'72 145s - Lower control arm shaft removal/replacement

[bertelsen]

Greetings all!

This board looks pretty sleepy today but I remember when it used to be hopping; maybe a good Volvo mystery will draw a little attention...

I'm doing a full suspension/unsprung overhaul (bearings, bushings, ball joints, shocks, springs, brakes) and have run into what seems to be a major problem as well as a mystery. The lower control arm shafts (pivots) appear to be frozen in their bores, and cannot be moved by any of the means of persuasion at my disposal. The nuts on the shafts and their associated washers came off with no difficulty, but no amount of pushing, pulling, torquing, impacting, heating (caveat - I only have a propane torch; not very hot), or soaking with copious amounts of penetrating fluid has made either left or right shaft budge from their place. The lower control arms swing very stiffly through their full range; not at all free-moving, but not frozen to the shaft.

The mystery (and possibly part of the explanation) is that the shafts appear to be incorrect parts. Where VP's catalogue, the factory service manual, and every parts diagram I've seen agree that these shafts (p.n. 943659) require a cup washer (p.n. 667791) between the bolt's head and the rubber spacer (p.n. 683263), the bolts on my car have integral cup washers in the form of an enlarged and curved flange. Additionally, the shafts on my car are metric (22mm head and M14x1.5 thread) instead of SAE/Imperial. I've not been able to find any parts diagram for any contemporary Volvo showing a shaft like this one. I'm genuinely curious where they came from?

Head end of lower control arm shaft, showing integral cup washer/flange

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Head end of lower control arm shaft, showing integral cup washer/flange

IMG_2198.jpeg (41.73 KiB) Viewed 3063 times

But the real issue is extracting them. Does anybody have any advice for getting these moving? I'm concerned that if they cannot be moved, the only solution will be to replace the entire front crossmember. Is there some remedy between sliding them out as the manufacturer intended and replacing the crossmember? And if replacing the crossmember is the solution, does anybody have an idea where I can find one from a 140 (1971 or later)?

Thanks for any and all help!

Chris

[volvolugnut]

My thought is the rubber bushings have a steel tube on the ID and the tube is rusted to the shaft. The stiff movement is allowed by twisting of the rubber.
Maybe more heat will break it loose.
volvolugnut

[BlackBart]

1. Good man for keeping the 145 wagon going!

2. Yes, even more heat would be my next guess.

3. Can the shaft or bolt be cut with a sawzall blade? We cut the frozen shaft at the bottom of the air strut to the lower control arm on a LR LR3. Everything is big on those. Hardened steel, 1" diameter maybe. We finally got a Diablo "Steel Demon" carbide-tipped blade and it buzzed right through that thing.

(Since it's likely the wrong one and you're installing new anyway)

4. Or can you drill out the rubber bushing to free up the outer bushing shell from the inner as lugnut suggests, and then hacksaw (carefully) through the inner bushing shell and split it?

[bertelsen]

My thought is the rubber bushings have a steel tube on the ID and the tube is rusted to the shaft. The stiff movement is allowed by twisting of the rubber.
Maybe more heat will break it loose.
volvolugnut

@volvolugnut I hear you, re: frozen bushing inners - I've considered this as well. If the shafts were frozen to the bushings but not to the bores, wouldn't the arms pivot with the application of torque? I've tried turning the shafts with both a 300ft/lb impact gun and a 4ft breaker bar/pipe extension combo, and nothing moves. If the shafts were not frozen in the bores, the resistance when moving the arms by hand suggests to me that twisting the shaft with that much force would also move the arms (even if the rubber of the bushings was largely dark matter at this point).

1. Good man for keeping the 145 wagon going!

2. Yes, even more heat would be my next guess.

3. Can the shaft or bolt be cut with a sawzall blade? We cut the frozen shaft at the bottom of the air strut to the lower control arm on a LR LR3. Everything is big on those. Hardened steel, 1" diameter maybe. We finally got a Diablo "Steel Demon" carbide-tipped blade and it buzzed right through that thing.

