Rear CV Axle / Half Shaft - No Info Anywhere!

ryanmcgrim · Post by **ryanmcgrim** » 16 Dec 2015, 11:27

As can be expected (just before Christmas), a shredded rear cv boot has cause the left rear axle to fail on my 04 XC70, which now makes a horrible vibration / whine any time I'm traveling above 45mph.

I'm trying to replace the axle this weekend, so I can travel to see family for Christmas, and for the first time ever I have been unable to find a writeup that I can fully understand on the topic. I've done the front passenger CV axle, but posts here and vadis both leave a great deal of ambiguity to the process for the rear.

Vadis has information on replacing the whole final drive, but nothing on just the axle. It seems to imply that I will need to actually drop the entire final drive to get the axle out, which seems way above my paygrade.

There are a couple of posts on the subject that attempt to describe how it is done, but I still can't seem to get a difinitive answer as to whether or not the final drive needs to be dropped down through the cover (6 - 8 bolts hold it up), or if I can just disconnect a bunch of the suspension equipment and massage it out.
One post seems to indicate that you can unbolt the final drive cover, but it references 6 bolts ( there are 8 ), and it would appear that these are the only thing holding the final drive up? Anyway, in a nutshell, I'm confused. I called FCP to see if they had any advice, and they just sent me the same writeup for final drive replacement on vadis, so I"m still not clear. If anyone that has done this could chime in and let me know what I'm in for before I start, that would be AMAZING. Thanks everyone!

Post by **xHeart** » 17 Dec 2015, 13:40

Laborious! http://www.volvoxc.com/0/resources/how- ... cement.pdf
Do not take it on if this is your first time, and you are in a hurry.

Lowering F/D means working with propeller shaft and VC mountings.
The rear suspension and exhaust is also in your way.
Once you grab the cv boot at F/D and pull, it slides right out.

Fearless... with extreme patience and care, it is a weekend job.

Post by **cn90** » 18 Dec 2015, 08:04

See this REAR bearing DIY below, it is almost the same for the REAR Axle:

http://forums.swedespeed.com/showthread.php?169070

Another one:

https://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/forums ... =9&t=11419

ryanmcgrim · Post by **ryanmcgrim** » 22 Dec 2015, 09:15

Thanks for the response and advice. Given the fact that if I don't make it home for Christmas, I will be hearing about it until next Christmas, I decided to give the project a go with the theory that I could get the axle out without dropping the final drive / messing with the propeller shaft but removing suspension components and dropping the axle down and out, rather than through the hole left by the wheel bearing, as the final drive / differential side of the axle would get pinched by the sub frame. This is what I did to do the project:

1.Remove Axle bolt, then use a brass or wooden dowel and sledge to push axle spline through wheel bearing. You won't be able to get it out, you just want to make sure it moves freely. Take care not to damage axle spline. If it's seized, you may need to rent a slide hammer with lug attachment. Then loosen your lug nuts
2.Jack up car and safely put on 4 jack stands, then remove the wheel
3. Remove brake caliper to not stress brake lines (hang or secure to prevent stress)
4. I removed my wheel bearing although I don't believe this was necessary, but did make things a bit easier for me
5.Remove bolt that connects spring to control arm.
6. Pry spring housing away from control arm. Be careful because the spring will pop down about an inch or 2.

7. Remove Left Stay / Knuckle bolt shown next to the spring in the picture
8.Remove Stay Arm Bolt and Lower link nut (you will need a torx or hex counter hold)

9.Remove 12mm exhaust hanger bolts (the ones nearest to the differential / final drive)
10.Remove 2 bolts that hold your e brake / parking brake lines to the final drive cover. Use your hand or a screwdriver to counter hold the plastic piece because if it spins the plastic will break.

11. Remove final drive cover (8 Bolts)

12. Use a jack and a piece of wood to support final drive to prevent damage to propeller shaft etc.
13. Now you will remove the other bolt that attaches the Stay Arm. Make a mark on both of the eccentric washers on the differential / final drive side of the Stay arm. This sets your rear toe, so take your time with this so that you can reset it back to spec and you won't chew through tires later (I would still suggest an alignment after this).

14. Now with the stay arm removed, you have access to the final drive side of the lower control arm and the two bolts holding it. One will be a couple inches long with a nut, then the one (just below it, closest to the ground) will be a very long bolt with no nut (6 inches or more). Remove both and pull down on the control arm away from it's assembly mount.

15. Pulling down on the control arm on the differential end should open up enough room for you to get the wheel side of the axle out of the hub / knuckle area, and with your stabilizer bar link, moving freely, you can pull the axle through in between the wheel side of the parking brake cable, the stabilizer bar (not attached at the link) and the link area.
16. Now you can pull the differential side of the axle out.
17. Mine was a real bear to get out because you can't just pull it through as the subframe is too narrow, you can however pull it out just enough to get the splines out of the differential, then since you already brought the wheel side down through the suspension, you can pull it out by dropping the rest of the axle down. It sounds confusing, but it will be obvious.

I was not able to pull or pry mine out, even after creating a custom fit piece of wood to pry against (you do not want to pry on the final drive casing, it's cast and will get damaged or cracked), so I hooked up a slide hammer to a cable that I looped around the axle's differential end. Despite getting really good power behind the slide hammer, it did not come out. I then used a chizel and a sledge to pop it out if a couple quick and relatively light hits. This is definitely the way to go:

As you can tell from my picture, it looks like I've got a slow leak at the final drive, so I'll take this moment to drain and replace the fluid (Volvo part #1161620 "Final Drive Fluid"), clean up leak so that I can closely monitor the leak to see if it will need to be resealed soon.
18. My axle seal was also in rough shape. A tech at the dealer said they always replace the axle seals, but leave the O-ring. The seal part # is 8653928
19. Reassemble in reverse.

Overall, it's a big job, but a little less big without having to drop the entire final drive down. I would say I could do it again in 6 hours or so, but this took the better part of two days (most of that was finding creative ways to try to get the axle out of the differential, when prying / slide hammering with a cable didn't work). Good luck everyone!

Post by **xHeart** » 23 Dec 2015, 13:09

Good job lad.
Take your time. Paint exposed surface with rubberized undercarriage paint from Rust-Oleum.
Think 50,000 more miles to drive.