98 V70 AWD rear driveshaft and sway bar

Post by **holler1** » 11 Sep 2008, 21:45

The nuts weren't a problem. I was able to get the nuts loose on the top and bottom suspension arms. The bottom link has a bolt all the way through it, but I couldn't get the bolt to move. Also on the bottom I was a little worried about releasing the spring. Will try putting a jack under it tomorrow. On the top A link which has to move toward the front of the car to come out of the hub, I was able to move the fitting a little out of the top of the hub, but the bottom link is too stiff to allow the top of the hub to move very much. There has to be a "right" way to do this but I can't find any examples, so I'm just trying things at this point to see what will work.

Post by **MadeInJapan** » 11 Sep 2008, 21:52

I gotcha...sorry I misunderstood. Saturating the bolt probably wouldn't help you then but could be worth a try.
Hope you figure this one out...be careful under there.

Post by **holler1** » 12 Sep 2008, 08:36

Here is a photo of the top A arm fitting that needs to move to the left (or the hub to the right) about 3 inches to free it up. It looks like the rubber fitting doesn't come out easily. I think I remember someone saying the front A arms come all in one piece, so the rear ones are probably the same.

Post by **holler1** » 12 Sep 2008, 08:41

Sorry, got my directions reversed. The hub needs to move forward and/or the A arm back. I'm going to try prying on it some more, just worried about bending or breaking something. Everything is surprisingly tight under there.

Post by **MadeInJapan** » 12 Sep 2008, 16:56

Yes, the control or "A" arm does come out in one piece...the rear is somewhat different though on your car....Let me see if I can find something in VADIS to send you. Please send me your email (my email is in my profile) so I'll know how to get the file to you...it would be too big to post up here.

Post by **holler1** » 13 Sep 2008, 19:08

Completed a left rear drive axle fix today on a 98 V70 AWD. Thanks to MIJ for excellent information and a bit of counseling.

Here is the symptom. This picture shows the inboard end of the axle going into the rear differential. The drive axle was leaking grease, although I wasn't sure of that at the time. The clue was the grease thrown on the body from the axle. There is a lot of grease on the diff too, and at first I wasn't sure if the leak was from the axle or the differential.

This shows the other end of the axle going into the wheel hub and bearing.

I wasn't sure of the problem, so I ordered an axle seal for the differential and a used axle from Condons Parts in Westminster, Maryland. The axle was $125 and shipping was $20. A new axle was $300.

I jacked up the car with a floor jack under the side near the rear wheel, and put a jack stand under it. I also removed the brake caliper and pulled off the rotor. This was not necessary to remove the axle but gave more room to maneuver. I was able to easily free the old axle from the diff by prying with a large screwdriver. I also removed the axle nut at the wheel using a 36 mm socket and breaker bar with a pipe extender., with the E brake on to hold the axle in one place. Here is the axle nut.

This photo shows the loosened axle end at the diff.

The axle would not come out much farther than this, because it was jammed against the other end at the wheel hub, so I couldn't remove the end out of the diff without doing something to allow the wheel hub to move outboard to allow more room. Here is a photo showing the three suspension connections to the axle hub.

The top fitting connects to the top "A" arm, the bottom to the main suspension arm where the shock and spring are supported, and the middle one is to a trailing/stabilizer arm. There is also a plastic sort of boot that holds the ABS pipe to the stabilizer arm, and that was easily removed.

I was able to get all the nuts loose OK, and got the stabilizer disconnected, but couldn't at first get the bottom bolt out. After considerable consultation with MIJ, and his providing me a VADIS file and a pep talk, I tackled it again. Here is the top fitting.

At first I was trying to free this up and flip the hub out from the top. Everything was too tight to allow this. I placed another jack under the bottom of the suspension to try to take the tension off the bolt, and after turning the lower fitting bolt with a socket and spraying WD40 on it, I was able to punch it out with a wood mallet and a screwdriver. Here is the lower bolt partially removed.

After getting this bolt out, I was able to swivel the bottom of the hub out and release the axle. Here is a photo.

The other end came out easily. For anyone who has a similar problem with a possible grease leak, and no obvious hole or leak in the boot itself, a clue is to push on the rubber boot. A good boot full of grease will push back. The empty boot stayed pushed in. Here is a picture showing the bad axle.

Here is the "new" axle and the bad one.

Finally, I pried out the old axle-to-diff seal with a screwdriver; it was tight and I had to destroy it. Here is a photo of the old seal.

I pushed in the new seal gently with a small bolt and a mallet, hitting it gently all around to make it even. It was a little hard to see how far to put it in, but I think it's pretty even. I think there is a little rim inside the diff that is goes flush with. Here is a photo of it.

Both ends of the new axle went in without incident. I put "blue metal glue" on the end that goes in the wheel bearing and hub. I pushed the inboard end into the diff and felt the the circlip click in. Then I put the outboard end in and put on the axle nut (Still need to check the torque on this). I then replaced the bolt at the bottom and put all the nuts back on. It was fairly easy to line up the bottom bolt holes in the hub and suspension arm using the jack to get the right height.
Here is the final photo with everything together.

This all took me about 4 hours counting time wasted trying to get bolts loose. It all went back together in an hour or less.
Thanks again MIJ.

Post by **MadeInJapan** » 14 Sep 2008, 18:29

Whew! Glad you got it all out and back in....driving okay after the surgery?
Since I don't have an AWD the only thing I had to go on was the VADIS file/explanation and my gut telling me this is do-able. I've never seen a write-up on this....so, this is a first for MVS and it's going into our Repair Database. Good work and nice pictures, holler!
MIJ

Post by **holler1** » 14 Sep 2008, 19:12

Driving OK but only 30 miles or so. No noise. Thanks again.

volvov70awd · Post by **volvov70awd** » 27 Dec 2011, 10:07

hi does anyone know what the rusted bar with the black cover on in the picture is called

Post by **holler1** » 27 Dec 2011, 16:30

volvov70awd wrote:hi does anyone know what the rusted bar with the black cover on in the picture is called

I called it a stabilizer arm in the writeup, but it seems to be called a "stay" in the diagram that was recently posted. https://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/forums ... =1&t=33854