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

[cheshired5]

1. Pretty straightforward with big, quality tools.
2. Not as much as I could but at a level where I was confident the bolt would remain secure.
Raising the engine isn't too difficult if you prefer to get a socket on those bolts.
3. Pretty sure it was 21mm. I've done others since but the last was a couple of years ago.

A ratchet strap isn't required if you're prepared to dislocate the driveshaft from the hub and the shock from the hub.
Everything becomes very loose and malleable in that area then.

[BobS]

Hi,

I have had to change both control arms 3 times now. 1st time fitted pattern parts they only lasted 2 years!

1st time I changed them was a learning experience. Now changed both last month in a morning.

I found the best method for me was a strong chain wrapped around the arm with a 6 foot pry bar slid between the arm and the chain. The pry bar pivots on the inner chassis.

1. Jack the car with a good distance from the ground use several jack stands as somewhere along the job a bit of pushing and shoving will happen.
2. Take wheel and drive shaft bolt off. Make sure drive shaft is loose in hub.
3. Remove ball joint bolt off (this can be a bit of a pig due to corrosion)
4. Fit chain around the control arm as near to the hub end without passing the steering limiter points (this stops any chance of the chain slipping down). I use a nut and bolt to loop the chain.
5. fit pry bar through the chain and arm ensuring a good position on the inner chassis.
6. now pushing down on the bar should lever the arm down enabling the strut to move sideways (now you find out you haven't jacked the car up enough!). Ensure the drive shaft slides out of the hub as you move strut. KEEP FINGERS AS CLEAR AS YOU CAN. I use a wire coat hanger to tie the drive shaft up.
7. Now its straightforward to change the arm and its a reversal to reassemble.

This is how I have done it.
But I have changed the struts and pleasantly surprised that removing the 2 bolts that hold the top of the hub to the strut there is no need to compress or bend anything. It all comes off by unbolting. No tension anywhere. You would need a wheel alignment done but arguably that would be needed with new control arms.

Hope this helps?
Bob

[Guillaume North]

Just done this job on a xc70, d5, 2006, with 107k -

First let me say again what people have already said - watch you don't pull the cv joint when you pop the ball joint out the control arm. I did this to the inner cv joint on a v40 a few years ago and it was a complete arse to put back together. Love nor money I couldn't pull the cv housing out the transmission so it could be reassembled on a bench or similar

Just as a tip, it turns out you can lever some cv housings as much as you want and they wont budge. What they need is a sudden jolt to overcome the clip holding them in. Second time I pulled the cv joint on that v40 doing a different job I got biblical, put a u bolt behind the housing, attached a chain to it then using a 2 foot breaker bar as an oar gave it a mighty yank or two and it popped right out.

Turns out I'm a bit of a retard because I pulled the cv joint on the xc70 as well ... twice. Once when doing the control arm, once when I had to go back to fit the ball joint I couldn't do the first time because I sheared the bolt securing it into the hub carrier Fortunately xc70 cv housings do lever out with much less fuss. Plus the ball joint assembly is much simpler - just three oval shaped donut things inside instead of 6 balls and a cage and it just tapped back together

Anyway, be wary about this, it could ruin your day. Easy way round would be to undo the drive shaft bolt first so the hub doesn't pull on the half shaft when you pop the ball joint. This is easy to do and the ball joints I bought came with a new drive shaft bolt so they must expect you to do this.

And yes pulling the control arm down far enough to remove / insert the ball joint into it can be a pain. Again a chain wrapped round the control arm and breaker bar to lever did the trick without causing too much offense.

Strut bolts can be tough. Again, breaker bar is your friend. Never used a torque gun but this is probably preferable if you can get in. Having said that, I didn't touch them. Only undid the control arm bolts and ball joint, and drive shaft bolt after I'd pulled the cv joint.

Sounds like you've got some good reference videos anyway specific to your model so I wont relate any more of my worrying experiences.

Just know what you need to do first then make sure you have time / resource to cover eventualities if something goes wrong. It usually does.

Worst case scenario is working in the rain on a dark Sunday night knowing you need your car Monday morning for work then something going tits-up. Been there - ****e

[Guillaume North]

As well - always use 6 side sockets. If you've got any 12 sides throw them into a furnace. Those 12ers caused me a lot of suffering in my early days till I realised what was going on. They'll round a half decent rusted head quicker than you can scream #@*!

[Guillaume North]

To get to the bolts securing the offside control arm to the sub frame you need to lift the engine an inch or so. Sounds daunting but not too bad. You need to undo the bolts securing the engine mount on the drivers side, located at the bottom of the cam belt - 2 small bolts 13mm I think, and undo the bolts for the front and rear engine mounts. Only need to remove the bolts, mounts can stay where they are. Also need to undo cross member on top of engine. Theres a good youtube video of this -

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=UA7qjGjg8Yc

Support the engine with a Jack placed under the sump with a piece of wood to protect the sump casing.

[Bashy]

Originally Posted by cheshired5

1. Pretty straightforward with big, quality tools.
2. Not as much as I could but at a level where I was confident the bolt would remain secure.
Raising the engine isn't too difficult if you prefer to get a socket on those bolts.
3. Pretty sure it was 21mm. I've done others since but the last was a couple of years ago.

