Will a '98 angle gear fit my '99 V70XC?

[rspi]

When I searched my channel about 9 videos came up. Not sure which one would have that info. I searched "angle gear".

[jvl]

Hi Robert,
Thanks for posting that.
I looked at several video's and heard you mention the differences between model years, but haven't found a video where you mention VIN numbers.
Very useful information on the replacemebt procedure though, that information will be really helpful!

The first angle gear that I wanted to buy wasn't the right one, it had a flat flange so didn't buy it.

Now I found another guy parting out a car that has a VIN ending with -555914, so that's definately higher than the VIN break at -465001 mentioned by Dirk.
I don't know anything about part condition and price yet.

Would this angle gear be compatible then (assuming it is in OK condition)?
My car is a late '99, but could it already have '00 features/drivetrain? Is there any way to tell?

The more I am reading about angle gear failure, the more I am starting to think my VC may be the cause of this failure. The whining noise in the angle gear reduces when letting of the gas and increases when on the gas.
The VC was tested OK half a year ago (using a torque wrench on lifted front wheel as recommended by Volvo).
How do I rule out a broken VC?
If I want to buy another new VC, do the same VIN breaks apply? It would be great to get it of the same donor car.

Thanks,
Joost

[jvl]

So I just bought an angle gear, it will be shipped soon.
Supposedly (but no proof) it has only done about 180k kilometers! Hope to get to it before the holidays, otherwise it will have to wait untill january.

[scot850]

When you get it make sure the connecting collar and the splines it attaches to on the angle gear shaft are not damaged or stripped which often happens with age. So check they are a snug fit to each other. If the angle gear splines are bad it will strip when load it applied.

I wouldn't suspect the VC is causing any issues. When they fail the stop working. They are fluid filled. The one issue to watch out for is the bearing at the front of the VC unit. Those do fail with age. One of mine actually fell apart when the dealer went to fit the new bearing.

Neil.

[jvl]

Thanks Neil, I have unfortunately already dealed with this issue on my current angle gear, my indy has plug welded up the sleeve to the angle gear collar. Recently I think a bearing has failed which causes the whine (and now also some vibration) so I hope the new angle gear fixes that.
I also asked them to include the sleeve, how can I determine whether it is fit for purpose?

Thanks for the tip on the VC, I will check this as well!

Joost

[scot850]

Check the splines are not rounded on their edges on both parts and fit fairly tightly together with ideal no slop between the 2 parts. Naturally there should be no chips or missing sections too.

Look for a lot of wear or a groove where the seal in the transmission on angle gear sit so they do not leak when a new seal is fitted. The collar is kind of a shear part and are replaceable but they are getting harder to find.

Neil.

[jvl]

Check the splines are not rounded on their edges on both parts and fit fairly tightly together with ideal no slop between the 2 parts. Naturally there should be no chips or missing sections too.

Look for a lot of wear or a groove where the seal in the transmission on angle gear sit so they do not leak when a new seal is fitted. The collar is kind of a shear part and are replaceable but they are getting harder to find.

Neil.

So, bad news: The angle gear was delivered today and when I tried turning both shafts by hand, the sleeve/collar already slipped when applying very little force.
It would grip a little bit when pulling the collar out a few cm, it seems that the outer end of the spline in the collar was least damaged.

I took the collar off since that has to be replaced anyway and am now mostly concerned about whether the spline on the axle in the angle gear itself is good enough to use (if I would get a new sleeve).

The last thing I wanna do is rip the angle gear off, put this one in, and do it all over again because it immediately starts to slip. I've had this happen with my current angle gear and the indy has plug welded up the collar, so if I would have to choose I could prefer the current bearing whine over a slipping collar.

Anyone care to help me judge this based on these pictures? Summarized: I know that I would need a new sleeve, but are the splines on the angle gear still fit for purpose? I'd like to know before investing more € (sleeve) and time in this angle gear.

Any measurements I can do?

Thank you!

Joost

[jvl]

Update!

I bought an angle gear from a Volvo that has VIN YV1LZ56C8X2555914.
The last 6 digits on my car are 661331
It does not fit, and the worst thing is that I found out AFTER taking the current angle gear of my car and rebuilding the new replacement one. It really sucks because I double checked with my local Volvo dealer before buying the sleeve of them and they said that the part number on my salvaged angle gear would fit my VIN.

For the replacement, I cleaned it, adjusted the bearing, bought a new sleeve, plug welded the sleeve onto the angle gear.

The flange connecting to the transmission is identical. But the replacement angle gear is taller than the one fitted to my car now, and wider as well. It doesn't clear the exhaust when trying to put it in. Even if I was able to clear the exhaust during the install, I would end up with a misalignment on the flange that connects to the propshaft, it would be about one inch to the right of where the flange is supposed to be.

So now, I'm basically stuck with a rebuilt angle gear that I can't use and that cost me quite some time and €€ and a broken one fitted to my car.
I really would like to get the AWD working but a new angle gear is just too expensive.

I don't mind taking my front end apart again and attempting a new install, but don't want too spend more money and time on a wrong part.

My current angle gear has got the part number '010237432' stamped onto it on the topside next to the flange that attaches to the automatic transmission.
Anyone knows how to find one in Europe...?

Thanks!

Joost

[Richard99]

Hi Joost,

I'm wondering if you ever made any progress on this? I'm hoping to do an angle gear rebuild by purchasing the necessary bearings and seals, welding the collar to the shaft, and adding a bottom drain plug. After that, hoping to never need to touch it again.

Eric

[jvl]

Hi Eric,

My car has been running as a FWD for about 40.000km now; I have entirely deleted the angle gear last year.

As I wrote in my last post (Mon Feb 04, 2019 5:54 pm); I had accidentally bought and refurbished a non-fitting angle gear. I managed to sell it to another Volvo enthousiast. I didn't succeed in finding a good, low mileage used one for my '99 so decided to delete the entire angle gear as per ECBSykes procedure. This doesn't look nice but has worked well for me over the last 40k kilometers.

If you need to use the car, you could in the short term do what ecbsykes suggested and I know others have also done.

You may need to PM ecbsykes to find exactly what he did, but basically owners have removed the RH axle (which runs through the angle gear housing), then removed the angle gear unit then glued the sleeve back into the transmission and re-fitted the RH axle and driven it in FWD only.

Neil.

Actually, I just took two hose clamps and fitted them through each other to prevent the sleeve from moving. Looks ghetto, but works well and haven't had any real leaks, maybe just a very tiny bit of weeping. There's no real way to glue to sleeve in there as far as I know. It was designed to be held in place by the angle gear, so you really need something physical to push against its desire to move out of the axle seal.

Added benefit of doing this: makes working on the XC sooooo much easier. Reaching the turbo, air intake, and all vacuum/coolant hoses in the area is simple now.

angle gear delete.jpg (166.47 KiB) Viewed 1327 times

Good luck on your rebuild adventures, I hope that you will be able to find a good replacement part!

Joost