DIY remove and replace rear springs 3546335 on an 850 Wagon

[jreed]

I recently replaced the rear springs and shock absorbers on my '97 855 GLT wagon. The shock replacement procedure has been written up before several times. I couldn't find a clear write up for the springs. There is a very helpful video by RobertDIY (http://robertdiy.com) that shows how to change the springs.

I watched that a couple times and then took pictures as I worked on the drivers' side of my car.

Parts:
I used Lesjofors springs 3546335 (FCP item number LES-4295811).
I also used new spring anchors (Volvo p/n 3546435) and new spring spacers (the rubber collar at the top of the spring, Volvo p/n 1387907). The plastic collet that holds the polyurethane bump stop is Volvo p/n 9157631. The bump stop is Volvo p/n 3516327.

Here is the original rear spring on my wagon. This is Volvo part number 3546335.

Original spring Volvo p/n 3546335

Before loosening the nut holding the spring anchor, I cleaned the rust and dirt off of the threads:

Cleaning the threads

After cleaning, the nut and threads look like this. You can see the extra metal tab that sticks thru the spring seat. This metal tab is part of the spring anchor.

Threads, nut and tab on spring anchor, looking at the bottom of the spring seat.

Next I loosened the nut using a 15mm socket and ratchet:

After removing the nut, you can lift the anchor up and off of the bottom of the spring:

Next I jacked up the side of the car to lift the weight of the car off of the spring and placed a jackstand under the rear suspension:

Here's a close-up of the rear suspension being supported by the jackstand:

Once you have the side of the car lifted and safely supported, you can go back underneath to remove the spring. If you've jacked the car high enough, you'll see the spring is extended and ready to be removed:

Here is a close-up of the spring seat, the spring and the spring anchor. The spring is barely held in place at this point and is ready to be removed:

I grabbed the spring and pulled gently. It shifted towards the edge of the spring seat:

I did not need a spring compressor. I just kept pulling gently and the spring came out past the edge of the spring seat and I was holding it (be prepared--it is heavy, maybe 8-10lbs/3-5kg):

Here is the view of the upper and lower spring seats after you remove the spring:

I cleaned out the lower spring seat because it was full of dirt and debris.

The upper spring seat was pretty clean. You can see the imprint that the rubber collar made on the galvanized metal over the years:

Next it's time to swap parts from the old spring and install them on the new spring in preparation for installation.
Here are the new spring (left) and old spring (right) side by side. Both springs have a rubber collar attached at the top. The old spring still has the old bump stop and plastic cone attached to the top, and the old spring anchor is loose near the bottom of the spring:

I removed the plastic cone from the old spring by pushing from the bottom and prying:

and lifting it out:

and removing the old polyurethane bumpstop and white plastic collet:

The plastic cone is Volvo p/n 9140177. It was still in good shape so I re-used it.

<<continued in next post>>

[jreed]

Next up was installing the new polyurethane bump stop with a new white plastic collet into the old black plastic cone. I used a deep 10mm socket to press the collet thru the stop and into the cone to lock it in place:

Then I placed spring anchor into the spring, and then placed the cone/stop assembly into the top of the spring. Be sure to have put the rubber collar on the top of the spring first. The collar has a cut out for holding the end of the spring... make sure to align the end of the spring with the cut out in the collar.

Then the spring can be lifted into alignment with the upper spring seat on the car:

Then you lift the spring and push it into the lower spring seat. I did not need a spring compressor to push the spring into the seat. Place the anchor into the spring seat and align the tab with the hole.

From underneath the lower spring seat, you will see the threads from the anchor and the tab sticking thru the holes:

Then you attach the nut. I used a new nut and washer instead of re-using the original flanged nut.

Tighten it up a bit by hand to seat the anchor over the end of the spring

After you get the nut on and the threads started you can tighten it up with a ratchet. Final torque value was 29.5 ft-lbs (40N-m)

When you're done, from the inside of the spring seat the anchor will look like this, centered on the end of the spring and clamping it to the spring seat:

After this, the next steps include installing new shocks (or reinstalling the old ones if you're not replacing them)... One write-up for that process is available here: https://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/forum ... =1&t=40415

[BlackBart]

Nice work, good pics!

[scot850]

It is interesting that when you compare the old and new springs, the original seems to be made of thicker coils.

When I renovated the 2000 V70 SE I had for a while, I used Lesjofors springs from FCP to replace the old ones, just as the originals were rusted although not that bad. A case of while in there.......

Anyway, sold the car to a friend. He found the rear springs were soft and replaced them with IPD HD rear springs. I thought that they would make the car hard to be in but they were really comfortable but allowed him to bring a car load of his son's goods and chattels back 3750km from eastern Canada without the car sagging to the ground.

Well done on the swap out and I am really jealous of the lack of rust!! Appreciate your hard work doing a full pictorial write up!

Neil.

[Cookeh]

The Lesjöfors definitely have a lower load rating, I'm on the bump stops with about 100kg less weight than stock. Excellent photos and detailed so by step there, jreed.

[jreed]

Good eye on the diameter of the spring coils... I went back and measured with calipers. You were correct... the diameter of the original Volvo spring material is about 1/2 a millimeter larger.

Old original Volvo springs:

Original springs, 12.9mm

New Lesjöfors springs:

New Lesjöfors springs, 12.5mm

So far the new springs seem to be working well. The rear of the car is about 2-4mm higher than it used to be with the old springs. We did bottom out on the polyurethane bumps stops this weekend driving over a very deeply rutted gravel/mud road with little load in the back of the car, but that might be normal.

[hipcheck]

I will be doing a full suspension rebuild on front and rear sometime soon. I have purchased 95% of the parts and had not purchased the rear spring anchors. When I looked at the parts I figured those items could still be useable when I dropped in the new stuff.

After doing this swap would you have re-used yours?

I guess because I’m doing such a major rebuild I should just pony up for these too!

[abscate]

I think I reused when I went the IPD HD route on Elizabeth back in 2013.

Still working well.

Jreed ( it’s Justin isn’t it?)....is that bad fraying on your ABS sensor?

[Cookeh]

I reused them. As long as the retaining pin is a-ok there really isn't anything else that can go wrong.

[jreed]

I probably could have re-used the spring anchors. They were a little rusty but basically in OK shape. Everybody's going to be in their own particular situation and I respect that. In my case, I've been looking forward to having a chance to replace some rear springs for a long time (about 25 years) and I figured that since this was my chance I would go for new mounting hardware too and make it a pleasure.