850 Control arm fiasco...little help please...

powersct · Post by **powersct** » 21 Jun 2010, 09:36

No, these are for the frame side. The one that is a problem is the one that goes through the spindle and closes the knuckle around the top of the ball joint.

Post by **cn90** » 21 Jun 2010, 09:54

Couple things:

1. To check control arm balljoint: jack the car up (don't remove the tire yet), grab the tire at 6 and 12 o'clock positions and rock in and out (toward and away from you).

FYI: rocking at 3 and 9 o'clock positions is for checking tierods.
These are just generic rules.

2. Yes, the procedure calls for new nuts and bolts. They are very cheap at dealer (a few dollars each). Get them ahead of time!!!

Use eeuroparts.com for PN.

powersct · Post by **powersct** » 21 Jun 2010, 10:10

Well, that's interesting because the tie rods on mine are fine- ball joints are shot and the movement is side to side (front to back on the car). eeuro unfortunately doesn't have the nut and bolt listed as mentioned- I know these guys...nut is $1.69 and bolt is $2.32 from the dealer- nut in stock bolt had to ordered- same thing on 10 calls. The nut must fit something else too...

Post by **cn90** » 21 Jun 2010, 10:13

The nut also fits the 2 bolts on steering knuckle where it "bites" onto the lower part of the strut.

Are you sure the PN for bolt you listed is correct?

powersct · Post by **powersct** » 21 Jun 2010, 10:16

Straight from the mouth of the parts manager at Boston Volvo, he gave me 988185- ordered from Farrell (a little closer) and he corrected it to the extra '1' therefore 9881185...

jadnhm · Post by **jadnhm** » 21 Jun 2010, 13:11

FWIW every control arm I ever bought came with this bolt and the others for the frame-side included in the box. I have an AWD with the 4-bolt frame-side mount though....

powersct · Post by **powersct** » 22 Jun 2010, 18:54

Wanted to clarify the part numbers now that I have the invoice- Bolt: 988185-5 $1.71 Nut: 987891-9 $2.34

The right one finally gave in- the left one was no problem...

viperocco · Post by **viperocco** » 04 Oct 2010, 22:14

ecbsykes wrote:I don't mean to hijack this thread, but was wondering if someone could explain the symptoms of failing control arms. Is there a way to physically check it? What sort of while-driving symptoms would you encounter?

control arms arent the part that fails but the ball joints and bushings that are mounted on the arm are. my car would pull to the right while braking, excessive tire wear.

i just swapped control arms out and the ball joint end came out very easily with the use of pry bar. sorry to hear you had such a struggle

850 Control arm fiasco...little help please...

Re: 850 Control arm fiasco...little help please...