replacing front anti roll bar bushes

[happy diver]

So if you have rust, spray some schlep before the job.....................yeah

Once you have the bolt out, by the way if you don't want to invent an aluminium dowel



which by the way is just an el-cheapo exacto knife (which I also use as a dent removal tool
that really only takes about 3 seconds for extraction) then just use a 13mm socket which
is 1mm bigger than the M8 12mm Volvo bolt head at the end of your extension menagerie
"because you must" https://youtu.be/ZM1fkHQP_Pw?t=20 Christopher Walken demonstrating angles

and because it gives easy on-offability
and at these angles there is even enough grippage of the bolt for final tightening. yeah



Look at him, what's going on, perhaps because I'm long, if it wasn't for
some obstructive bits I'd be able to reach down there and tickle the bracket
yeah!

Okay so if you have muck having sclepped the bolt, then run a bolt in and out and up
and down to remove spin resistant things from the thread inside the hole of the encapsulated nut
and degrease so your new bolt does not bind when you spin it back in. yeah?

Here's a good one, if you grind the tip of the thread of the bolt like the original
(copyright Volvo and any other engineering adept awkward type people)



it virtually (not in the computer or "(misconstrused) like it? car plug and play" sense)
but because of the awkward angles you are working with almost jumps into the hole
grabs the thread and starts spinning fervorously
as if on a mission to somewhere in another galaxy. yeah

So volva bolt, aftermarket bolt, my market bolt.
and put a stainless washer if you manufacture a bolt, to flange it yeah

Boys, what we've got here (if I were to communicate this without a photo
to aliens) is a chasm wouldn't you say, yeah



"Jeez is that where I left the keys!" nah

So there's the magical 1/4 inch extension and uni taped up to stop it
jack knifing with the 13 mm socket and looking angularly awkward, as I
have twisted the uni in two, which by my reckoning gives me close to
correct torque yeah

If I'd had a dog folks, I could have squeezed a dog in there, actually it
looks to be more suited to the neighbours lawn crapping cat
"puss puss do you want to come for a drive to the beach cat"
yeah

So if you can't do this, with all this, then go to the beach
and chill like me with your cat, but remember to reel it in yeah

to be continued


gotta love the yeah thing, who invented that aye

[steveo59]

Hi everyone,
Just an update. I ended up booking the car into the garage for them to do it on thursday. They started but had to break off to finish other cars they had booked in. It took them longer than they had planned so I had to pick it up the next day. By dropping the exhaust etc. they managed to drop the subframe by 6 inches, even then they struggled to hold the sway bar in position to screw the bolts in from the top. So they put a longer bolt in from underneath with a nut on top to hold the sway bar in position and then managed to put the other bolt in properly. They then changed the first bolt they had put in with the correct one. They ended up charging me 2 hours labour plus vat so £120 in total for the anti roll bar sorting. The good news is it then went through the MOT with no more problems.

[happy diver]

I would suggest a diet including fish, vegetables and less meat,

[pierremcalpine]

Originally Posted by steveo59

Hi everyone,
Just an update. I ended up booking the car into the garage for them to do it on thursday. They started but had to break off to finish other cars they had booked in. It took them longer than they had planned so I had to pick it up the next day. By dropping the exhaust etc. they managed to drop the subframe by 6 inches, even then they struggled to hold the sway bar in position to screw the bolts in from the top. So they put a longer bolt in from underneath with a nut on top to hold the sway bar in position and then managed to put the other bolt in properly. They then changed the first bolt they had put in with the correct one. They ended up charging me 2 hours labour plus vat so £120 in total for the anti roll bar sorting. The good news is it then went through the MOT with no more problems.

All I can say is if you got this for two hours of labour that is a steal. I took the plunge and attempted this job beginning Friday. I decided that I was going to go by the book removing exhaust, power steering rack and lowering subframe. Nothing about this f'n job is complicated but it takes a very long time in the drive. Why, because 1) the stupid exhaust bolts take forever to loosen with heat and wiggling one way and then the other and b) the four power steering rack bolts are...well they are on there seriously tight and they just don't loosen up as you unscrew. That and only one can really be access with anything other than a 17" spanner attached to an 18" spanner for leverage.

I also busted one exhaust bolt, broke the bracket off the power steering heat shield (no biggy but still). Then when I finally got access the the stupid bushes it took another 15mim of heat and tapping to loosen those up.

My family is really annoyed that I'm spending all this time over the long weekend to replace these infernal things. St this point I can report that bushings are back on but I prob have another 2hrs ahead of me to get everything back together. I may or may not take some pics when putting stuff back on...honestly I may be too grumpy.

Oh the silver lining for me was that I also needed to replace one of the steering rack boots for which access would have been next to near impossible. With the subframe lowered I got much better access.

[TEEKIZZLE]

I did one side with this pass through ratchet, 1/4 adapter on it, socket. Need to get creative on the other like happy's pic with an extractor socket. It's seized good and the head is a little stripped now :/

[steveo59]

Hi, glad you've managed to do it, even though it's been a struggle I bet you have a feeling of satisfaction now. The rusty exhaust bolts were one of the reasons I decided to take it to the garage.

[pierremcalpine]

Well, all back together as of yesterday afternoon. Honestly, I have no idea how anyone could do this without lowering the subframe. Maybe some of the different vintages vary in terms of level of access to the bolt...?

