Replaced the front shocks (Bilsteins) on the wife’s SL500 this afternoon. Took me all of maybe 45 minutes to do both.
So I didn’t have to pull or compress the springs, I put a jack stand under the “A” arm where the bottom ball joint is. Fit the cradle on my cast jack stands perfectly. With the suspension compressed by the weight of the car, I removed the top nut on the shock rod and then jacked the car up maybe an inch or so to lower the A arm and let the shock rod come out of the top mount. From there I removed the three bolts holding the shock to the steering knuckle, removed it, put the new one in place with new bolts, and tightened everything up. Front of the car definitely sits higher. The old shocks did not extend the same amount as the new ones, that is, there wasn’t enough pressure to force the rods out to full travel, which tells me they were kaput. I drove it around the neighborhood and couldn’t tell a difference, but I’m sure the wife will when the times comes for her to drive the car again. Guess I probably need to replace the rears now, too. -D _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
