Rear Spring upper spring seat (anchorage)

Post by **98v70dad** » 29 Jun 2017, 06:48

While doing my rear brake overhaul last weekend I noticed that the rear spring foam bumpers were shot. I bought the parts to replace them years ago so I figured while I had the wheels off and the car up on jack stands I'd just get those changed out. In the process of removing the plastic pins, the upper spring seat (Volvo calls it an anchorage) broke such that the hole in the bottom is now too big to hold onto the pin (both sides). The part failed in such a way that the hole in the bottom is now just a bigger diameter - still basically round. I can buy the new anchorage at my dealer for a reasonable price but it looks like a lot of work to replace it. So, I have a couple of questions as I ponder the possibilities.

1) How hard is it to remove the plastic anchorage? It looks like I would have to remove the spring to have access to get the old one out and a new one in. I perceive it as a lot of work.

2) Has anyone here come up with a repair or work around for this sort of problem? A wall anchor comes to mind. A trimmed down WingIt wall anchor (plastic) would work if there is a lip to grip onto on the anchorage part. I'm not sure that this is the case based on looking at pictures of the part online.

The plastic pin that holds the bumper basically sees no load so just about anything that would hold it in other than adhesive would be OK. I'd much rather repair this that replace the anchorage parts due to the effort involved and minimal benefit. We have pretty good roads in Atlanta and in 10 years of owning this car I've never bottomed out the suspension in the back.

Post by **erikv11** » 29 Jun 2017, 07:54

Good news here - that plastic cone piece is super easy to remove and replace. We're talking one bolt. No MacGyver chewing gum workarounds required.

(1) Jack up the car and insert jackstands so the suspension is at full drop
(2) Remove the spring (one bolt at bottom).

The rubber spring seat and the plastic inner cone will come down with the spring, they just lift out the top of the spring. No fasteners involved. If you want to also replace the metal anchorage, again it is trivial: one, totally accessible bolt holds it to the frame rail (or something like that - it just unscrews).

That's it!

Post by **98v70dad** » 29 Jun 2017, 09:28

erikv11 wrote: ↑29 Jun 2017, 07:54 Good news here - that plastic cone piece is super easy to remove and replace. We're talking one bolt. No MacGyver chewing gum workarounds required.

(1) Jack up the car and insert jackstands so the suspension is at full drop
(2) Remove the spring (one bolt at bottom).

The rubber spring seat and the plastic inner cone will come down with the spring, they just lift out the top of the spring. No fasteners involved. If you want to also replace the metal anchorage, again it is trivial: one, totally accessible bolt holds it to the frame rail (or something like that - it just unscrews).

That's it!

Thanks for the answer - I was hoping for that but I couldn't tell exactly what I'd need to do by looking at it. What you describe sounds pretty straightforward, especially if I don't have to loosen the shocks or anything. I have an old neck injury and doing anything up under the car has me in pain for weeks afterwards. I'm still getting over the brake work -could sleep last night due to neck pain. If I can get in and out in about an hour it will not cause me a problem but if I'm in there for half a day craning my neck - I'm out.

The anchorage (p/n 9140177) isn't widely available (nobody that II've checked shows it on their website as being in stock) but my dealer shows that they have it so I'll stop by tonight on the way home and see if I can order two of them ($14 ea).

Post by **erikv11** » 29 Jun 2017, 09:40

Neck pain is tough, I hear ya on working under the car. But the springs are pretty well exposed you might be OK. If you can't find the plastic retainers I've got 4 of them, I grabbed them last fall when swapping trailing arms. All used of course, but better than a broken one. Eyeball the upper rubber spacer/mount too, they are cheap (about $12 from Volvo I think) and easy to replace when the spring it out. The metal anchorage itself is usually rusted on midwest cars but will likely be OK on yours.

Post by **98v70dad** » 29 Jun 2017, 11:17

erikv11 wrote: ↑29 Jun 2017, 09:40 Neck pain is tough, I hear ya on working under the car. But the springs are pretty well exposed you might be OK. If you can't find the plastic retainers I've got 4 of them, I grabbed them last fall when swapping trailing arms. All used of course, but better than a broken one. Eyeball the upper rubber spacer/mount too, they are cheap (about $12 from Volvo I think) and easy to replace when the spring it out. The metal anchorage itself is usually rusted on midwest cars but will likely be OK on yours.

What you describe sounds much easier than messing around with a repair. Thanks for the pins offer. I've actually got two if I can find them. I bought them along with the bumpers and when I went looking for them on Sunday they were missing - I apparently moved them to a safe location that I've forgotten. The rubber spacers are probably Ok but I might just order two new ones to be safe since they don't cost that much.

The item I broke was due to manhandling with a long handled screw driver - live and learn. I should have just cut the pins off with a hacksaw blade since I had replacements but I couldn't find them and I decided I would just pry the old ones out. For anyone reading this don't do that. That said nearly every time I work on the Volvo I break some sort plastic part. The heat here in the South bakes it and its usually very brittle. Usually I can drill it and stich it back together with Stainless Steel wire like a shoelace ..... not this time.

Post by **erikv11** » 29 Jun 2017, 12:08

Actually I wasn't offering the pins, but rather the plastic retainer 9140177 that you mentioned is discontinued (https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/volvo- ... 70-9140177). But I have pins too, let me know.

Post by **98v70dad** » 29 Jun 2017, 12:23

erikv11 wrote: ↑29 Jun 2017, 12:08 Actually I wasn't offering the pins, but rather the plastic retainer 9140177 that you mentioned is discontinued (https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/volvo- ... 70-9140177). But I have pins too, let me know.

OK. Thanks. It does look like they are discontinued as nobody has them. My dealership is still showing them as available on their website and they only want $14 each for them. I buy a lot of stuff there because its the easiest place to have the parts in hand in two days and I drive right by it every day on the way home. Usually they are only a few dollars more than the online places like FCPEuro.

If I can't get them at the dealership or Voluparts which is right down the road from me I'll take you up on it - I'll PM you and you can let me know what you want for them. I have no issues with using used parts - I do it all of the time.

Covert · Post by **Covert** » 30 Jun 2017, 04:42

if you can afford it replace the metal upper part at the same time , as its easier to do it all at one and they are only cheap!

Post by **shaker_chi** » 10 Jul 2017, 15:15

Is it safe to assume that removing the lower bolt to the shock would allow the rear suspension to drop further? Would one need to compress the spring? The last time I did that job I removed the O/E spring and replaced with lowering springs so no need to compress. They just slid right in.

Post by **98v70dad** » 10 Jul 2017, 16:52

shaker_chi wrote: ↑10 Jul 2017, 15:15 Is it safe to assume that removing the lower bolt to the shock would allow the rear suspension to drop further? Would one need to compress the spring? The last time I did that job I removed the O/E spring and replaced with lowering springs so no need to compress. They just slid right in.

I took the lower shock bolt loose and everything dropped enough to get the spring in/out easily. Standing on top of the tire also extended the shock enough, but I have new shocks and when I stepped off of the wheel they rapidly retracted.