Ohmann

March 2022 happened to be browsing through some ads and came across a1998 SL 500. Have owned a 2033 SL 500 for ten years. I’ve put 110k miles on it, repaired or replaced many parts along the way. Took great care of it. Engine and transmission strong, many long trips. Always kept my eye out for a nice R129.
Finally found it in March. As with most, needed a little work. Changed all fluids, it had been sitting for a couple of years. Hardtop needed headliner. Few plastic pieces needed replacement. And of course the hydraulics in the top leaked. Car garage kept with 74k miles when I drove it to my garage. After rebuilding the abc system in the R230 I knew I could do it. Lessons learned. I started replacing The front locks thinking that would do it. The diy provided by tophydraulics.com proved invaluable. Just go ahead and rebuild them all. Stay organized with the parts. It is so satisfying to touch that button and all just slides into its little cubby. Those little eclips or cclips are little buggerbears. I found it very helpful to use hemostats to place them back into their grooves. They hold on til it gets started. I’m 73 so it could be me but it worked well. Today it was 68 for a couple of hours here so I drove to Williamsburg with top down windscreen up to drop off title for R230. Love my new ride, it’s much easier to keep up with. Klaus at top hydraulics was so helpful, when he got on the phone I thought I was speaking with a celebrity. Happy New Year!!

rickt49

So glad to hear this. I'm also 73 and lots of aches & pains but I feel pretty confident I can do it. I have a '98 also. How long, roughly, in hours? And which one or where was your toughest or longest part?

Ohmann

Rick
By far the toughest sets are the main lift cylinders and the ones in the convertible top. When you get to these make sure the roll bar is in raised position. I would send all 11 to Klaus at top hydraulics for rebuild. You can do it!! Watch the diy videos on the top hydraulics.com website a few times and the job becomes easy. It is so rewarding when that top goes up and down as it should. I can not say how long it takes for sure. I’m slow but steady. My work area is a two car garage in the basement. When dinner or whatever is ready I put the tool down and walk up the stairs. Stay organized.
I used a separate box for each cylinder
Stuff the open areas with rags or paper towels to catch any clips when taking off or on. Hemostats stay clamped on the clip till they are in place. You will lose a couple, Klaus will send you some if you need them. You can do it.
have the right tools ready
Cheers

rickt49

Thanks. That's what I was hoping to hear. The little things you learned that I don't need to relearn the hard way.

Roscoe52

Good to hear this, thanks for posting. I have been putting off doing the job on my '98 R129 Sport for far too long. My main lift cylinders are totally shot for sure but doing them all just makes sense. I'm 70 now and I have a decent workshop so my list of excuses to put the job off is getting smaller!

If I read you right you suggest pulling everything out and sending it off to Klaus for rebuild, yes? Rather than getting rebuilt cylinders in and swapping them out - I know the latter way costs a lot more.

Ohmann

Roscoe
in my case. I thought just the front lock cylinders were bad. When you replace one set the pressure finds the next weakest point as I learned doing it piece by piece
it would be very convenient to have a new cylinder in hand when taking out the old as the procedure would be in your mind and would make it much easier.
imagine what it would cost for someone to do it for you and pricing becomes irrelevant imho.
it’s so rewarding. Take your time
stay organized and you can do it
Peace

alexanderemarti

I bought a steel cylinder by mistake. I had read somewhere before that you should use a steel cylinder if the car was not aligned (because the pump wears out faster). I think that was just a mistake or a bad copy. The steel cylinder is fine, the top is working fine with it. I'm not sure about the longevity of the cylinder. I had the car aligned a couple of weeks ago and will have to see how much the cylinder will wear out.

Ohmann

Alexander
Hello. Not sure your meaning of steel cylinders and alignment??
Klaus Witte at Top Hydraulics is the authority on the R129 convertible top system. Website is tophydraulics.com
There you can find any answer to questions you may have about R129 top system. It’s like owning two cars
one with the hardtop on and one with the top down. Good luck.

FATHERTIME

I have 3 SL's 94 SL320, 98 SL500 99 SL600 I have replaced at least 24 cyls between them plus numerous for friends and a couple for a local shop. I fix them as they leak instead the whole bunch I do replace both front top at the same time . Reason for me is I have no idea if any were replaced before I got my cars They will not park the car and they are not that hard after you have done a few. I find the worst one to be left bow cyl due to the fragile switch that can easily be destroyed if not taken off first and put back on last. The mains are mostly easy if you remove the rear amp cover. Worst thing on the mains is do not drop the lower bolt into the body pan. I use all TH cyls and never had an issue with them.

PS if it matters I'm 77

Sandy Eggo

My top works well (knock on wood) but I wasn't sure if the cylinders had ever been replaced so I emailed Klaus (Top Hydraulics). Klaus was very kind to look at some pics I sent him to determine if they were original (they indeed appear to be original). His DIY videos are a goldmine and I have them bookmarked in case I ever need to attempt the work myself. Those bow cylinders look like real %$^@ though and will require a lot of swearing.

Luxter

I also dealt with Klaus at Top Hydraulics. No association, just another happy customer.
He's simply incredible, customer service is amazing.
Many thanks Klaus, in case you're reading this.
Cheers,
L