Mercedes 300TD Wagon Overlander

theycallmeWALLY said:
Dang! Totally forgot about this beast.

Stoked you are feeling better. I hope to see this beast in the dirt sooner then later.

I was actually just talking about your Tent Yesterday but had forgotten who posted it. Have you used it yet?
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I’ve taken a few naps in it at the shop and it’s comfy! Quality of it is very nice, the stuff needed to build up my rack shows up this week so I should be able to get it mounted either this coming up weekend or next.
 
Snuck out of the house and thew a quick spacer lift onto the Mercedes, not exactly how I want to do the lift long term but my impatience got to me looking at these tires in it. Roof bars to mount the roof top tent also showed up this week but I’ll have to get to that install in another week or 2

My spacers showed up yesterday to change the lug pattern from 5x112 to 5x4.5 so I can run a typical jeep pattern 15” wheel

The front hub bore on the Mercedes is 66mm, however, my adapters choke down to the smaller hub bore of the 5x4.5 section of the wheel so I need to chuck them on a lathe and open the bore up the rest of the way.

The rears went on no problem and I got a rough cut out of the rear fenders done before I had to pack it up for the day. Still have a lot of cleaning up the metal to do, and the inner fender actually goes all the way through to the inside of the wagon so I’ll have to create some patches to seal it back up which is no big deal

Here’s some photos of the rear slapped together though! Little stink but action as well as a before and after so you can see the height gained from the spacer lift
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Got everything at the shop finished up early today and had some time to work on the Benz before heading home. Got the wheel adapters machined out and the fronts fit on today. Rough cut on the fender and finally got to see what she looks like and dammit I nailed the stance if I do say so myself.

Here’s some porn

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Popped the tent on today getting ready to pull it home so I can do all the wiring and interior

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It’s fun to see it really starting to come to life can’t wait to get it out on the trails! Hoping to take it on a Merus Adventure trip in Palo during Canyon for her first maiden voyage but may need to do some testing out here at the local OHV trails first to make sure we don’t run into any major issues before a trip that far out of town
 
Brought the Benz home today. Still been down with a back injury I have 2 bulging disks in my l4 and l5 with a tear in the l5.

So I went ahead and brought her home that paired with new born around the house I figured the only way I’m gonna get anything done on her is if she’s at home where she belongs!

So time to start ripping through the wiring and getting all the gremlins sorted so she’s trustworthy to start making some longer trips!

Progress will probably be slow here for a little while but should atleast be rolling.

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Started ripping the old nasty interior out.

Good news is no major rust found so far I’m pretty sure this wagon lived most its life in New Mexico so thankfully it’s not too bad.

I was contemplating refreshing the original Mercedes seats but I think if I’m going this far I may as well throw a simple cage in and go with PRP daily drivers up front and a 3 person bench for the rear.

Dash and hvac system come out next then it’s onto creating a new simpler wiring harness. IMG_0787.jpegIMG_0798.jpeg
 
Sounds like you might need to reach out to my Gambler friend @Golden_Cedes on insta. has a very nicely built merc... also in gold.
 
Made a decent chunk more progress on interior removal. Got everything out and cleaned up for the most part. What a nightmare of a mess! Found a little bit of rust but not bad at all and will be easy to fix while we’re doing the cage.

Also while I have the car this far apart I’ve been itching at the idea of going ahead and doing a solid axle and 4wd swap into it. But we will see. Here’s some progress photos!
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Also picked up some new meats, some 285/70/r17 bfg ko2’s so on the hunt for a new wheel setup as well 😂 Enzo approves IMG_1443.jpegIMG_1440.jpegIMG_1441.jpeg
 

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turbomonty said:
so no more diesel?
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Still going to be staying the original om617 diesel. Doomsday diesel makes an adapter kit to fit up to the turbo 400 series transmissions. Basically the only thing staying Mercedes is the motor and the body panels.
 
I used to own a 300TD that was bought new in NY city, and eventually made its way to CA, had a similar amount of rust. The bottoms of the doors were so rotted out you could look up through them to see the window regulators😂. What's the plan to ditch the hydraulics in the rear suspension?
 
theycallmeWALLY said:
Stoked that you are continueing building this beast.... But that Rust looks :sick::sick:
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I was down with my back there for a while I feel a good bit better now! The rust does look bad but it’s where I’ll be cutting for transmission and transfer case now so not too stressed about it. There’s other spots that are decently rusty as well but we will leave them for character
triple_fcked said:
I used to own a 300TD that was bought new in NY city, and eventually made its way to CA, had a similar amount of rust. The bottoms of the doors were so rotted out you could look up through them to see the window regulators😂. What's the plan to ditch the hydraulics in the rear suspension?
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solid axle swap front and rear 🤘🏼🤘🏼

Width and mounting points in the front are the same on the frame of the Mercedes as a jeep xj. So my thought process is a high pinion Dana 30 out of an xj fab up a crossmember mount and run a radius arm long arm style control arm setup.

Then in the rear do a leaf spring setup with a ford 8.8
 
Also kinda unrelated but cool news. I work for an off-road shop here in Lubbock called 806 Desert Customs off-road were a full service accessory shop that does just about anything you could want done shy of engine and transmission work.

The past couple weeks I was fortunate to be able to help with some alignment and prep work on a local racer Bryant Blakemore from Taquache Motorsports Class 8 dodge ram 2500 as it was getting ready to race Reno to Vegas.

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That race was last night and stoked that Bryant had a very successful race placing second in his class and finishing the race around 3:15 this morning!

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He also has been in close works with the Black Ram Class 8 dodge ram 2500 diesel truck out of the Netherlands and they also finished this morning about 5:30am! Awesome to see both these big bitches go out there and get it done!

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Always feels awesome when you get to put in a little bit of help! Can’t wait for the kiddos to get bigger so we can go out and chase!
 
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