A ratchet strap isn't required if you're prepared to dislocate the driveshaft from the hub and the shock from the hub.
Everything becomes very loose and malleable in that area then.

mmm, not got big tools and the best in quality is an aging halfords set (1/2 and 3/8) that i was gifted, by gifted i meant, it was left here in the shed when i moved in lol, i have replaced and added to from halfords to keep them the same make and i think Halfords are meant to be OK if comparing to say silverline etc. There was a 4 or 5ft pry bar left too, so may come in handy if i pluck up the courage to attempt this, your video makes it look easy'ish, but the last few comments on here speak in different tongue

[Bashy]

Originally Posted by BobS

Hi,

I have had to change both control arms 3 times now. 1st time fitted pattern parts they only lasted 2 years!

1st time I changed them was a learning experience. Now changed both last month in a morning.

I found the best method for me was a strong chain wrapped around the arm with a 6 foot pry bar slid between the arm and the chain. The pry bar pivots on the inner chassis.

1. Jack the car with a good distance from the ground use several jack stands as somewhere along the job a bit of pushing and shoving will happen.
2. Take wheel and drive shaft bolt off. Make sure drive shaft is loose in hub.
3. Remove ball joint bolt off (this can be a bit of a pig due to corrosion)
4. Fit chain around the control arm as near to the hub end without passing the steering limiter points (this stops any chance of the chain slipping down). I use a nut and bolt to loop the chain.
5. fit pry bar through the chain and arm ensuring a good position on the inner chassis.
6. now pushing down on the bar should lever the arm down enabling the strut to move sideways (now you find out you haven't jacked the car up enough!). Ensure the drive shaft slides out of the hub as you move strut. KEEP FINGERS AS CLEAR AS YOU CAN. I use a wire coat hanger to tie the drive shaft up.
7. Now its straightforward to change the arm and its a reversal to reassemble.

This is how I have done it.
But I have changed the struts and pleasantly surprised that removing the 2 bolts that hold the top of the hub to the strut there is no need to compress or bend anything. It all comes off by unbolting. No tension anywhere. You would need a wheel alignment done but arguably that would be needed with new control arms.

Hope this helps?
Bob

Thank you, some good tips, I deffo don't have a 6ft bar, maybe a 4 or 5ft at most but I do have 2x 3m lengths of steel scaffolding that I could cut if needed

Originally Posted by Guillaume North

Just done this job on a xc70, d5, 2006, with 107k -

First let me say again what people have already said - watch you don't pull the cv joint when you pop the ball joint out the control arm. I did this to the inner cv joint on a v40 a few years ago and it was a complete arse to put back together. Love nor money I couldn't pull the cv housing out the transmission so it could be reassembled on a bench or similar

Just as a tip, it turns out you can lever some cv housings as much as you want and they wont budge. What they need is a sudden jolt to overcome the clip holding them in. Second time I pulled the cv joint on that v40 doing a different job I got biblical, put a u bolt behind the housing, attached a chain to it then using a 2 foot breaker bar as an oar gave it a mighty yank or two and it popped right out.

Turns out I'm a bit of a retard because I pulled the cv joint on the xc70 as well ... twice. Once when doing the control arm, once when I had to go back to fit the ball joint I couldn't do the first time because I sheared the bolt securing it into the hub carrier Fortunately xc70 cv housings do lever out with much less fuss. Plus the ball joint assembly is much simpler - just three oval shaped donut things inside instead of 6 balls and a cage and it just tapped back together

Anyway, be wary about this, it could ruin your day. Easy way round would be to undo the drive shaft bolt first so the hub doesn't pull on the half shaft when you pop the ball joint. This is easy to do and the ball joints I bought came with a new drive shaft bolt so they must expect you to do this.

And yes pulling the control arm down far enough to remove / insert the ball joint into it can be a pain. Again a chain wrapped round the control arm and breaker bar to lever did the trick without causing too much offense.

Strut bolts can be tough. Again, breaker bar is your friend. Never used a torque gun but this is probably preferable if you can get in. Having said that, I didn't touch them. Only undid the control arm bolts and ball joint, and drive shaft bolt after I'd pulled the cv joint.

Sounds like you've got some good reference videos anyway specific to your model so I wont relate any more of my worrying experiences.

Just know what you need to do first then make sure you have time / resource to cover eventualities if something goes wrong. It usually does.

Worst case scenario is working in the rain on a dark Sunday night knowing you need your car Monday morning for work then something going tits-up. Been there - ****e

Thanks for the advice, its all much appreciated

Originally Posted by Guillaume North

As well - always use 6 side sockets. If you've got any 12 sides throw them into a furnace. Those 12ers caused me a lot of suffering in my early days till I realised what was going on. They'll round a half decent rusted head quicker than you can scream #@*!

I have an aging halfords set, I ain't sure if they bare 6 sided, possible, I know I have recently replaced missing parts of it with 6 sided as I heard about that before on here

Originally Posted by Guillaume North

To get to the bolts securing the offside control arm to the sub frame you need to lift the engine an inch or so. Sounds daunting but not too bad. You need to undo the bolts securing the engine mount on the drivers side, located at the bottom of the cam belt - 2 small bolts 13mm I think, and undo the bolts for the front and rear engine mounts. Only need to remove the bolts, mounts can stay where they are. Also need to undo cross member on top of engine. Theres a good youtube video of this -

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=UA7qjGjg8Yc

Support the engine with a Jack placed under the sump with a piece of wood to protect the sump casing.

Thanks for the reference video

[barrybritcher]

its really easy with two persons.

use a long jack handle to pivot the arm down rather than straps

[barrybritcher]

come round mine if you want and I'll help you do it for beers

[Thassos]

I used a length of 2x2 timber and chain with the essential piece being a wood block
on the furthest end up to the subframe, gives you plenty of leverage without the end hitting the ground 😁 ill post a pic if your interested