There is a link that connects the bottom of the shifter to a lever of the transmission and there are plastic grommets at both ends (in the shifter and in the lever on the transmission. Those grommets are the subject of most of this discussion and they are easiest to do from beneath the car. The hard part (other than getting dirt in the face) is pressing the new grommet in the hole and not losing the spring clips.
But there are another pair of plastic bushings on the trunions that allow the fore-aft motion of the shifter and these can wear out too (they did in my 79 300TD with 350K miles). These bushings need to be replaced from above after removing the console and the shifter. This wasn't a bad job in my 123 model (console removal was harder my 126 model). If you need to remove the shifter from above to do the trunion bushings it's little additional work to replace the grommet too, which is much easier with the shifter out of the car. When the grommets are bad I heard/felt a "buzzing" at the shifter (metal on metal). When the trunion bushings were bad the shifter felt "sloppy." Even with all those miles, my old TD felt very tight and crisp with the new bushings and grommets. Scott ----------------------------------- Kaleb C. Striplin wrote: Why is that? I have never had to do that, I always do them from the bottom Sent from my iPhone On Jul 9, 2013, at 7:49 PM, "Scott Ritchey" <ritche...@nc.rr.com> wrote: > > I agree if you are only replacing the grommets under the car. But if you > also need to replace the bushings for the fore-aft pivot of the shifter you > have to open it up from the top anyway. > > -----Original Message----- > From: Mercedes [mailto:mercedes-boun...@okiebenz.com] On Behalf Of OK Don > Sent: Tuesday, July 09, 2013 6:48 PM > To: Mercedes Discussion List > Subject: Re: [MBZ] Replacing the Gearshift Lever Bushing 91 300D 2.5T S124 > > Even if you could do it from inside, I think it would be easier from under > the car - no seats, steering wheels, etc. in the way. They are at or near > the bottom of the tranny level, on the (cars) left side - just jack up the > port side, and have at it. > The job is too simple to need the WSM :-) > > _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com For new and used parts go to 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
