Volvo 850, S70, V70 Front Wheel Bearing Replacement - Video

[freeser]

Great video Robert. I followed it while I was replacing the front wheel bearing assembly on my 1999 V70. However, I've run into a problem. I can't get the axle to come out of the hub so that I can access the bolts on the backside. In the video and from what else I've researched it looks like the should just push out of the back or be persuaded with a few taps. I've tried everything I can think of but can't get the axle out to get to the torx bolts. Any advice?

[scot850]

Volvo use a 'glue' on the splines, and if they are the original axles, they will be in there good as the glue sets like concrete. Removing the axles from our 850 recently I had to use a 3 legged HD puller and crank the pressure with my impact gun. It eventually started moving about 350 ft/lb! I left the nut in place as a guide and heavily greased the center threaded jack leg to prevent damage to the axle.

They can be a bear to remove. Once you get them out, use a pointed pick to clean all the old glue out of the splines prior to re-assembly.

Neil.

[erikv11]

Get a spare axle nut, thread it on halfway, and wail on it aggressively with a 5 lb hammer. Hasn't let me down yet, but there are some horror story grade axles out there that I obviously haven't come up against yet. Knock on wood.

[cn90]

scott,

At factory, Volvo installed some kind of Loctite, which is kind of dumb when it comes to repair.
I use Propane torch aiming at the splines for 1 good minute, the axle comes out w/o issues.
Since you throw away the bearing, don't worry about heat damaging the bearing.

Now, if you do some other jobs (such as replacing axle), then heat is not good for bearing.

[erikv11]

The stuff Volvo puts on the axle splines is a metal adhesive. Apparently they did it because they were getting reports of "axle clunk" noises. But this has not been an issue over the years, with or without adhesive.

When you put it back together, use just the opposite: apply anti-seize to the splines.

[abscate]

Adding a couple of notes to this thread

There is a plastic shield that can be installed in cold climates to prevent corrosion and axle rusting to splines.

In 1999, the axle nut changes from 36 mm high torque to a single use 14mm (M10) torque to yield bolt.

[erikv11]

I think that plastic shield is only for 99+ cars, in which the whole axle is different not just the nut.