V70 Suspension: control arm replace, should i attempt it?

[Bashy]

Hi folks

Both my control arms need replacing at some stage, should I attempt it myself, any stumbling blocks I need to be aware of? I will do the ball joint and drop links as a done deal I think...

How hard will it be to release the drive shaft and or the strut ball joint,

I'm also seeing a lot of special tools involved, that's never going to happen to what can be used instead?

[100K+]

Si ( cheshireD5) has done a good utube vid as have one or two others.

Cheers

Bob

[oragex]

I also show a suspension disassembly here and talk about sockets, etc https://youtu.be/pxC9Ek9HhGI
The important part is to make sure the outer CV joint of the axle doesn't get 'pulled' as the balls inside can come apart and may ruin the day. For example, if you remove the control arm from the ball joint, the wheel hub starts rotating from the tension in the end link and can pull on the CV joint. Difficulty wise, I don't think this is an easy job. If undoing everything, the most difficult will be the upper end link bolt - it has to be undone with a 18mm wrench (I couple a second 17mm one to the first one to make leverage https://youtu.be/d7f5l_d0Eq8), while keeping the stud with the correct torx socket from rotating. But these nuts are very stuck. Then the two lower strut bolts can also be crazy stuck if it was never removed before, will absolutely need 1/2" drive and at least 2ft long breaker bar - the more the better. For the wishbone bolts, on my 2.4 petrol I have to rise the engine and use wrenches on some (not easy) or a high quality 3/8" drive ratchet (cheaper ones may break when undoing the bolts) because a 1/2" drive doesn't have enough room

[Bashy]

Thanks guys, i will watch the videos but its now sounding a tad scary, I think I will have you outsource the work, a shame as I prob have all the tools now, I have the breaker bar, and 1/4, 3/8 and 1/2 sockets, and an impact gun, my torque wrench is pants though, it only goes up to 140nm I think it is, no good for torque wheels as they are at 180nm I will have a watch and go from there... thanks again

[oragex]

I believe wheel lugs are 90ft-lb (120Nm) or 100 ft-lb in some years
http://www.volvohowto.com/volvo-s60-...pecifications/

[XC70Virgin]

Originally Posted by oragex

I believe wheel lugs are 90ft-lb (120Nm) or 100 ft-lb in some years
http://www.volvohowto.com/volvo-s60-...pecifications/

Should ne 140Nm.

[Bashy]

Originally Posted by oragex

I believe wheel lugs are 90ft-lb (120Nm) or 100 ft-lb in some years
http://www.volvohowto.com/volvo-s60-...pecifications/

I dont know what i was thinking of, but my max is 120nm and my wheels should be 140nm as per Vida...

Saved that link though, easier than digging out the "haynes and microscope" or Vida for that matter lol thanks its deffo far easier to use

[R-P]

Three things I ran into:

(1) Damaged a gaitor, so be very sensitive to that.

(2) It got damaged due to THERE BEING NO FRIGGIN'WAY you can bend the control arm down enough to put the ball joint back in. And that's why we used ever longer breaker bars. (And 6 feet and putting 100kg on the end of it still wasn't enough).
I think by now we have established there might be a difference in different brands or possibly even the angle the rubbers get pressed into the control arm. As some video's have them dangling down enough just by their own weight what we couldn't achieve with (the equivalent) of 1000kg pulling it down.

Last resort is undoing the two bolts on the strut (suspension). It may need new alignment, but that's fairly cheap to have done.

(3) I pulled apart the outer CV joint. When you remove the gaitor*, it is doable to put it all together again, but simply NOT messing it up is loads and loads less work...


* or slide it to the side It was a while ago, but they are due for renewal again... Possibly due to bending them down so far while fitting them.

[Kev0607]

This video shows what's involved on a 2002 S60, so I presume your car will be more or less the same (P2 chassis):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnwksNuAPaQ

Thanks to cheshired5 for an excellent 'how-to' guide.

[Bashy]

#cheshired5

1, How easy did the bolts undo especially where you had to use a spanner?
2, On those same bolts, am I to assume you just tightened as much as you could as opposed to torque'ing them up?
3, The ball joint bolt looks quite big in the video, how big please, I only have a select few impact drivers so may need to buy a separate one...

I am back on the fence again, you do make it look quite easy, I would need to buy a ratchet as I don't possess one, I don't think, and probably a new ratchet driver, just bought a flexy head one but I ain't gonna put too much pressure on that... need to weigh up the costs of it all, tools included, as opposed to my village garage doing it....