(Since it's likely the wrong one and you're installing new anyway)

4. Or can you drill out the rubber bushing to free up the outer bushing shell from the inner as lugnut suggests, and then hacksaw (carefully) through the inner bushing shell and split it?

1. Thank you! It's my humble opinion that a 1972 145s is the best thing ever produced by Gothenburg, and I'm aiming to prove it! Best car from any manufacturer ever (by the metrics that I count) but that's a harder argument to win...

2. Definitely going to try more heat; I'm getting that response from a lot of people. I'm applying it directly to the shaft bore via the upper spring seat aperture in the crossmember. Any issues with this approach, or suggestions for better?

3. Cutting the shaft is no problem as far as the procedure goes, but will render the car unable to be made rollable (necessary given the current garage situation). So I don't want to go down that road until I have a full suite of parts for every possible outcome. I'm definitely replacing the shafts (the new ones should arrive from VP in the next week or so), but my concern is what to do if the shafts remain frozen in the bores after cutting.

The way I see it, I would then be left with the very unappealing options of either drilling out the frozen shafts (which seems ripe with opportunity for spectacular failure, especially if done while the crossmember is still on the car), or completely replacing the cross member. If the shafts are still frozen after cutting, is there another option I'm not seeing?

4. See my response to Volvolugnut above; given what I've already tried, does this explanation hold up?

[BlackBart]

Oh, I see - A cut off shaft stuck in a bore is a problem.

So am I looking at a continuous steel shaft with threaded ends, that extends all the way through the cross-member? But that's a bolt head we're looking at, not a nut?

[BlackBart]

I found a diagram. It's a bigass bolt all the way through. #10 says "Bolt" # 541790-8 and 943659-3.

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So maybe I'm off with this. Could you cut off just the head of the bolt, heat the outer bore, and pound it from the end?

[BlackBart]

Image_368.gif (25.66 KiB) Viewed 3031 times

[BlackBart]

Additionally, the shafts on my car are metric (22mm head and M14x1.5 thread) instead of SAE/Imperial.

So did someone force a non-standard bolt through the opening and jamb it in there?? Are both sides just as frozen?

[volvolugnut]

From BB diagram and parts list, it appears the the long bolt (10) may be rusted to the front axle (1) in the middle. If it rusted along that several inches in the center, I could see 300 ft/lb not turning the bolt. Perhaps you can apply the heat to the area of the front axle (1) where the bolt is supported and use the impact to get it free.
With the nut removed from the end of the bolt (10), can you see any movement of the bushing ID tube when you move the arm up and down? If the tube moves, the bushing is free and the center support of the shaft is the problem.
Have you tried a big hammer (3 to 5 pound) hitting nut end of the shaft with the nut loose or removed? This may destroy the threads, but I think that bolt must be replaced anyway.
I think cutting the bolt/shaft should not be done. You need the ends for hammering and torque.
At this point, I would try to get a hotter torch to heat the axle frame where the bolt is held, a big hammer, and the big impact tool. Heat and cool a few cycles while whacking with the hammer on the nut end. Then heat, whack, and turn CW and CCW with the impact. Something should happen.
volvolugnut

[volvolugnut]

Additionally, the shafts on my car are metric (22mm head and M14x1.5 thread) instead of SAE/Imperial.

So did someone force a non-standard bolt through the opening and jamb it in there?? Are both sides just as frozen?

THAT change in bolt type is very suspect. Too bad we do not have the original size specs for bolt 10. Was the SAE bolt 5/8 (.625) inch (slightly larger than 14 MM (.55 inch))? Perhaps bolt 10 is now welded to the axle/frame?
Does the axle/frame have any open area to view the bolt in the center? It would be odd for a part to be manufactured with a long hole through the frame part with all the same tight tolerance to the bolt. Unless the hole through the frame is actually as tube welded within the frame stamping.
I am beginning to think the bolt was replaced at some point and some butcher work done to the frame to use the non standard bolt. When the bolt finally comes out, a steel bushing may be needed to support and center the correct bolt in the frame/axle.
volvolugnut