P80 front wheel bearing - Questions!

[scot850]

So, I fought the PITA today to get the hub off as I knew the hub bolts would be a real pain to get loose so wanted to get it into the bench vise. Last did one 10 years ago and it was a bear!

Anyway, I have the hub off (it came undone way easier than any of the other bolts! ) and I am cleaning it up for a coat of paint while I have access. What surprised me is the old bolts came out and do not look like they ever had any thread locker. Nearly every bolt Volvo sells pretty much has the red thread locker on them. New bolts have none either.

Question to you who have done this multiple times, would you use red, blue or no thread locker? And, would you use any anti-seize on the threads above the thread locker?

I'm tempted to return as found, and hope to never have to tackle this again on this car (oh yes, I have the other side to do ).

Please let me know what your thoughts are.

Thanks,

Neil.

[wizechatmgr]

If you use anti-seize I believe the torque is to be reduced to ~80% of spec. I wouldn't want to do that. If I were to use anything, I'd use the green, because frankly the assembly isn't going to rattle apart short of you sending it to space and back.

[scot850]

Don't give me suggestions I have long harbored with this car!! Some gasoline and a lighter will do!

By green, do you mean green thread locker? Never heard of that or seen it. Only ever seen red and blue. Always learning. What is the green one. I know the red is almost a permanent thread lock and blue is I guess you'd call a anti-rattle loose locker/semi-permanent.

Thanks for the info, appreciated!

Neil

[wizechatmgr]

By green, do you mean green thread locker?

Green is basically the lightest strength they make, in my opinion merely good for sealing threads.

[scot850]

So, I just looked up green thread locker. It seems to be added AFTER assembly unlike blue and red which is prior.

It makes a note that it requires heat to loosen the threads. I'm now leaning towards using nothing. I forgot it is a 3 stage tightening regime with the final being a 60 degree angle tightening. So basically a stretch bolt? What is the chances of me ever remembering having done this in a years time let alone 10?? Hm.......?

Does anyone re-use the bolts? I was really surprised that they cleaned up really well with no damage to the contact surfaces for the E-Torx socket. Last set I did I had to grind one off and they looked like they had been eaten by metal moths!!

Neil.

[crasbe]

I would recommend not using any anti seize or thread locker if it wasn't called for or already on the bolt due to the changed torque.
You should NOT rely on colors of thread lockers, because they can vary between manufacturers. For example Loctite low strength is purple and from other manufacturers it is green. Loctite high strength (as in: can not be removed without heating) is usually red, but many bolts come with red thread lock applied to them, which is certainly not high strength.
=> Judge by what the bottle says and not by the color.

The bolts are most likely stretch bolts because the torque you apply to them with the angle tightening is WAY higher than what you would usually torque a bolt of that size (M10 with 10.9 strength if I remember correctly? That would call for 70Nm to be still in the elastic deformation area. With another 60° it is probably in an area of plastic deformation).

Therefore it is not a good idea to reuse them, even though it is probably fine ("probably fine" as in: many people do it, many people have done it, few have had issues with it, but nevertheless you're not supposed to do that because when the hub falls off, you have a SERIOUS issue).


Unrelated: I think it would make sense (in the future) to document your wheel bearing journey in one thread and not in these many threads. This might already approach the 10th thread on essentially the same topic now?

[scot850]

Fair comment on the thread consolidation!

I have already decided (after cleaning the old bolts) that there was no sign of any thread locker of any sort, so I am not going to use any. But thanks for confirming your thoughts on this!

I'm sure there are many threads on wheel bearings over the years. What I will do is consolidate any key points on the repair that may be of help to others. I had not intended this to be such a long drawn out repair. With luck on my side (well that would be a first on this car...!) I may have the car reassembled today including replacing the now damaged outer tie rod and boot.

Thanks for your input!

Neil.

[FireFox31]

I've done a few front wheel bearings on 2000 V70s. The large external Torx bolts between the bearing and steering knuckle did not have thread lock from the factory and new Volvo bolts do not either. As crasbe said above, these bolts are torque-to-yield stretched by applying proper torque and then angle tightening. Therefore, they are single use bolts. Buy them from FCP so they'll replace them for free if you ever must remove them again.

Remember to install the rubber wheel bearing dust shield ring. I think it goes between the hub and knuckle, protecting the hole into which the axle inserts. A specific side must face the hub and can be determined by looking at its shape (or the old one which came off). Sorry, I have part numbers and pictures for all of this but not easily at hand. I had a thread about a horrible wheel bearing bolt removal so may have posted them there.

[scot850]

All done with new hardware and Volvo dust shield for the bearing. AS you will see in the main thread. All for nothing. Car is now worse than before now 2 different things have been repaired.

Ho-hum..............!

Thanks for the info and they went in as supplied with no lube or thread locker.

Neil.