W140 S500 front spring replacement

[ivan1983]

Hi All,

Looking for a bit of advice, I have broken front coil springs on my W140 and have the plate type tool to compress them.

However I can't seem to compress the old spring enough to get it out. I dont want to manhandle it as I'm being very careful with something under that much tension.
Any ideas on which parts I can remove to help the spring come out without messing up the alignment?

I did see something where the lower control arm was loosened but the description wasn't too detailed.

Any thoughts?

Thanks
Ivan

 

[grober]

First thing would be to jack the front of the car high enough to get maximum "droop" on the suspension with the spring compressed. If this doesn't yield enough clearance then you have to look at what may be preventing the lower arm from swinging lower. This might be the antiroll bar drop link or the shock absorber. Failing that then also releasing the top ball joint pin clamp might do it. None of those should alter the suspension alignment---try to avoid touching the suspension lower arm.
thats what this guy did --all three. Loosening the lower arm inner bolt to drop the lower arm only applies to the rear springs.
that top ball joint pin is clearly shown in this picture. the suspension clamp bolt hole on the front hub upright is behind the C of the [be careful] writing in red

DIY H&R Springs and rear bushings replacement! - Mercedes-Benz Forum

 

[grober]

HERE'S A VIDEO OF A SIMPLER PROCEEDURE ON A W210. DIFFERENT CAR BUT BASICALLY THE SAME SUSPENSION. NOTE THE USE OF THE LARGE PRY BAR ON THE UPPER LINK TO GET CLEARANCE!

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

 

[ivan1983]

HERE'S A VIDEO OF A SIMPLER PROCEEDURE ON A W210. DIFFERENT CAR BUT BASICALLY THE SAME SUSPENSION. NOTE THE USE OF THE LARGE PRY BAR ON THE UPPER LINK TO GET CLEARANCE!

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

The car is on axle stands on all corners so the arm should be on full "droop" and the shock is disconnected.
Good spot on the prybar I'm hoping that might do the trick. One of the reasons I didn't want to undo the upper arm is that its under a preload which i didnt want to mess with, now I think about it that is probably why a prybar is needed!

 

[ivan1983]

I loosened the upper arm pinch bolt which gave me a little bit more room and out came the old spring.
Had to take an angle to the old spring to free the compressor.
Compressed the new spring but couldnt get in.
So I tried undoing the the arb, that didn't give it enough room. Then the steering linkage, this didnt seem to do anything.
Then I removed the pinch bolt completely with a jack under the hub to control the drop this gave me enough room to get the spring in.

Jacked up the hub which compressed the spring a bit further and put a bottle jack between the upper arm and wheel arch to get the upper arm and pinch bolt back together.

 

[ivan1983]

So I did the other spring.
In addition to the upper arm pinch bolt the arb bush needed to be loosened and the steering linkage removed to get the coil out. If I disconnected the brake calliper the steering linkage may have been able to stay in situ. Also remember to take out the spring compressor plate before reattaching the shock absorber!