Planning on doing a full shock and strut job on my old 244 this weekend and was just wondering if there are any pointers I will be needing. I have a shop manual for the car, but I am sure a few people have found a couple hints and tips over the years. Thank you all very much for any help that you can give me!

The shocks are a piece of cake, unless you run into problems caused by rusted nuts. One small hint though: I would recommend that you have two bolts and new, self-locking nuts available for the D-shaped discs that fix the lower end of the springs to the trailing arms. If the existing bolts don't come loose from the discs, fine, then you just need the new nuts (don't re-use the old ones). If the bolts do come loose (they are only press fit), they are almost impossible to get a grip on with their round heads, and you need the new hex-head bolts as replacements.

As for the struts, I picked up a few points on what problems you might face here: http://www.cabinnaise.com/vpage/242dl.htm
In any case, it is an entertaining read.

Good luck,
Erling.
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My 240 Page

For the struts, the IPD catalogue, and maybe their website, has step-by-step directions. Also, the 700 Series FAQ on this site has directions. The main thing is to work carefully, expecially when using the spring compressors. Those springs hold a lot of energy when compressed and can do a lot of damage to a person if something goes wrong.
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Thanks everyone for all the help, Doug C. 81 242 Brick Off Blocks, turbo bars and wheels, M46; 86 244, B230, 150k , auto.

Some good help here:

http://www.brickboard.com/RWD/index.htm?id=769381

Strut Replacement for Novices 200 1986
posted by darmstrong on Fri Mar 12 04:08 UTC 2004


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Jim (90 244DL 175K miles) turbo sways w/poly, front struts & bushings, OD wiring, downpipe, OEM hitch, remote-locks.