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Posted by thom

2006 T1N Sprinter: Front and rear shock replacement

It was time. It's been time, to replace our Sprinter's shocks. Holy cow. Thankfully, it's a straightfoward, albeit at times tedious, job. For our 2006 T1N Sprinter, we went with these shocks (the part numbers are key which is why I'm including them):

We sourced the shocks at the time from shockwarehouse.com and the mounts from urotuning.com. I'm one to believe if I'm going through the process of replacing front struts, I'm going to spend the couple of extra bucks and also replace the mounts. We went with the parts from Urotuning because they were genuine Mercedes.

Spoiler: replacing these made a HUGE improvement in ride quality, especially given the fact I'm pretty sure the ones I took off were original. Yikes. Like I said, it was time.

This job took a smattering of tools, but nothing terribly unusual (except perhaps the 24mm combination wrench):
  • 8mm hex key or socket (to remove the factory front struts)
  • 7mm hex key or socket (to install the Bilstein front struts - yep, they were different than OEM)
  • 24mm combination wrench (to remove/install front strut nuts from the upper mounts inside the cab)
  • 19mm socket (front struts; lower bolts to steering knuckle and wheel lug nuts)
  • 21mm sockets (rear shocks; it took two - one to hold the bolt and the other to remove the nut)
  • 18mm sockets (rear shocks; it took two - one to hold the bolt and the other to remove the nut)
  • Breaker bar
  • Torque wrench
  • PB Blaster (I sprayed all bolts/nuts the day before)
  • Jack and stands
  • Loctite (blue; I applied it to all of the bolts)
The torque specs:
  • FRONT 19mm bolts (x8): 136 ft-lbs
  • FRONT 24mm nut (x2): 74 ft-lbs (I didn't have a torque wrench that worked while holding the 7mm hex tight so I just tightened it as much as I could with the pretty beefy 24mm wrench and a breaker bar holding the strut assembly solid)
  • REAR (upper) 21mm bolts (x2): 59 ft-lbs
  • REAR (lower) 18mm bolts (x2): 52 ft-lbs
  • Lugnuts (x5 per wheel): 177 ft-lbs
Jack locations (see diagram below):
  • FRONT: transmission crossmember
  • REAR: leaf sprint mount
The fronts are always a little more complicated than the rear, but like I said, still straightforward. Once the van was jacked up, I went to remove the OGs.


(Yep, our driveway was a regular auto shop while our little RAV4 was also up on jack stands as I figured out how to fix a broken captive nut inside the frame)



The passenger side upper mount is inside the jack compartment, accessed after removing the plastic cover. The driver's side is under the floor mat, accessed after removing the plastic step cover and peeling back the flooring.

To break the 24mm nut free on the passenger side, I jammed the 8mm hex key (fitted with a steel tube extension I have when I need a little additional leverage from smaller tools like this) against a piece of scrap wood held in place by the jack holder. There's some squishiness to the strut rotation which I needed to eliminate completely in order to break the nut free; hence, this hack of a setup. It worked. For the driver's side, I used an 8mm hex socket on a breaker bar wedged up against the center column.

To remove the four lower 19mm bolts, I put the key in the "On" position so I could crank the steering knuckle one way (to remove the two toward the front), then the other way (to remove the two toward the rear). Repeat on the other side.






I reused the plastic dust protection sleeves (after cleaning it up) and tossed the old mounts. Worth noting: I used the OEM 24mm nuts rather than the ones that came with the Bilsteins because the flange on theirs was slightly too large in diameter to seat properly in the upper mount. 

Getting that upper mount to seat properly––perfectly centered in the frame depression––was the trickiest part. I ended up removing all 4 lower bolts and instead opting to get the upper nut on and the upper/lower mounts seated just right before tightening it. Once the upper nut was tight, I struggled a little to align each of the four bottom bolts. It took some finagling of the steering knuckle, turning it one way and then another, heaving it some to align the strut holes with the bolt holes. Patience was key, which at times I admit was in short supply. All in a day's work, though.

In the end, I felt good about the upper mounts and got everything put back together. To tighten the upper 24mm nut, I used a 7mm hex socket on a breaker bar to keep the strut assembly from turning at all while I heaved on the wrench.





Then it was on to the rear shocks. These are much simpler, just two bolts each. After getting the rear of the van up on jack stands, I removed the four bolts, making sure to take note of the washer alignment (on either side of the upper shock mount sleeve). To get the van high enough to remove the wheels, I need to use a block on our floor jack. Once the wheel is removed, I lower the van onto the jack stands.






Yep, these shocks were totally shot. I could press them in with a finger and neither had any rebound whatsoever. The bushings were also shot. Again, it was time.



I applied blue Loctite to all of the bolts (also, all eight of the front bolts). I just dab a line along the length of the threads.



It was easier to install the bottom bolt first and then line up the top bolt. That way, I didn't have to fight pushing the shock up just a bit to get the bottom bolt to line up. That was proving difficult.



After torquing the four bolts to spec (see above), that was that. Installed!

The last thing I did was to snap in the brake pad sensors I forgot to install when I originally replaced our rear brake pads.



After taking it for a test drive, I can confirm the ride is significantly improved. Our van just feels more solid now. I find myself bracing for the bumps, but then don't feel anything. We're hoping this cuts down on our kids getting carsick with all the swaying, too.

Next up: installing a diesel heater!

FOR REFERENCE: 2001-2006 Sprinter diagram showing the proper jack/hoist locations



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