850 Lower control arms

[tryingbe]

Would it work backwards as well, using an earlier aluminum control arm with replaceable components on a later 850?
Thanks, Matt

I know one person cracked their aluminum control arms. I would not recommend it.

http://volvospeed.com/vs_forum/topic/15 ... try2035905

[dosbricks]

I recently installed Meyle HD control arms on our S70. What surprised me was the marked increase in ride stiffness. The struts are Sachs and have about 45k on them and the car had a very comfortable ride before the new arms, but a couple of the bushings were cracked in the OE arms. My wife's S70 now rides stiffer than my 850 wagon, which I've always regarded as very firm. Perhaps the HD line from Meyle is aimed at the performance crowd. Next time I would opt for the Lemforders.

I did preload the suspension prior to tightening the inner bolts but could only get inside 1/2" of my pre-teardown ride height with both sides of the car up on the jack stands and the side I was raising lifting about 1" off the jack stand. Could this be part of the stiff ride issue? Has anyone else tried the Meyle HDs and experienced this marked increase in stiffness?

[matt122s]

Thanks everybody for the great advice. I might just buy the earlier ones and repair them.
Matt

[scot850]

Yes, I was not very clear was I. What I meant to say was I replaced the Aluminum with the newer version with the non-removable ball joint. They were identical in terms of their length and the position of the ball joint to each other.

Neil.

[Ben850]

I enjoy the '93 type. they were the first I had known of these cars.

I have seen them at the yards, while wanting to put them on the rest of my '93- '96 vehicles. Timing was unfortunate, either no money on hand, or not enough time. They would be gone by my next visit.

I continue to search them. They may be taken for $15 a piece.

After not owning a way to press bushings carefully, I had taken mine to a local parts place, it was $35. per arm for the two bushings.
I was fine with that. (Still am) which leaves another choice of what you care to spend on the ball joint.

I had thought they would always be done this way. My early Chevy bushings needed to be pressed. The bolt on ball joint seemed very cool.

My first.

At this point, I had used the Meyle ball joint and tie rod ends.

Needed the car the next day, so duplicated the other side a couple days later.

I had no pictures of the other side. I had no garage @108 degrees. Michigan that summer.

Choices are nice. The aluminum control arms are nice, I now can press my own bushings, very nice.

It is not for everyone. I had a few lucky finds for my wagon at the junk yards, with brand new OEM arms.
My personal like would be a lighter weight aluminum control arm, if you can find them. US, '93-'94.5 850.

This leaves you a choice of bushings and ball joint all day.

As Robert had mentioned, The bushings need to be pushed correctly. That seems to be a worthy expense to design your own time of failure. Only to say, you may try it yourself, or pay a few extra bucks to a shop that has a decent press.
The option of the quality and price replacement parts remains yours.

Installation will also cause failure to the bushings if you do not tighten the bolts at riding height.
(See Installation videos.)

[dosbricks]

Ben (or others), how close to ride height does it have to be? Is less than 1/2" close enough?

[scot850]

My opinion is to try to tighten the bolts with the weight fully on the suspension. This will prevent the bushes and arms being loaded in the not at rest height, and wear them out quicker.

Best I can manage is using floor ramps under the wheels to do the best I can to get the load height correct, and then tighten.

Life would be excellent with access to a drive on hoist!

Neil.

[Ben850]

Ben (or others), how close to ride height does it have to be? Is less than 1/2" close enough?

There are several.
In a pinch, while only having the ability to do one side at a time, with safety in mind.

Both rear wheels chocked, end links to the front sway bar dis-connected.

Having the vehicle supported by jack stands already at the correct front sub-frame points, use either a bottle jack, or floor jack to lift the control arm from directly under the ball joint.
A buffer may need to be used, a small piece of wood, i.e. 2x4 piece or small 3/4" square of ply.

Bottom line, lift the control arm until that individual side comes barely off the jack stand.
Tighten the bolts securely enough to hold the bushing sleeve with no lateral movement.
Another very worthy torqueing, to be sure the gap is closed tightly between the bushing sleeve, and the mount brackets at the sub-frame. This is not an exact ratio, as the previous tolerations will surely have changed with removal of expired parts.
Repeat the other side.
Your end links are best re-connected with the car lifted level, either by remaining held on jack-stands at the sub-frame or a personal system.

While there is no tension on either side, the end links should pop right in with little manual assistance.

I must pretext, this is a way to do this at home. Not suggested by a manufacturers, nor a technical manual I have personally read.
Please, hold myself, (Ben850) not responsible for any perceived failure on behalf of this "DIY" recommendation.

I don't believe a disclaimer is needed. Open for discussion.

It is a litigious society.
Wrench safely.

It worked for me, when lesser tools were handy.

[dosbricks]

Ben (or others), how close to ride height does it have to be? Is less than 1/2" close enough?

Bottom line, lift the control arm until that individual side comes barely off the jack stand.

Hmm....This is exactly what I did except the car was not level. I had both sides of the front pretty high on jack stands. Maybe there was weight transfer to the rear which was at floor level. Perhaps this was the reason I could not attain exact ride height.

Now I am beginning to mull over the idea of whether I should loosen them and re-torque those inner bolts with the car level. Rats! Having two of theses cars means the to-do list always keeps out ahead of me like a carrot in front of a mule.

[matt122s]

Thanks again for all the great replies. I found 2 used '94 aluminum lower control arms on ebay, I should have them by the middle of next week. I have a decent press to use and FCP has Lemforder bushings and a pretty decent selection of ball joints to choose from. Does anyone know if Karlyn is a decent brand for ball joints, they're $9.99 a piece.
Thanks, Matt