changing s70 / 850 hub bearing...

Post by **jblackburn** » 25 May 2011, 09:31

I just stick the jack under the control arm and pump it up a little bit, then tighten them down. Same for the sway bar links if you ever do those. You don't need to do it to the point the car is lifted off the jack stands.

Post by **erikv11** » 25 May 2011, 09:53

If you just tightened the control arm to subframe bolts when the vehicle was jacked up with the wheels hanging in the air, the bushings will likely fail within a few months. So in that case yes, I would loosen then tighten them properly.

The idea is to get the control arm as close to horizontal (or actually, to the angle when driving) as possible, before you tighten the bolts. You can put it on ramps with the wheels on then reach in there, or with the wheel off you can jack up the control arm as described above.

voodoorobaz · Post by **voodoorobaz** » 25 May 2011, 14:41

Old post but 3 weeks ago I had to change a bearing that looked exactly like that. I took the axle nut off and the tire fell off. Not good. Ended up redoing all suspension components on front end also. All had worn out at 134k miles. I have Caligo wheels at the machine shop now getting the bore to fit on my sons S70. should look way better.

da7 · Post by **da7** » 26 May 2011, 10:01

voodoorobaz: really? what about the disc brake caliper bracket? isn't that supposed to still hold the wheel and disc to the steering knuckle on the car?

jblackburn: I must not have been paying attention when i was jacking the rotors up, that the control arm actually raised up a bit until the whole car got lifted... because I've tried it today and while jacking it up, the control arm does move..

erikv11: I've completely forgot that there were such thing as a car ramp... haha... I may buy a set next time i do suspension work...

so today I've actually redone it by jacking the car up, putting on stands, then jacking the rotors up, then tighten the bolt, 65Nm then 120 degrees, but as soon as i release the jack, i notice the control arm drop back down all the way anyway below horizontal anyway, (so i thought, what's the point of tightening it while the wheel is on the ground if the bushings are so freely movable anyway?)

so does this tell me that my bushings are probably already worn out? As I thought the bushings should hold the control arm pretty much where I've tighten the bolts??

Post by **1997volvo850** » 26 May 2011, 10:24

A few novice questions...

When I search for Volvo 850 bearing in most cases I get the wheel hub which contains the bearing. For my
other car the bearing itself costs nearly as much as the entire hub so I'm planning to replace the entire
hub to save the hassle of dealing with the bearing. For the Volvo 850 do most folks replace the entire
hub, like in this thread, or are there brave individuals that do just the bearings? I don't see the individual
bearing at FCP or IPD so I'm assuming most replace the entire hub. The experiences described here of
hubs falling apart make me think replacing the entire hub is the best option.

I've come across Volvo OEM hubs on the internet for less than the FAG hubs sold by FCP. The only
thing that made hesitate is that the description indicates they are made in France. They are sold in the
original Volvo box and I'm thinking to pick up a few for future use on my two 850s. I wanted to check
with this group on OEM hubs made in France to see if there are any quality issues.

Thanks

Post by **jblackburn** » 26 May 2011, 10:26

Nah you should be good to go now. Think about it...the suspension is there to absorb mostly upwards bumps in the road, but if you hit a pothole or go over a crest in the road (or make the tires leave the ground

) it would have to extend downwards a little bit.

voodoorobaz · Post by **voodoorobaz** » 26 May 2011, 10:42

The bearing had broke into 3 pieces. The lug bolts were still tightened to the bearing flange but it had broken away from the rest of itself.

da7 · Post by **da7** » 26 May 2011, 10:50

jblackburn: haha... that's good... now i can finally sleep well tonight...

although having said that there's still many smaller problems with the car that I need to track down the solutions for... will post new threads tomorrow...

hi 1997volvo850: the front bearings in the Volvo 850 / 70 series comes in a complete sealed unit complete with the hub, and theoretically was meant to last the life of the car and never needs replacing, but if you read around, it turns out to be the most common things to break down, together with the heater core, evaporator and ABS module etc...

so no, you can't just replace the bearings like in most other cars... you need to change the complete unit, which luckily weren't too hard as i just discovered...

as long as you have all the tools, which I thought I did, but didn't...

things that you need that doesn't come in a common tool set are 15mm & 18mm socket and/or spanners if you're going the control arm/subframe path, 36mm socket for axle nut, 7mm hex key OR socket (and 15mm socket for caliper bracket) if you're doing the disc brake at the same time to get the slide pin off, E14 Torx Socket for the hub bearing, and a very big breaker bar would come in VERY handy, also a big hammer is useful when things doesn't go your way...

Post by **1997volvo850** » 26 May 2011, 11:50

Thanks da7. I was getting the sense that replacing the hub as a unit was the only option here. My next
critical-path job is to replace my fourteen year old front suspension but in the meantime I'll pick up at
least one of the Volvo OEM hubs (only $100) since I know I'll need it down the road (haven't had a wheel
bearing replaced in a few years so I'm sure this will come up on one of my 850s). It must be an illness
but I'm starting to plan several projects out into the future...

da7 · Post by **da7** » 30 May 2011, 05:09

yeah, they don't seem very well built, coz the next day I've done my cv boot on the other side, and I can see the seals (the brown part of the back of the hub) on the other side's hub bearing is looking very bad and brittle, I'm sure that will be gone within the next year or so too!