Taking the bolts out is one thing but heck I even struggled with a few inches of working space getting new ones back in!

My opinion here (and it's only an opinion) is to treat this like a big job and on that basis decide whether you are up to the task. To some extent it is a matter of picking your poison (do the job from above or do the job by lowering subframe). However, I can tell you that you WILL have good access if you lower the subframe. All the feedback I've read using the former methods suggests that you may or may not be successful. Lowering the subframe is not the end of the world but you will be at this for at least 4hrs (if you are a hack like me anyway). Some comments:

1) You should start the job by confirming that you can get the exhaust off under the turbo. If you can't get the exhaust off, you are done. With this in mind focus on removing the lateral x-brace and transmission x-member first. This will ensure good access to the 4 exhaust bolts. Make sure you get a replacement exhaust gasket and possibly a couple of replacement nuts. Also make sure that you take the exhaust off the rubber mount near the cat.

2) Assuming you've made it past obstacle #1, remove the f'n power steering shield. It is held in place with one fastener (accessed from above) and one clip that comes off when you pull the shield away. It is removed by pushing the entire engine forward while pulling downwards on the shield from under the car.

3) Remove the 4 power steering rack fasteners. These suckers are big bolts and they may be rusted pretty badly in behind the subframe. they are not at risk of busting BUT they may not really loosen up until they are all the way out.

At this point take a good hard look at your power steering boots. If they need replacing, now is the time!

5) don't forget to remove the bracket that connects a few power steering pipes to the subframe. It is on the RHS. It is held in place by two 10mm bolts. Easy peasy.

4) Assuming you got this far, here's the easy part - put a jack under the centre of the sub-frame and remove the 4 rear bolts on the control arms and the two bolts near the front of the control arms (access via a hole in the control arm itself).

Lower the jack slowly and give yourself all the access you need.

The bolts on my bushings were very, very rusty. It took heat and a lot of wiggling back and forth to get them out.

Putting the new bushes in proved to be a challenge as well. I ended up using a pry bar levered against the wheel well to push downwards on the top of the bushing as I fiddled to get the screw in place.

No pictures, unfortunately. I was just too tired to add any more work on my plate.

I hope this helps someone out there. If anyone needs to detailed VIDA instructions just let me know. I will send via email.

[happy diver]

I was at the wrecker for stuff and collected a few good nick brackets from
all the models, I could find without engine in, ha ha ha
and ALL models are the same

Originally Posted by pierremcalpine

Well, all back together as of yesterday afternoon. Honestly, I have no idea how anyone could do this without lowering the subframe. Maybe some of the different vintages vary in terms of level of access to the bolt...?

With the exception of rust and with the bar disconnected at both ends
the job is almost as easily carried out as looking at my beautiful photos

I am busting to travel around the world to show folks how straight forward it really is brrrrrrrrrr!

Originally Posted by pierremcalpine

Taking the bolts out is one thing but heck I even struggled with a few inches of working space getting new ones back in!

longer bolts with ground ends, jump down the hole


Anyhow if you can't, there's that word again, do it
It's YOU that can't do it


So
I've got some big yellow handled Stanley screwdrivers, you know the ones with the full tang and the metal bit at the top
before they turned cheap about thirty years ago

anyhow one time I chiselled the bracket off to get access to the bolt, you see that's why
I've collected a few over the years, and use only one as a chisel and a couple, that except for
a nicely patinated protective rust coating, are reasonably mint, like you're interested, so it would
be pretty straight forward (NO that's not moving forward at the end of the day) to, and with more than
a foots length of tool, to chisel the bolt head asunder.............................especially one with a chewed head

But what would be even better once you have achieved this, is to hammer a socket from underneath and easily shear off that stinking encapsulated nightmare, and now with just a hole to deal with, grab some stainless bolts washers nyloc nuts and even for complete analism
some spring washers too, and do them all up ready for beer o'clock before lunch vroomvroomvroom.

Due to minimal torque when I did the bracket last week , I put a nyloc on as well

I'm sure the chromed square shafted blue handled Stanley was only ever used as a bar



Chiselling off a cast aluminium bracket and poxy small bolt with a screwdriver
Oh and popping off a small tacked on nut

How bloody simple is that


Hey, what sort of movie is it where the actor delivers a line and then delivers another line explaining the first one?























































































































An American movie.

[ioancotae]

Hi everyone, I've done it (second time) without lowering the subframe (hard job "by the book"). Here is how:

removed lower arms (untighten also the transmission nut to avoid pulling out tre transmission from the gear box)
Removed steering end bar links
Disconnect sway bar from sway bar link rod.
If lower arms removed I can see the end of the bolt retaining the sway bar bushing in its nut (welded on subframe) .
With a hand drill machine I removed the bolt (from underneath). Of course I've destroyed the thread but I don't need it any. The bushing ensemble is easy now to remove.
I enlarged the hole to about 9.5 mm diameter.
I put the new bushing ensemble on place (tip: glue the small piece with rubber on the metal guiding in mounting position)
From beneath I pushed a long stud in the hole made in the subframe (as described) and in the bushing parts and more, far enough to ease screw a nut on the stud. I screwed another nut on the frame side of the stud and tightened the ensemble. Using a grinder I removed the part of the stud that protuberate from the lower nut and ensure the all by tapping with a steel point the threads of stud and nut.
Took me about 2 hours for the stuff.

[V40T4R]

Hi, thanks for sharing!