1999 V70 XC Rebuilding the propshaft yourself?

[850 LPT]

He wants to keep the AWD I think. I wonder if the knocking could come from a failing angle gear or viscous coupler instead. From my experience a bad VC can make knocking noises too, perhaps from a failing bearing or freewheel unit.
It would be a good idea to inspect all AWD components once the drive shaft comes out IMHO.

To the OP, how many miles are on the car? Also, do you have any knowledge of the history and if the AWD system was properly cared for?

[cn90]

Yeah,

My 2005 XC90 AWD 2.5T sleeve is stripped, so I am now in FWD mode.
I don't care enough about the AWD feature to fix it.
Plus I use winter tires for the XC90, I am OK with Winter tires + FWD combo.

Fuel mileage is a bit better w/o the AWD feature...LOL.

[scot850]

Check all the components in the system from the angle gear back. It may well be that the prop-shaft has had a bad component, but to rubbish a company for possibly a failed/bad part does not mean they did a bad job. Make sure the center bearing has not failed in the rubber portion (modern rubber is crap) and as someone else suggested carefully check the front 'nose' bearing in the VC as they do fail with age. I removed one from a VC in a 98 V70Xc and it actually dis-integrated as the VC unit was removed from it dropping all the bearings on the floor.

Also check the rear bearing in the angle gear. Are all the heat-shields still in place above the angle gear area and the catalytic converter? If not this accelerates the failure of the prop-shaft front bearing.

Neil.

[s70dean]

The short answer is no
you can't fix this yourself! EVER! You can service the cv joint ends yourself. But the center support hanger is a whole different animal especially since the shaft does not separate.
I thought the same as you and went to driveshaft re builders in my area that said they could fix my shaft but in the end they've never seen anything like what we're dealing with and could not even look me in the eye at the end of it ...
Lot's of peop's here trust Colorado drive shaft,,, So did I
Cheers

[gooproduct]

I own two identical '99 XC70's. I just removed both prop shafts to compare them. The one that went bad had slung grease around both end vc's. This has caused them to dry out and get stuck. The other known good one is old but the ends move freely. I'm thinking the vc's Colorado drive shaft used were cheap or something. Are these repairable on my own? I have done universal joints before but not these.

[BEJinFbk]

I own two identical '99 XC70's. I just removed both prop shafts to compare them. The one that went bad had slung grease around both end vc's. This has caused them to dry out and get stuck. The other known good one is old but the ends move freely. I'm thinking the vc's Colorado drive shaft used were cheap or something. Are these repairable on my own? I have done universal joints before but not these.

Have you been inspecting the boots periodically?
Bad boots will kill any CV, regardless of quality.
A little PM goes a long way. Only you can do that.

And if you really think there's an issue with a product or service,
why not contact the vendor instead of blaming them without
giving them the chance to back their product and help you out?

No matter how good or bad a business may be, there's no way
that they can make something right if they don't know about it.

Take a minute on Monday and give Dave a call. He supplied me
with a replacement front CV kit and I was treated very well.
It's still going strong 5 years later!

[gooproduct]

I'm not trying to bash them, they were very helpful to me when I originally purchased the shaft. Very knowledgeable, and even waved the core charge since I didn't have a core. I checked the boots and they appear great. Just somehow they lost the grease, not blaming them although it may have sounded that way. Anyway, I replaced the shaft with my other good one. The wife will be fine this winter.

I probably will call Colorado and see what my options are for rebuilding the other one. Thanks for the help guys!

[jvl]

Hi,

all I can say about Volvo propshafts is that I'm glad mine seem to be (knock on wood) fine.
Did gain some experience changing out U-joints on my previous 4wd, and I can tell you that getting the U-Joint out was easy for one of the joints and not so much for the other... Turned out that the one of the four holes in the driveshaft (don't know the proper name) that the U-joint is assembled into was totally worn out... Check carefully on your driveshaft for wear of these holes!

Joost