[ty423]

1988 560SEL
Changing to air suspension.
Will be taking out the rear SLS struts.
Should I take the accumulators out along with the struts?
Is it as simple as blocking the lines?
Should I do an adjusment on the leveler that is connected to the sway bar?

Curious question. Is this entire SLS system a closed system and all mechanical? From pictures and videos I've seen I didn't see any type of sensor or computer or wires or anything.

 

[MBL87560SEC]

Hello ty,

Self-leveling is a mechanical/hydraulic system with an engine-driven hydraulic pump in the left front of the engine.

One cannot simply block lines as until something is done with the pump,......... Also, any adjustments to the leveler controller valve rely on hydraulic fluid flow to function.

In addition, and this may not be of concern to you, the rear springs are not as strong for an SLS car when compared to a similar model without the SLS feature.

MBL

 

[ty423]

Hello ty,

Self-leveling is a mechanical/hydraulic system with an engine-driven hydraulic pump in the left front of the engine.

One cannot simply block lines as until something is done with the pump,......... Also, any adjustments to the leveler controller valve rely on hydraulic fluid flow to function.

In addition, and this may not be of concern to you, the rear springs are not as strong for an SLS car when compared to a similar model without the SLS feature.

MBL

Thank you for the quick response. That's what I was thinking too. I bought the block off plate kit. Came with plate/gasket/bolts/washers. I guess I'll just somehow just cap off the lines somehow after removing pump. I haven't gone under the car yet and if it's fairly simple I'll remove all the lines. Yes I saw that you need new stronger springs if going with traditional suspension but I'm putting in a custom air suspension for the front and rear.

 

[MBL87560SEC]

Thank you for the quick response. That's what I was thinking too. I bought the block off plate kit. Came with plate/gasket/bolts/washers. I guess I'll just somehow just cap off the lines somehow after removing pump. I haven't gone under the car yet and if it's fairly simple I'll remove all the lines. Yes I saw that you need new stronger springs if going with traditional suspension but I'm putting in a custom air suspension for the front and rear.

Hey ty, I just had a thought here..

If your rear SLS rams are NOT leaking, and the bellows in good nick, I'd recommend carefully removing them, capping the hydraulic fittings clean 'em up some with the idea of re-selling to another W126 enthusiast. The rams are currently NLA from MB and as far as I know, the tooling to create them no longer exists. Additionally, a capped & cleaned up level controller & linkage might be saleable as well?

Just a morning musing here..

Good luck,

M

 

[reng1230]

I totally agree with MBL, send them off to another user !!
Good luck with your Conversion. Get back to us and post pictures as you go along your way

 

[RobertD]

Funny, I was just rebuilding an SLS pump last night, so my mind's been on SLS.

You can sell all of the major components from the system if they're in fair shape - the pump, the reservoir, the valve, the rams/shocks...

In terms of removing: if you're putting in M air suspension, I'm guessing you are interested in doing things "right.". So why cap stuff off? I'd target actually removing everything, including the lines. You're going to be doing a lot of work underneath the car to install the air setup, so why not give yourself some extra room and make it a clean job? I've removed everything except for the lines from a couple of donor cars and it was straightforward. If you remove the lines, you might be able to reuse some of the fittings to route stuff for the air suspension?

As you go through this, I'm sure folks here would love to see how the project progresses.

Sent from my moto x4 using Tapatalk

 

[ty423]

Hey ty, I just had a thought here..

If your rear SLS rams are NOT leaking, and the bellows in good nick, I'd recommend carefully removing them, capping the hydraulic fittings clean 'em up some with the idea of re-selling to another W126 enthusiast. The rams are currently NLA from MB and as far as I know, the tooling to create them no longer exists. Additionally, a capped & cleaned up level controller & linkage might be saleable as well?

Just a morning musing here..

Good luck,

M

I haven't done a visual yet of any leaks of any of the system yet. I want to go under and see how it all is routed and if it is an easy job to take everything out. I would like to have a cleaner engine bay as well without reservoir and lines. The reason I wanted to cap off is so I can reinstall everything if I ever plan to put the stock components back in. Now that you mentioned people might buy my used parts I might consider this route. I can always just go springs and shocks later instead if I decide to get rid of the air suspension. Thanks for your input.

I totally agree with MBL, send them off to another user !!
Good luck with your Conversion. Get back to us and post pictures as you go along your way

Thanks! I've started a thread on my build here ty423 1988 560SEL

Funny, I was just rebuilding an SLS pump last night, so my mind's been on SLS.

You can sell all of the major components from the system if they're in fair shape - the pump, the reservoir, the valve, the rams/shocks...

In terms of removing: if you're putting in M air suspension, I'm guessing you are interested in doing things "right.". So why cap stuff off? I'd target actually removing everything, including the lines. You're going to be doing a lot of work underneath the car to install the air setup, so why not give yourself some extra room and make it a clean job? I've removed everything except for the lines from a couple of donor cars and it was straightforward. If you remove the lines, you might be able to reuse some of the fittings to route stuff for the air suspension?

As you go through this, I'm sure folks here would love to see how the project progresses.

Sent from my moto x4 using Tapatalk

I will take a look under and see how the lines are routed. I'm guessing it shouldn't be hard if it is exposed and just brackets holding it onto the body. I'm more worried about the mess it's going to make with all the fluids...lol. I don't even know how to drain all the fluids with minimal spillage. I think I will just pump the reservoir manually and possibly find the lowest connection and release the rest from there...I think. I'm not going to start on it until I get some small parts for the air setup. I don't want to start and put in the rear air bags and end up waiting for parts while my car sits on jack stands. I like to warm up the engine to operating temperature and drive around the block every few weeks.

Air suspension just uses push-to-connect fittings mainly and the kit came with all those. Taking out all the hydraulic lines and using those areas to route my new air lines might be a good idea.

I guess it will be quite a few parts I can sell. Some being pretty pricey too. It would probably be a good idea to take a picture of all the parts on the car before I remove to show condition and of how my car sits as of now which is stock. Maybe include a piece of paper with my username and date of proof in the picture next to each part.

Thank you for your input.