Rear struts and spring replacement with photos

[Blacklab467]

I picked up some OEM struts for $100 for all four, someone had bought them for his 4C car and had them on for a week and decided to get the correct ones, I then purchased new Lesjofors standard springs for the front and rear and installed them today.
There seemed to be a bit of difficulty from some posts from those who changed their rear struts so I though I would chronicle the replacement in a post to help those that are contemplating it in the future. It is a very easy job, the rears took me about 3 hours with hand tools working slowly. You will need a spring compressor ( $60 at Canadian Tire or Harbor Freight) and a 10, 12, 14, and 18mm socket and a T-30 or T-40 Torx.

Jack the car up and remove the rear wheels, use at least 2 jackstands per side, have the wheels about 4-6 inches off the ground.
Remove the rubber bumpstop and the lower 18mm bolt holding the strut on, then remove the 12mm bolt in the trunk at the top of the strut and the 2 14mm easily accessible bolts from the underside of the strut mount. Sorry I didn't get a picture of where the top bolt is but it's pretty easy and obvious to find.

Support the lower arm of the suspension with the jack and pry the bottom of the strut off the mounting dowel

lower the strut assembly through the bottom through this hole in front of the dowel, you will have to rotate and maneuver it but it will come out the bottom without force.
Dissassemble the strut, I used a standard spring compressor with locking device, keep a safe distance from the caged spring while working........I also wore a full face motorcycle helmet and goggles while working with the compressed spring.

You will need a T-30 (might be a T-40? ) and 18mm wrench to remove the strut top nut once the spring is compressed, also make sure to mark the orientation of the spring seat and strut mount and install the new spring and strut. Be sure to tighten the top nut. The Torx is to keep the centre from spinning while you tighten the nut.
Offer up the complete assemblage through the opening, reverse of removal. No forcing is necessary. Start the 2 14mm bolts from the bottom and then go start the top one from inside the car. You can then tighten all three.

The above photo shows the best way to spread the lower suspension arm to enable you to get the strut on the dowel if you are working alone. I used the spare tire scissor jack until the strut bore lined up with the dowel, again I wore the helmet and goggles for this operation in case the jack slipped out. You may elect to pry the lower arm down if you have a helper and not use a jack.
Tighten all bolts to the recommended torques and also torque the wheels when you are done.
The only cautions I would add are; the three top bolts are aluminum and it's really easy to get them cross threaded so be careful. Also, whenever working with springs you'll want to be extremely cautious, there's an incredible amount of potential energy in a caged spring, perhaps even consider having a shop do the strut disassembly and assembly if you are uncomfortable with it.
All things considered, its a pretty straightforward job for a shade tree mechanic, I hope this takes the mystery out of this job!

[justanotherhumanoid]

I've been searching for something like this for a while as I'm getting ready to do this job - I've seen a few posts/videos for FWD cars, which seem to have a different setup for the rear shocks. I assume this is for your 2003 XC70? Looks like it matches the setup on my 2006 S60 AWD.

So you compress the spring, undo the top nut, and the assembly comes apart... it looks like the spring seat is a rubber piece that sits inside the strut mount, which I assume is that big metal piece? Is it recommended to replace that as well? If so, when would you recommend, and is there anything to it other than maybe prying out the old and pushing in the new?

Lastly, what is this piece that I marked with a question mark, and is it a good idea to replace that, too?

Rear AWD shock exploded_LI.jpg (637.28 KiB) Viewed 5603 times

Thanks for the detailed post and pics!

-Jimmy

[Blacklab467]

You could replace that as well, I wouldn’t bother replacing the rubber that the spring sits on, it’s not really a “ spring seat” like the front struts have but more of a spring insulator. Those parts were fine on my car with about 300k Kms on it. See if FCP sells them and only use Volvo brand, they might be an inexpensive part. Probably everything else is in serviceable condition.

[justanotherhumanoid]

Looks like it is, about $18 each for the rear spring seats on FCP Euro:

https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/volvo- ... o-30748888

Note they list it as an "R" component, but volvopartswebstore says it fits my '06 S60 AWD, which I believe it does, especially since it seems to match your pics:

https://www.volvopartswebstore.com/prod ... 48888.html

And more just to satisfy my curiosity than anything else, the thick rubber cylinder marked with a "?" in the drawing appears to be called a "support plate," and is also sold by FCP for about $17 for the ProParts version, $44 for the Genuine Volvo.

https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/volvo- ... ts-8646101

https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/volvo- ... te-8646101

https://www.volvopartswebstore.com/prod ... 46101.html

[erikv11]

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...IMG_0541.jpg

The above photo shows the best way to spread the lower suspension arm to enable you to get the strut on the dowel if you are working alone. I used the spare tire scissor jack until the strut bore lined up with the dowel, again I wore the helmet and goggles for this operation in case the jack slipped out. You may elect to pry the lower arm down if you have a helper and not use a jack.
....

For this step working solo I used a wide, ratcheting load strap across the bottom, looped over both sides of the suspension with the ratchet in the center under the car. This way you can cinch down until both sides are low enough for the reassembled shock/struts to be installed. No danger of anything falling out but it is scary how much tension there is in the strap.

Strap attached

EDIT: added pic

[abscate]

Here’s me prying down a control arm on a 2004 XC70 using the pry bar method

[abscate]

Do the hustle, the Charkeston, the Bump!


Bumped for Tim

[enotslim]

For this step working solo I used a wide, ratcheting load strap across the bottom, looped over both sides of the suspension with the ratchet in the center under the car. This way you can cinch down until both sides are low enough for the reassembled shock/struts to be installed. No danger of anything falling out but it is scary how much tension there is in the strap.

IMG_0673.jpeg

EDIT: added pic

I could not get the ratchet strap method to work on a 2004 XC70 (the same car abscate's prying on above in my driveway viewtopic.php?t=90195&start=60) until I disengaged one end of each control arm stay that are used to align the rear wheels. Then it was fairly easy. No amount of ratcheting would sufficiently lower the control arms with these stays in place. Others report difficulty with this step but the stays are not mentioned in discussions of this topic or in the official Volvo instructions. Am I doing something wrong? What could explain my different experience?

[erikv11]

Maybe the strap you're using is too lightweight? It was even easier for me the second time, when I used a wider strap and moved the hooks farther out.

IMG_3172.jpeg (671.49 KiB) Viewed 4290 times

IMG_3175.jpeg (422.12 KiB) Viewed 4290 times

(pics are posting upside down for me, apologies ...)

[enotslim]

Maybe the strap you're using is too lightweight? It was even easier for me the second time, when I used a wider strap and moved the hooks farther out.

IMG_3172.jpegIMG_3175.jpeg

(pics are posting upside down for me, apologies ...)

I would be surprised if the ratchet strap is not sufficiently heavyweight. I used this strap (HAUL-MASTER 3300 lb. Capacity, 2 in. x 27 ft. Ratcheting Tie Down https://www.harborfreight.com/3300-lb-c ... 7IQAvD_BwE) as in the attached photo. It was as widely placed as possible and as taught as I could get it bracing against a wall and using my legs. I'm relatively weak but still. Descent had stopped and it was so taught I thought it might snap with more turns of the ratchet. And it worked relatively easily after disassembling the stays. Both things can be true: yours (2003 XC70) can be lowered with the stays in place; mine (2004 XC70) cannot. Model-year differences explain other apparently anomalous observations (like presence/absence/placement of a FPM -fuel pump nodule - as discussed recently on this forum).