Greetings.

Interested in digging in for some ride improvement on the '95; and thinking about servicing the struts and mounts.

However, there seems to be something queer about the way this all comes about; and I don't want to be in up to my eyeballs only to find that I need a "special" tool of some sort from the Volvo Mothership

Here's what I mean:

SUSPENSION - FRONT

This is the only factory resource that I could find up on the www which looks at the 960 front end. It's for the '94, which also has me a bit leery in consideration of how things can change from one year to the next...

Anyway, assuming this is an accurate match for the '95 as well, take a look at this snip from the incredibly abbreviated procedural description:
Of course, there's nothing in Figure 2 which relates in the least to this business, and the strut mounts are totally overlooked to boot; so one is left guessing...

So, I'm getting a good spring compressor, and want, at the very least, to do a complete teardown on the strutmounts while I'm at this.

Anyone out there who's messed with the '95 struts/mounts and can vouch for a good approach?

Thoughts, tips, resources, and insights all welcomed!




UPDATE:

Found this:

https://www.volvoclub.org.uk/faq/FrontSuspension.html

Assuming this writeup applies, from what I can glean we're looking at a "gotcha" situation dealing with a flatted shaft (upper strut rod-end) and an immediately adjacent nut to be loosened. Somehow, the flatted strut shaft end must be held stationary (presumably with the "special" tool) while busting an extremely tight nut located IN A RECESS therebeneath. This seems physically impossible without recourse to a pneumatic impact driver (which I don't own or have access to).

Correct reassembly with a torque wrench to the specified 111 ft. lbs. with this arrangement would also be essentially impossible; as there's no way of fitting the instrument and its socket over the strut rod-end while simultaneously holding the flatted portion of the same strut rod-end !

So, apart from gorilla tactics with a pneumatic impact and no control over retorque, what's the magic here!?!

 

if it is anything like the 1996 960 no special tools needed besides a spring compressor (harbor freight has them for 15 bucks a set)....i used and open end wrench and a set of lock grips to redo my front end suspension.... let me know if you have any questions. i have pretty much brought my suspension back from the dead lol.

Best of luck

 

@jands:

Thanks for dropping by! Good to hear that the ol' 96 is floating again

Got in on the RockAuto Monroe package deal for the '95, and some other goodies are on the way from Amazon. After your report, I've got a hunch this'll be OK after a bit of stoop, pull, and grunt...

I'll definitely fire ya some Qs if there's a snag

'til then,

Cheers!

 

Awesome please do! The biggest thing to remember is to tightening all at ride height... Ie get it tight enough to Putin the ground then final tighten it all. I didn't do that at first and got some bad noises pulling out of my driveway lol.

 

@jands:

Finally got this DONE. Great not to do the "granny slowdown" through dips and such. Ride is now firm and good.

Some notes:

Getting the struts out was pretty much see-spot-run. With the obvious exception of the top center nut, it was just find it, loosen it, wiggle it, and pull it. One caution would be to find some support for the hubs after the strut is wriggled from the car; as the spindles will flop out in a rather unseemly fashion. A piece of 2 X 4 wedged endwise under the wheel studs is handy here.

Install is reverse removal...

During the refit, I went through a series of gyrations trying to find a set of "safe" spring compressors without spending an arm and a leg. No dice; but the local Advance's "loaner" set (Powerbuilt #648627) is solid and appears explosion-proof. $0 again

However, these are the classic "death sticks" which dish out nightmarish mischief to hapless users every day by slipping around the springs when tight. Fix: A set of four 4" lengths of 5/8 X 1/2 slit vinyl tubing placed where the claws grip the spring, in conjunction with 8 mini hose clamps. This eliminates scarring of the spring's paint; and, when the 8 hose clamp bodies are tightly nestled up to either side of each claw, slipping is eliminated. Sorted and good.

Next, the old undercoating in the towers needed to be "freshened up" with a layer of Henry Extreme 209 after a good soapy water handscrubbing. Got the inside tops of each tower with a layer of the stinky poop, too; as the factory left these areas completely bare Did you notice this with your '96?

At any rate, had to buy replacement spring retainers to go along with the Monroe package deal I bought. These are only available from Volvo. Still regular stock @ Volvo Parts Warehouse, once again with the best pricing around. So, after the logistics of this played out, I put the new mess together with a generous dose of clean and silicone grease (plumbing dept @ Home Depot) on all the rubber workings.

When finally back on the car, everything was easily torqued to spec; except that blasted center nut! I even put together a clever box-end adapter for my torque wrench to reach the nut in its recess, but getting a full 111 ft lbs into this was ultimately fruitless. Must've taken it to around 100 before vise grips and helper and everything let go and screamed for mercy. So, I braced, grunted, "tightened it to Putin" & called it a day

Thanks again, and cheers --

 

Awesome to hear it all went good! as for my undercoating i really need to go though mine and get it all sprayed again.... so happy its back to being solid!