222s
Aug 10th, 2009, 10:49
Someone in the design / engineering dept at Volvo thought it would be a good idea to attach the dampers via a thread on the top & bottom of the shafts. This works fine when fitting new ones, but trying to undo that nut when they're old is nigh on impossible, as the flats on the end round instantly, and so there's no way of stopping the shaft turning....
Found this out over the weekend when trying just to change a knackered bush. In the end, I had no choice but to cut the dampers out (hacksawing through the bush just below the nut on the top mount) & then fit replacement shocks too. Fortunately I had a pair in my garden shed (also already fitted to the mounting plate that bolts into the wishbone, so I didn't need to extract that from the old ones) nor worry about waiting for new ones to arrive.
Off came a very manky looking pair of Spax adjustables. So manky in fact that it wasn't until they were off that I could even work out what they were. On went a pair of s/h original Volvo black front shocks (off a low mileage car that was broken a while ago - I bought the entire front suspension). Half way though (did one side at a time) I compared the damping performance between the two - the ancient Spaxes were knackered compared to the Volvo ones, so perhaps it wasn't so bad that I couldn't replace just the bush! :)
Found this out over the weekend when trying just to change a knackered bush. In the end, I had no choice but to cut the dampers out (hacksawing through the bush just below the nut on the top mount) & then fit replacement shocks too. Fortunately I had a pair in my garden shed (also already fitted to the mounting plate that bolts into the wishbone, so I didn't need to extract that from the old ones) nor worry about waiting for new ones to arrive.
Off came a very manky looking pair of Spax adjustables. So manky in fact that it wasn't until they were off that I could even work out what they were. On went a pair of s/h original Volvo black front shocks (off a low mileage car that was broken a while ago - I bought the entire front suspension). Half way though (did one side at a time) I compared the damping performance between the two - the ancient Spaxes were knackered compared to the Volvo ones, so perhaps it wasn't so bad that I couldn't replace just the bush! :)