buy control arms or press bushings?

[mrbrian200]

What Matt's talking about applies to the bushes on the rear end which work different in the way they're mounted/rotate in the control arms/subframe.

On the front P2 LCAs the bushing ride height is preset when you press the bushes into the LCA with a 10 ton press (off the car).

Many other OEs (and older, and some newer Volvos) use a single large bolt goes through a sleeve in the bushing and tightens from the sides. Before the bolt is torqued down that bush can rotate around the bolt and preload the bushing if it's tighened up in the air. On P2s the bar that bolts to the subframe is bonded to the rubber bushing and bolted to the subframe by two bolts at a fixed angle. Most other OEs do it the other way (like LCA bushes on older Volvos). Volvo did it different than everybody else on the P2s just to make us all feel special, I think.

[matthew1]

Good catch, Brian! Thank you.

[matthew1]

I actually tried heating the control arms in my oven while freezing the bushings in the freezer, and hammering the two together in a bench vise.

I know I know.

I'm a DIY guy running a DIY site about DIY Volvo work. I do DIY things.

After the inevitable failure of this approach, I took the parts to a Volvo indie down the road and they did them for $10 or $20.

[ThommyKent]

Important: after pressing bushings in, during control arm installation, remember to align (push up with a jack, typically for us DIYers) the control arm before you tighten things down. This puts the arm at "ride height". Without doing that, you're fixing the position of the bushings at maximum wheel extension (think jumping your car, Dukes of Hazzard style, wheels hanging down waiting for the crushing, inevitable reunion with Earth), and the bushings will be constantly extremely torqued for their life. Which will be about 2 months.

This is true on 850 style control arms that bolt through the side of each each arm and if you don`t do what you say they will get destroyed quickly. However on S80 style arms it is NOT DONE as they bolt directly to the frame and is not necessary, it can`t even be done anyway.

S80 style

Screen Shot 2018-02-18 at 1.35.03 AM.png (247.43 KiB) Viewed 1926 times

850 style

Screen Shot 2018-02-18 at 1.38.22 AM.png (277.68 KiB) Viewed 1926 times

[matthew1]

I absolutely did mess that up. I'll edit my original post to reflect that.

I did control arms on both the P80 and P2 I owned, and in the intervening years got them confused.

[mrbrian200]

Short answer to know whether your style of control arm requires that the vehicle be lowered on the ground before tightening the bolt(s), you have to know what you're looking at because designs vary between make/model/year. I would venture that quite a few people wouldn't necessarily understand the difference by just looking at it. If in doubt, lower the car first.

[ThommyKent]

Fairly simple, if a mounting bolt goes through a bushing the control arm needs to be brought up to ride height before tightening. If the control arm mounting bolts do not then no need to. No worry Matthew, I was doing an s80 and looked at the arm several times before I figured that one out

[bluesguys80]

My experience it is better to go with the whole arm. I have bought 3 sets of front/rear bushings from variety of places. All of them, ALL, have pushed out of the arm.

[bluesguys80]

I actually tried heating the control arms in my oven while freezing the bushings in the freezer, and hammering the two together in a bench vise.

I know I know.

I'm a DIY guy running a DIY site about DIY Volvo work. I do DIY things.

After the inevitable failure of this approach, I took the parts to a Volvo indie down the road and they did them for $10 or $20.

How '90 to present ford/dodge/gm rear wheel bearing of you! It still works though!

[mrbrian200]

My experience it is better to go with the whole arm. I have bought 3 sets of front/rear bushings from variety of places. All of them, ALL, have pushed out of the arm.

Might I trouble you to clarify...
The rubber failed or the metal sleeve doesn't stay pressed into the control arm?

Did you do anything beyond soaking the LCA in plain water/wiping with a clean cloth, such as sand or file the holes on control arm before installing the new bushes, or, super heat the LCA while pressing in the bushes (might soften and expand the aluminum just enough to lose it's grip on the outer bush sleeve)?

Both of those ideas seem like a bad ideas to me. I'm aware of commonly held beliefs/advice to the contrary floating around out there. I don't think these parts were designed to be heat expanded/shrink to fit. Employing that method may have unintended consequences.