replacing front struts again

[azureblue]

I'm getting way too familiar with this job - when I first got my V70, the front strut spring seats were bad, so I replaced them, with the help of a friend who had a spring compressor. 3 months later, one of the struts started to leak - being financially challenged, I got a pair of the assemblies - upper mount seat, strut and spring - from the parts yard. No leak but a minor noise from the seat on one side. No biggie, but a year later both sides were making noises so back to the parts yard. The pair I got were quiet until a year ago and the seats are making noises again. So, on a covid budget, I will have to go back to the parts yard.

My question is - the cars are all up on blocks, is there a way to test to see if the rubber seat is good? I generally look at the 3 nuts on the upper mount to see how new they are.

Much thanks in advance.

PS - I don't have access to a spring compressor except through the auto parts store and I'm a little shy of using one. I've seen one come loose. No body got hurt but that was scary.

[GlennG2759]

Try bracing the wheel (if there is one) or spindle with a crowbar
and see if the larger strut nut turns. It should spring back if you can turn it at all (good), if the nut spins (no good). Also you might try a spring compressor that has locking pins on it, it’ll give you a little more confidence using one.Good luck

[azureblue]

Thanks - Usually the wheels are gone by the time I get there. I gather you mean between the strut and the wheel well? Would that make the rubber seat a noise also?

[GlennG2759]

Yup. Brace it anyway you can. Outside of the metal collar breaking loose from the rubber spring seat itself, I don’t know if
they wear out any other way. Someone else might want to chime in on that. Can you turn the strut nut now? Could it possibly be
your mounts?

[GlennG2759]

Yup. Brace it anyway you can. Outside of the metal collar breaking loose from the rubber spring seat itself, I don’t know if
they wear out any other way. Someone else might want to chime in on that. Can you turn the strut nut now? Could it possibly be
your mounts?

[SuperHerman]

Per my experience - sway bar end links and spring seats are the two parts most frequently replaced on Volvos I have owned.

What I am saying - if the seats are bad replace the seats as they are a wear item.

You should be able to source some from a site sponsor for under $50 for the pair, with lifetime warranty.

[MoVolvos]

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If you buy a set of lifetime warranty seats and bearings a bad strut will break them. When you go to the junk yard you won't know how long the seats and bearing will last. Then there is the DYI labor involved.

Get these and save up for a pair of struts. At least if you break them you can have them replaced free of charge till you are able to buy new struts.

https://www.1aauto.com/volvo-850-c70-s7 ... 06596/2001

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[SVO LOU]

A few days ago I received a notification email from my local u-pull-it that they got an '01 xc70 in stock... Great, I needed a drivers side headlight for my son's car, so when I grabbed the headlight assy I noticed it had recently replaced front struts, needed those also. So with a different set of tools I went back yesterday to grabbed those two struts, drivers side was a 10-minute job including removing the wheel, awesome.

On the passenger side 4 wheel studs came off easily but that fifth one caused me to break 1/2" Craftsman AND Matco breaker bars (that I've had for over 20 years) and a factory volvo wheel wrench. With cheater bars, of course. I then enlisted a couple of young bucks nearby to help and they bent their 4-way lug wrench and broke a Craftsman ratchet on it.
Found another yard volunteer and he broke a 19mm socket on it, but with the use of my snap-on impact socket on his breaker bar/pipe combo, we got it to break free and I was able to quickly grab the strut that looked nearly new.

That used strut caused 5 broken tools.

[Blacklab467]

I always keep on the lookout for Volvo OEM end links in good condition in the auto wreckers also. I've had bad luck with the aftermarket ones not lasting long and also the quality of metal in the fasteners is junk. If the struts are aftermarket, reuse the three top strut nuts that the car came with ( Volvo ones).

[oragex]

The one in the video was cracked pretty badly, time to replace it. Sometimes they are less cracked and may last for a while

You should be able to see this with the wheel lifted as well, because the shock is still pushing on the seat sleeve but it's pushing less so may want to just pry up the top washer with a pry bar and look. However, you will not know if the spring seat is of good quality or not, a cheap brand is meant to last from 3 to 12 months or so

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