98 v70 Replacing Control arms. What else?

MSLV70 · Post by **MSLV70** » 08 Sep 2013, 16:14

After finally tracking down the issue with poor starting (bad fuel injector) and fixing a few other minor issues, I've just been driving and enjoying my budget v70 awd.

However, the passenger side control arm snapped about a week ago and I now need to do some work on the car.

I plan on installing the following:

Meyle front suspension kit from FCP (control arms, tie rod ends, stabilizer links)
New axles from Axles Umlimited (Raxles doesn't have any cores and AU seems comparable)
front and rear hubs

What else do I need to replace while I'm in there? I suppose I should throw in new shocks/springs as the car has 190k and it seems the entire suspension is stock.

Am I missing anything?

Thanks,
Matt

Post by **Ozark Lee** » 08 Sep 2013, 17:43

The rear wheels don't have hubs on a AWD, it is a pressed in bearing and quite a bit of the suspension needs to be disassembled to get to it. You may also want to price proper rear shocks for your car. The AWD cars use Nivomat shocks and the price tag on Nivomats can cause either a stroke or a heart attack, maybe even both. Unless they are leaking the Nivomats do last much longer than a standard shock.

The struts are the same as for a FWD car and they fall into the typical price range. At your mileage they are shot if they are original. If you are changing the struts budget for new spring seats, bump stops, and dust bellows. The last OEM 70 series bellows I bought had the bump stop built into it so check before you order both. For the spring seats buy the OEM or IPD Heavy Duty parts only, anything less and you will be doing the job all over again in a matter of months. The OEM parts are now the XC90 spring seats and they are much beefier than the originals.

I'm not sure what comes in the "Kit" but if new sway bar end links are not included I would buy them as well.

...Lee

Post by **rmmagow** » 09 Sep 2013, 06:33

I just had this exact kit installed on my 200K V70 AWD. The tech who put them in for me said he found the quality to be pretty good (Volvo only shop). I didn't put tie-rods in because the ones there were OK.
I do not know if my struts were ever changed but they didn't need it yet. I had put the new XC90 spring seats in earlier at about 170K. The Nivomats are still good but the car did need the Delta links replaced. I didn't own the car when this was done, the dealer I bought it from did the job. Again, a dealer that sells mostly older Volvos.
If I had the money at the time, I probably would have replaced the front struts with Sachs but even now the car feels pretty good on crappy roads.

MSLV70 · Post by **MSLV70** » 11 Sep 2013, 07:59

Thanks for the info, guys. I'm still waiting on the hubs from fcpeuro.com, but I hope to get everything installed this weekend.

The price on those Nivomats is a bit shocking. I'm going to leave that for another day...

Thanks,
Matt

MSLV70 · Post by **MSLV70** » 16 Sep 2013, 14:08

While this job is relatively time-consuming, it's not all that difficult (thanks mostly to the advice on this site and a YouTube video or 2). The most difficult part was getting the 4 mounting holes lines up properly with the bolts. I used a set of vice-grips to clamp on to the mounting point and tweak it a few degrees to line up with the holes.

You can see where the old control arm broke. Both sides of the right mounting point snapped off.

Post by **mikealder** » 16 Sep 2013, 14:52

When fitting the five bolt control arm (like yours are) I employ a coil spring compressor to apply tension to the spring which gets the arm to the required angle before starting the bolts to attach it to the sub-frame, makes the whole job so much easier.

A chap local to me had a similar failure of the lug snapping off the control arm earlier this year, front wheel moved back contacting the wheel arch liner, fortunately he was only doing about 10 MPH in a car park when it snapped otherwise it could have been rather nasty, the supplier of the part took full liability for the repair as the control arm was only 5 months old when it failed - Mike

MSLV70 · Post by **MSLV70** » 17 Sep 2013, 09:00

I was doing about 40 and it was definitely a bit scary.

One tip I would have for loosening the 4 bolts is to use a floor jack. I was only able to use a standard socket on 1 of the bolts on the drivers side. I used a long 17mm wrench, held it in place, and slid a floor jack under it. A few cranks and each one broke loose.

I still have to replace the axles and hubs, but I'll get it finished up this week.

Post by **wheelsup** » 17 Sep 2013, 19:55

MSLV70 wrote:I was doing about 40 and it was definitely a bit scary.

One tip I would have for loosening the 4 bolts is to use a floor jack. I was only able to use a standard socket on 1 of the bolts on the drivers side. I used a long 17mm wrench, held it in place, and slid a floor jack under it. A few cranks and each one broke loose.

I still have to replace the axles and hubs, but I'll get it finished up this week.

Air compressor + impact =

Any easy way to line up the bolt holes is to use an alignment bar. Also known as a screw driver

Post by **Ozark Lee** » 17 Sep 2013, 20:06

If only it was so easy on the AWD cars with the 4 bolt mounts. The engine is smack dab in the way.

...Lee

Post by **mikealder** » 18 Sep 2013, 00:48

On the AWD I disconnect the gearbox lower torque link and the top engine mount then you can lift the gearbox with a jack and wooden block just enough to get access to the bolt heads (works both sides).

On one occasion we got six or seven 12" long 1/2" drive extensions and fed them through the holes in the alloy wheel on the opposite side of the car. Once attached to the strut bolt the Breaker Bar could be used to release the bolts - Mike