Front wheel hub vertical play 06 xc90 v8

EuroTrash45 · Post by **EuroTrash45** » 11 Jun 2025, 08:34

As much digging as I've done i cannot seem to find any information on the front hub issue I've been fighting. Aquired this car after it had been sitting for a good long time, noticed once I had it on the lift at work that the front hubs had a good amount of vertical play. Ordered a pair and installed them with new volvo axle bolts and performed the torque sequence but even after that there is still a small amount of vertical play in the hubs. Did I do the wrong torque sequence ( 27 NM with 90 degrees) or is this something more axle related? I have a new set of axles on the way anyhow thanks to torn boots, plus with them being the original axles there hasn't been any grease in the joints for quite a while. I have noticed though the play is only in the outer hub, no lower ball joint movement and you can see the outer axle shaft move with the hub when I move it up and down. Any help would be appreciated, I feel like im chasing my own tail!

fredt2 · Post by **fredt2** » 11 Jun 2025, 13:33

Have you tried shaking the axle? Do you notice any play on it? this sure sounds like a ball joint problem, are you sure there isnt any play on the ball joint?

EuroTrash45 · Post by **EuroTrash45** » 11 Jun 2025, 16:54

100% sure it's not the ball joint, axle on the drivers side has a tiny bit of play and passenger side has none i can feel. New axles will be here Monday and I put a warranty claim in for the wheel bearings which the new ones will be here Friday I believe.

crasbe · Post by **crasbe** » 12 Jun 2025, 04:08

When you feel or see play in the wheel bearings, something is really wrong. Out of curiosity: Which brand wheel bearings did you get?

The torque setting sounds right. One thing that's very important with wheel bearings is that they should not be loaded when the center bolt is out. Lowering the car from the lift without the center bolt in or even rolling it around will almost certainly damage the bearings.

I destroyed the wheel bearings when trying to get the ball joint out by putting a car jack under the brake disc (yeah, that was sketchy and stupid and it didn't really work. It's much better to take out the strut bolts to get out the CV axle).
However I don't know if they had any play afterwards, but they were LOUD.

EuroTrash45 · Post by **EuroTrash45** » 17 Jun 2025, 17:45

I got a set of moog wheel bearings, and turns out I had the torque setting wrong, 37Nm with a second step 90 degree. Put new axles in as well as a warranty set of wheel bearings from moog and after reassembly there was zero play in either hub, also noticed quite a bit less vibration than I was feeling before. I'll check here after a couple days of driving for play, but hopefully I dont have to deal with it anymore