,at full opening the spring still seemed compressed

# .I assumed there must have been some small loading through the Trolley Jack supporting the Lower Arm before compression commenced . Anyway with it out I proceeded with the Lower Arm replacement, thinking that I will pop the spring back in once the new Lower Arm is in place and clamped to the balljoint then recompress the old spring and then remove it ,again A lot of aggro getting the compressor kit aligned and open sufficiently to recompress However it recompressed and I removed it . Once out I decompressed it ...... All the way Now the Compressor just will not come off it has popped the Retaining circlip out and the whole thread mechanism is out I can only presume the compressor is binding The picture shows it

I would say the spring is relaxed but I just cant get the Darn thing Off I feel the job so far can be summed up as
Why cant things be straightforward Why cant I be the one where it all goes smoothly and the whole job is finished in a few Hours
I am wondering now whether I should 've got a sealey Hydraulic compressor like below
SEALEY Hydraulic Coil Spring Compressor VS7011 | eBay
But the one above seemed appropriate it was the reccomended Type and with the Bolt in the Middle the spring is also contained
Boyd

 

[grober]

That spring is broken at the top for starters. You may have tried to compress too many spring coils or not enough - it should only be necessary to compress the centre section of the spring with the very top and bottom coils allowed to decompress. here's a video how it should work.[YOUTUBE]17k3tcR8EwQ[/YOUTUBE]

 

[balge]

Looks like it's bent, try clamping the spring in a vise and 'unwinding' the disk by driving it with a drift?

 

[tjamesbo]

Thanks that was helpful , particularly the way he wound the top cup further up the Spring , Yep I know its broken The last coil dropped out the cup when it was originally removed . I have the new one from Merc ready to go in but cant put it on until i removed the compresor from the Old Spring . Its off now I had to tap the compressor cup round & down the spring and the thing relaxed . The Job should be straightforward but it has been far from it so far, I m getting there slowly but its like swimming through treacle if you get my drift .

 

[mrnick969]

tjamesbo, how did you get on in the end, did you get the new spring in ok? I am looking to purchase a spring compressor like yours, 5pc Shock Absorber Coil Spring Compressor Telescopic Repair Tool Mercedes Benz | eBay is this the one that you have?

 

[tjamesbo]

Yes Mine is exactly like that I paid about £100 for mine though and I would say its that one I extracted the spring with it and put the new one in . It is not quite as simple as appears ( on a 124 ) There is a lot of fiddling with it to make sure it doesnt foul and stays in line also I had a couple of attempts to get it in the right position on the spring coils The spring is in now but the tool is stuck I have taken the pressure off but the bottom cup / disc is wedged between spring coils at the bottom ...... and that was as far as I got, I have been waylaid with other duties so have not been able to finish it .My options for freeing it are;
1 to see if i can tap the bottom disc round and up the coil
2 or to recompress and remove the spring again and then reinsert with the discs closer together .(You have to be careful tho because if you dont compress enough coils then it will not go back in )
Boyd

 

[kth286]

.(You have to be careful tho because if you dont compress enough coils then it will not go back in )
Boyd

Whilst I agree that more coils compressed the better (up to a point);
if the spring won't go in, then you can jack under the wishbone to relieve the damper/strut, and undo the top nut to enable the wishbone to lower a little
to give a bit more space to insert the spring.

Make sure you have an allen key inserted into the top of the damper piston as a counter-hold
when undoing the top nut.

 

[bolide]

I've seen my local Indie use an air chisel to shift the disc round & up the spring during refitting - one of those dodges you learn when you've done a few hundred W124 springs & balljoints

He's probably done forty or fifty balljoints for me

Nick Froome

 

[kth286]

I've seen my local Indie use an air chisel to shift the disc round & up the spring during refitting - one of those dodges you learn when you've done a few hundred W124 springs & balljoints

He's probably done forty or fifty balljoints for me

Nick Froome

You have to have some sympathy for those discs as they take an awfully
big strain to compress those springs.

I would not want one of my discs suffering a hairline crack because it had been abused.

The consequences do not bear thinking about.

 

[tjamesbo]

Agreed I was thinking of tapping it round with a piece of wood for exactly that reason

 

[mrnick969]

My spring compressor arrived this morning and I managed to change my wishbone. It was a bit of a ******* of a job although I didn't have any problems getting the tool out of the spring so I'm not sure what to suggest. I think your plan of re compressing the spring and putting it on in a different position is probably your best bet?
Good Luck