Volvo 850 Suspension

[akwon]

The point is, you don't need to pull the struts to fix the degree of cross nut tightening (are you really sure they are not screwed in all the way?). You can leave them in the car, pull the top nut off the strut tower, pull the big washer, tighten the cross nut down some more thereby pulling the truth shaft up a few millimeters, then put it back together.

Have you tried this Erik? I just took an impact wrench to the top nut and it did not seem to want to move. I only went at it in second-long bursts a few times. There's still a lot of force acting on the thread/nut, isn't there?

[erikv11]

The top nut is always isolated from the spring force (by the cross nut), whether assembled or not. So the force to loosen the top nut depends on how tightly it was cranked down by the last person in there. So anyway yes I have taken the top nut off several times, from units in the car. I do it to inspect the spring seats, unfortunately that is needed a lot! Not sure why yours doesn't want to budge but FYI I prefer to hold the strut shaft with an allen key and use a box wrench on the top nut, I don't want to have a mishap that trashes the spring seats with the impact.

The cross nut underneath I have only monkeyed with once or twice but I have done it, I did it just to see if I could loosen it as you would expect, not to do any actual work in there.

[scot850]

I have done this at the dealer also, but I hope neither V70 needs done in the near future, and the XC70 has new struts to go in, but I will get the dealer to do that as they are expensive 4-C adjustable struts. If they were normal struts or rear Nivomats I would do that myself and justify the cost of buying good spring compressor on the labor saving. Problem is I don't have space for any more large tools for now. Need to get rid of a bunch of stuff, like 2 sets of spare winter tire/rims and a set of ropey old Saturn rims and a new set of Kia steels that came with the boss's Kia Sportage (winter tires were moved to a set of refurbished alloys I had).

Then there are all the other Volvo parts, especially heating system part (fan motors, resistor packs, cabin temp sensors). With all that shifted I might actually be able to get to the work benches and reclaim their work tops to use them again and get to my large compressor to check out where the air pressure/volume is going to?!

Neil.

[erikv11]

The point is, you don't need to pull the struts to fix the degree of cross nut tightening (are you really sure they are not screwed in all the way?). You can leave them in the car, pull the top nut off the strut tower, pull the big washer, tighten the cross nut down some more thereby pulling the truth shaft up a few millimeters, then put it back together.

Have you tried this Erik? I just took an impact wrench to the top nut and it did not seem to want to move. I only went at it in second-long bursts a few times. There's still a lot of force acting on the thread/nut, isn't there?

I was in the garage some tonight where my 850 is on jack stands and realized yours may be too, explaining your observation. If you have the car in the air, you indeed have enormous spring force on the top nut, via the big washer. All of that other advice pertains to having the car on the ground, with a gap underneath the big washer. Not making this point was a big oversight in my post, sorry about that.

You won't get very far taking the strut tower apart with the front end up in the air, I'd put it back on the ground first!

[akwon]

Thanks for following up Erik. The car was sitting on the ground and I still couldn't get the nut to move. I must've had the nut torqued down too much because all I could feel was the spring seat wanting to twist. Even with a second wrench on the post, trying to hold it steady.

I gave up and took the suspension off again and realized what was going on. The spring seat bushing must be longer than the old (OEM) ones. I think I put on Rein spring seats. The longer bushing covers a portion of the threaded end of the strut post.

Of course when I was putting everything back together I tore the wire from the ABS connector... A quick trip out to a Volvo mechanic who gave me a replacement connector for $5. And the sound still hasn't gone away. I'm now thinking it's the steering rack or CV axle instead of the wheel bearing. There's no play in the tire when it's off the ground.

[oragex]

The point is, you don't need to pull the struts to fix the degree of cross nut tightening (are you really sure they are not screwed in all the way?). You can leave them in the car, pull the top nut off the strut tower, pull the big washer, tighten the cross nut down some more thereby pulling the truth shaft up a few millimeters, then put it back together.

Have you tried this Erik? I just took an impact wrench to the top nut and it did not seem to want to move. I only went at it in second-long bursts a few times. There's still a lot of force acting on the thread/nut, isn't there?

I did so on my S60 with the wheels on the ground. Remove the top nut, the small plate, then accessed the cross nut who loose, to tighten in back down. It's actually even easier while on the car because the strut is 'stable'. Just don't forget to keep the strut rod from turning with the correct allen key, important otherwise the whole torque is transferred to the spring seat center sleeve and may damage the rubber.

Side note - an perhaps more importantly - the cross nut has to be seated with the cross part upwards - i.e. the cross part is seated against the upper plate. This prevents the cross nut from loosening.

[oragex]

TO THE POINT:
Now that I've got the car back on the road I'm getting a very distinct noise when driving at high speeds. It's not quite a rumble, more like a high pitched whine. It sounds like it's coming from the passenger side. My suspicion is that when I rebuilt the strut assembly I didn't compress the spring enough so it's putting pressure on the control arm/CV axle. The noise sort of goes away when I veer/turn right.

Not sure, but I'm thinking CV joint. If left hanging, the outer CV joint may get dismantled inside the boot. The axle can also pop out slightly from the transmission.

Could also be the brake anti-dust plate that got bent.

[akwon]

Thanks oragex. My 850 struts don't have that hex socket in the post that I've heard/seen pics of. It just has machined sides so you can grab it with a wrench or vise grips. For whatever reason I just could not get the top nit loose while the strut is on the car.

I'm worried it is the cv axle because when I did the control arms a couple years ago I did pop the axle out. I got it back in then and didn't hear that noise I'm hearing now. But the axle popped out when I did the suspension and even though I'm certain I have it seated back in, maybe something isn't lined up properly.

I'm going to get the alignment checked next week which will hopefully correct whatever is going on. I was driving around with a bad RH front suspension for at least a year so it probably effed the alignment.

[rspi]

Did your rein spring seats have the word Volvo grinned off of them? A guy I helped last month was told they were the OEM XC90 seats.

[akwon]

Robert: I don't 100% remember but I didn't see anything fishy about them. They came in Rein boxes and the aftermarket Volvo dealer didn't advertise them as OEM.

Took the 855 in for an alignment and the garage is saying I have bad front wheel bearings, as some of you suspected. I don't feel any play in the wheel when the car is jacked up. Are they trying to hose me? They wanted $600CAD for the P&L. I'm not going for it, regardless. I'll take it in to my Volvo mechanic later this week.