1996 850 Non-Turbo Wagon, Struts and Axle Replacement what Brands?

PeteB · Post by **PeteB** » 22 Mar 2016, 16:43

Car has about 150K miles and I'm fairly sure that the struts have never been done,
also the axle boots are torn. So planning to do struts and axles soon and am wondering
about low cost parts with decent quality.
These axles from FCP are rebuilt and seem to get very good reviews, also FCP has
a lifetime guarantee, they are $71 ea but one person said shipping on the core
return was $35:
https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/volvo- ... lt-ax-8577

Heard good things about complete strut assemblies from Gabriel, reviews seem to be good:
Gabriel G57040 ReadyMount Complete Strut Assembly $175:
https://www.amazon.com/product-reviews/B ... ewpoints=1
The 850 blog guy (Jim Peisker) used them, and I asked there about how they are holding up:
https://volvo850wagon.wordpress.com/201 ... mment-6251

FCP as mentioned above has a lifetime guarantee, Pro Parts Sweden $197:
https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/volvo- ... -72433314c

Interested to hear good or bad experiences with these.

Post by **shiloh51933** » 23 Mar 2016, 09:19

I buy quite a bit of parts from FCP and yes they warranty everything they sell for life, they will replace the failed parts years later but you pay shipping of course. Sachs if the original factory shocks/struts, Gabriel is garbage and I know from past experience. I know Moog make's a quick MacPherson strut that comes in the box fully assembled but other than that I'd go with the Sachs or Bilstein shocks. As far as the front drive axle's A1 Cardone is good enough, stay away from Napa.

Post by **mecheng** » 23 Mar 2016, 10:45

Replace the CV boots yourself or take it to a mechanic to do. Many have replaced the factory axles and regretted it. Doing the work twice sucks big time, that is the key not a lifetime guarantee

PeteB · Post by **PeteB** » 23 Mar 2016, 14:46

mecheng wrote:Replace the CV boots yourself or take it to a mechanic to do. Many have replaced the factory axles and regretted it. Doing the work twice sucks big time, that is the key not a lifetime guarantee

I agree and that is why I asked, it is still going with the original axles after all
the years and 150K miles, would hate to put something in that only lasts 5 years.
I will seriously consider the new boots.

Post by **JimBee** » 23 Mar 2016, 14:55

Axel story: My 96 850 d.s. axle had a torn boot. I was going to replace the boot because the cv joint was tight and quiet. It turned out to be an aftermarket axle and there was no way to separate the cv to do the boot.
So I picked up an axle from O'Reilly. The lock ring that secures into the trans receiving part looked a little loose, but I tried it. I know what hard steel on hard steel sounds like when they're struck together. I gave the axle a few medium taps and it didn't go in. They should slide in quite easily and lock. Even with those few taps, the axle was stuck, wouldn't come out—and there was plenty of room to get a flat bar in by the transmission to pry it, but it wouldn't budge. I needed to use a long bar with a crow foot to pop it out.
The problem was the lock ring was too loose, so instead of constricting into the slight bevel on the receiving part in the trans, it just hits the flat perimeter of that part squarely.
Apparently some techs will wail on it to drive it in, but the lock ring gets mangled and you'll never get that axel out again (even if you don't mar up the bearing by hitting axle that hard.
I checked an Autozone axle, same thing— a loose lock ring, plus, if you compare a few axles, you'll find some have a beefier diameter than others ( I think the variable is manual trans and/or turbo). Volvo part numbers distinguish the two.
NAPA had what I needed. The beefier axle PLUS a lock ring that wasn't flopping in its groove on the shaft. If the ring flops, it's too loose. It should only stand out of its groove a slight bit.

Post by **JimBee** » 23 Mar 2016, 15:01

I just bought these:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000C5 ... ailpages00

Bearings and spring seats from FCP.

Haven't installed the struts yet so no idea how well they'll perform, but reviews were mostly positive. I'll know soon. They're made in Spain and look well engineered. We'll see.

PeteB · Post by **PeteB** » 23 Mar 2016, 17:51

JimBee wrote:Axel story: My 96 850 d.s. axle had a torn boot. I was going to replace the boot because the cv joint was tight and quiet. It turned out to be an aftermarket axle and there was no way to separate the cv to do the boot.
So I picked up an axle from O'Reilly. The lock ring that secures into the trans receiving part looked a little loose, but I tried it. I know what hard steel on hard steel sounds like when they're struck together. I gave the axle a few medium taps and it didn't go in. They should slide in quite easily and lock. Even with those few taps, the axle was stuck, wouldn't come out—and there was plenty of room to get a flat bar in by the transmission to pry it, but it wouldn't budge. I needed to use a long bar with a crow foot to pop it out.
The problem was the lock ring was too loose, so instead of constricting into the slight bevel on the receiving part in the trans, it just hits the flat perimeter of that part squarely.
Apparently some techs will wail on it to drive it in, but the lock ring gets mangled and you'll never get that axel out again (even if you don't mar up the bearing by hitting axle that hard.
I checked an Autozone axle, same thing— a loose lock ring, plus, if you compare a few axles, you'll find some have a beefier diameter than others ( I think the variable is manual trans and/or turbo). Volvo part numbers distinguish the two.
NAPA had what I needed. The beefier axle PLUS a lock ring that wasn't flopping in its groove on the shaft. If the ring flops, it's too loose. It should only stand out of its groove a slight bit.

Thanks Jim, excellent to know, I generally find that the premium parts from NAPA
are very good. The cheaper ones often are not so good. I'll keep an eye out for
the loose lock ring problem, very good to know.

Post by **dosbricks** » 23 Mar 2016, 18:20

PeteB wrote:
mecheng wrote:Replace the CV boots yourself or take it to a mechanic to do. Many have replaced the factory axles and regretted it. Doing the work twice sucks big time, that is the key not a lifetime guarantee
I agree and that is why I asked, it is still going with the original axles after all
the years and 150K miles, would hate to put something in that only lasts 5 years.
I will seriously consider the new boots.

Also agree with mecheng. Replacing the boots is messy and just takes some time, but it's worth it to hang onto your Volvo axles. Both the cars in my sig. have the OE axles and have had the boots replaced twice.

As far as the strut assemblies, it's usually not the strut that fails far in advance--it's the non-OE spring seats. Even the older OE seats were the weak link until Volvo and fcp switched to the beefed up XC90 spring seat.

Post by **abscate** » 24 Mar 2016, 03:58

Pete..you can just drop those cores off at FCP next time you come west for a JT concert...

I used Sachs struts on mine front and back and am happy with them

Post by **erikv11** » 24 Mar 2016, 08:51

mecheng wrote:Replace the CV boots yourself or take it to a mechanic to do. Many have replaced the factory axles and regretted it. Doing the work twice sucks big time, that is the key not a lifetime guarantee

This is great advice. Hang on to the OEM axle with all your might, it is basically irreplaceable these days and they last forever with just a little attention.