So I decided to replace my lower control arms on the 2001 xc70. How hard could it be? I watched the videos: three nuts and three bolts, pry it out, push in new, reconnect and tighten. 30 minutes and done.

What a PITA. Got old one off, and could not get new one in. I tried to compress springs to raise strut. No go. I tried a jack on rotor to lift up, and then it moved on me, pulling inner CV joint apart: the three roller mechanism popped with the grease from the hex socket that fits into tranny. What a mess. And the rollers would not go back in. I cleaned it up and the factory swages the end of the hex socket to prevent rollers from coming out. It did not work that way. So I had to file down the swages to reinstall the rollers and put the boot back on.

So I then decided to undo the strut from the spindle to gain some freedom of movement. I measured the gap to maintain the correct alignment and moved strut aside. This gave me the room to install the arm and get the ball joint stem inserted into the control arm end.


Success and only 5 hours of work. Yeah, just the one side.

 

Ouch. Don't forget to have it aligned afterwards.