1998 volvo v70 passenger side axle replacement

dogphife · Post by **dogphife** » 05 Aug 2017, 20:31

Hi again, so I am in the middle of replacing the passenger side drive cv axle. I see that some people drop the lower control arm from the frame to do the job. In other videos (specifically 1Aauto) he detatches the strut and moves it out of the way to do the job and leaves the control arm alone. Why do people do it different? What is the benefit/con of doing it either way? Thanks again. This site is great

Post by **rspi** » 05 Aug 2017, 20:37

It is actually easier to drop the strut bolts.

Dropping the control arm effects the alignment the least.

Also, I pulled the strut bolts and they stretched to much and broke and fell out 2 months (400 miles) later. I will only pull the control arm bolts for now on.

dogphife · Post by **dogphife** » 05 Aug 2017, 21:02

Thanks for the quick response. So dropping the control arm takes a little more effort, but affects the alignment less and won't stretch and damage the strut bolts just to re-interate, right?

Psychoelf · Post by **Psychoelf** » 22 Jun 2018, 11:37

I know...old thread...but...The easiest way is to just take the ball joint bolt out and pull the strut away from the control arm (use a long pry bar to push down against the sub frame). That's how it's done in most shops. No alignment needed.

I just changed my axle in 15 minutes. Driver side was more of a beast because the lock ring would not disengage and some numb nuts used red thread locker on the hub splines which required a long handle sledgehammer....

Post by **erikv11** » 22 Jun 2018, 13:17

Agreed, like rspi said up above I would never drop the strut bolts for an axle job. Disconnecting the control arm doesn't effect alignment.

I prefer dropping the two control arm bolts at the subframe because the one ball joint pinch bolt is often stuck, and I don't want to damage the ball joint boot trying to free it up. But one way or another, disconnecting the control arm is the way to go.