V70 Suspension: Rear springs

[ShadeTek]

I have an ever worsening clunk from the rear offside. It doesn't happed so much when I am in the car on my own, but the when the wife and kids have piled in it clunks nearly every time I pull away or brake suggesting fore/aft movement make sit happen more. The top damper mount looks fine so I am thinking now top/bottom spring seats are moving. Looking online, taking these springs off is a bit if a nightmare. Internal spring clamps are needed or would be ideal, but surely you could take off the whole hub assembly and let the lower spring seat come away to let the spring fall out. Are there any bolts I should not remove which alter the geometry? Any info appreciated.

[100K+]

Not sure if relevant but here's a Your tube Vid for wheel hub removal/replacement - its for a 2006 V70 XC.
It might give you a few pointers


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gCF6fQPrJ8

Can't help with specific "geometry bolts" but I do know there are some under there.

Good luck

Cheers

Bob

[oragex]

If I'm not wrong, I believe it takes a spring compressor to be installed while the springs are on the vehicle.

Rear offside means the left side of the vehicle? Other possible causes are the end links known to wear, and also the handbrake pad shoes which are known to delaminate and cause quite a mess inside the rear brake drums.

[b1mcp]

Ideally a spring compressor should be used but I don't think any generic compressors will work (not of mine did anyway).

I did the job using the approach you suggested by disconnecting the lower arm and lowering it down. This was easy. Putting it back using the same method is much more difficult.

The arm needs to be lowered so much to get the new spring in place that the angle is such that the new spring wants to pop out as soon as you start raising the arm. I used a large ratchet strap around the spring and pulled it towards the inside of the car to stop it popping out.

Also, the lower arm wandered towards the rear of the car, so re-aligning that also needed another ratchet strap to pull it forward. A real faff.

The key bolts for rear alignment are on the inner side of the separate control arm - not the wishbone arm (spring seat). You will see the offset head on them. Their position can be marked with a punch so they can be reset if you need to remove them (but shouldn't be necessary). But be aware that any dismantling of these components can upset the alignment to some extent.

[Coventry]

I also used the rear lower arm disconnection method and it worked well. I disconnected the arm at the inner end, with just one bolt IIRC, and used a jack to gently lower the arm until the compression was removed from the spring. Reinstallation was simple and quick, I had no issues with the spring wanting to bend or move out of its mounts but it did take a little wiggling to get the bolt hole to align with the rear subframe mount. I would have no qualms doing it this way again because it looked quite a tight fit for spring compressors! This was on an S60 but the suspension layout looks the same, although I suppose it's possible that the springs are longer on a V70 due to the potential extra load.