suspension questions

[Ryan1980]

Hi all,
as some of you may of noticed by now im new to merc's and looking to buy a w116. I dont know a lot about the suspension setup and from what i've heard it's hydraulic, and quite complex.

I dont suppose anyone could explain to me briefly how it works? Also , is it easy to chance springs/shocks if needed? Are the shocks standard gas shocks?

Thanks again guys

Ryan

[oscar]

Hi Ryan,
For all w116's other than the 6.9-

Front - All have conventional coil springs and shocks .
Rear - Some have conventional coils and shocks at ther rear.
         The rest have coil springs and struts that have a fluid and gas compartment.  The sole purpose is to have a self levelling rear.  The gas compartment acts as a shock absorber, the fluid compartment lifts or lowers the rear of the car.  There's a pump and reservoir in the engine bay.  A self levelling control valve has a lever on the rear sway bar which detects whether the car is squatting or otherwise and directs oil to the rear struts to pump the car up.

The 6.9 has the true hydropneumatic setup all round.  No springs at all, just four struts.  It's sort of similar to the self levelling rears of the other w116's but then again, so much more different.  It's best I leave it for someone else to explain it further.

[13B]

Ryan, I've seen from your other threads you are probably going to look for a 6cyl anyway, and its my observation that the majority of 6cyl and 350SE V8s (not all, but the majority) have the plain, simple and reliable coil spring/shock absorber setup.  There's nothing Pedders doesn't know how to deal with on those cars.

Its mainly the long wheel based cars that have the self levelling system.  The self levelling system is pretty similar in the W126 cars (in fact some parts are interchangable) and its pretty easy to look after and fix, if you shop around.

Hope this helps.

[Ryan1980]

thats excellent news actually, i dont want anything too complicated