It's actually quite simple. You have to take the pannels off the rear "seat". First you have to take the back compartments out the vehicle. There are a few screws attaching it to the body of the car, they should be on the on the front of the wood panels making the compartments. You also have to remove the vacumm hoses off the locks.

To get the pannels out just look on the side of the pannels and there should be a plastic cap, it should be the same color of the interior of the car, use a screw driver to remove it. Under the plastic cap there is a screw on each side, remove them and the side pannels should come out very easy.

With the car doors open look where the door shuts and you should see the big cilynders, there are bolts holding it to the body of the car at the bottom and clips at the top, the clips are pretty easy to remove, just lift the convertible top compartment and the back part of the top and you should see the clips, remove them with a screw driver. The bolts, to remove them from the inside, there is a hole at the bottom of the rear compartments ( the ones you have to take out) you have to access the bolts from those holes, use a long extension with your rachet. Also you have to remove the hoses from the cilynders, again use a screw driver to remove the clips (be careful not to lose the clips). After that take the cilynders out from the bottom and send them to Dennis Ficken (that's a plug, he fixed my cylinders and he did a hell of a job).

Install in the reversed order.

Good Luck,

Luis.

 

Luis that for the information. I have started the process, but stuck trying to remove the bass/amp unit. I tried removing the 3 screw surrounding the unit it still will not release. What am I missing? Thanks again for your help.

 

Hi again,
Are you having fun yet? My car did not come with a bose system,so I am not sure how to remove te subwoofer. I attached a couple of gifs, hopefully this will help. I also attached a zip file with a little more info on how to remove the cilynder. If this zip file is not posted I'll be more than happy to e-mail it to you, luisgdeloss@hotmail.com.

Good luck again,

Luis.

 

Here is a more info on how to remove the cylinder.

Luis.

 

I remove the 3 screws holding down the bass box, but the bass box is also glued down to the frame. I had to take a bar force it up.

 

I hope the original poster doesn't mind but with no moderator on this forum I have moved this post to relevant topic. Redliner

I hope this instructions are somewhat clear, if you have anything to add, please do so.

First you have to remove the storage compartment (I included a gif, 87131967). After removing the compartment you need to take out the rear panels (if you're taking out both hydraulics, which is a good idea). This panels are attached by a large screw right below the roll bar (make sure the roll bar is in the up position) and a few clips (you have to force it out, but be careful). After taking the rear panels out you have to lift the convertible storage cover (gif 87122014) if it's not already up; you may have to do this manually. Look inside the convertible storage area (towards the front) and you'll see a large cilynder (87122015.jpg). Take out the clip (and the pin attaching it to the frame of the top, 87122017.jpg). Now, you have to remove the bottom of the cylinder (87122016.gif), use a rachet, the bolt holding the cylinder is a very fine thread bolt, so be patient. The last step is to remove the clips for the hydraulic lines and take it out and send it to Dennis Ficken, he did a hell of job fixing my cilynders.

Best wishes,

Luis DelosSantos.

 

Does anyone know how to remove the cylinder that is responsible for raising and folding the rear section of the top? When it leaks fuilds drips on the big cylinder #9 in front of the rear tire. I do not see a number for it in the diagram of cylinders.

 

Fold The soft top

Please see the attached pixs.

To share the experience, at first ALL my friends and ALL members in the Taiwan's R129 forum said: " No other way, ONLY got to take the whole soft top with frame out off the car" . I did, took the whole thing with the cylinders off the car, put it on the earth, and then stripped the cylinders off, repaired, reinstalled and assembled the soft top back. It was very tough! especially did it by ONLY myself.(so couldn't took each step's pictures) But I still didn't want to believe that is the MB's design philosophy. I thought there must be the right way to replace these two square cylinders. After referring some pixs from ALLDATADIY, I finally found the right way as shown in the attached pix.

It is the real fun, in my opinion, of DIY: suffered by problem, find solution, and get achievement.

 

Soft top locking cylender by front windshield

Thanks for the information. I do need to only replace the cylinders on top of the windshield where the top latches on to. It is leaking fluids on the right side (sitting on driver's seat) and also a little on the right side that lands on the passenger seat rest.

Does anyone have a picture or suggestion on how to replace and remove such hydraulic cylinder in the front section as indicated above?

Thanks,

J. Sosa

 

Front lock cylinder removal guide

Jasosa,
Here's a step-by-step removal guide: http://tophydraulicsinc.com/R129 Front Locking Cylinder Removal.pdf

We now are using PTFE (polytetrafluoroethylene; same as the trademarked Teflon) in our seals...

You can send the cylinders in attached to the locks or by themselves...

Hope this helps,

-Klaus

Thanks for the information. I do need to only replace the cylinders on top of the windshield where the top latches on to. It is leaking fluids on the right side (sitting on driver's seat) and also a little on the right side that lands on the passenger seat rest.

Does anyone have a picture or suggestion on how to replace and remove such hydraulic cylinder in the front section as indicated above?

Thanks,

J. Sosa

 

This comes from the bottom of the 4th Blue Sticky.
Please read http://www.benzworld.org/forums/r12.../r129-sl-class/1307426-r129-soft-top-hydraulic-system-ultimate.html#post2262978

BTW, the front soft top hydraulics are all the same om the R129.

 

Removing and Re-installing the front locks is REALLY EASY!

If you take out the front cylinders and re-install the locks, you can still manually lock and unlock your soft top or hard top. Just don't forget to pull the fuse for the pump (located in the trunk), so that you don't accidentally turn on the pump and squirt hydraulic fluid into the windshield header...

If you can afford not to drive the car for a few days, you can send the cylinders mounted inside the locks and save that extra labor... :thumbsup: