im replacing my control arms and I cant get the ball joint into the strut.
I have the two bolts in and tried to work the ball joint into the strut with a little grease and a jack.. didnt work, and I lost the light outside.. so any help before I go at this again tomorrow would be great.

 

When i Did it i put in a pry bar in the gap between the part where the bolt goes to spread it out a bit, i never even tried to put it in before i did that becaues i thought it would be an issue. I didn't need to move it that much and the bolt tightened it back up fine again. hope that may help ya, give it a shot!
-Mike

 

Thanks,
I was thinking that as well.

I also just realized that I need to remove the ball joint to take the axle out.
Since I need to do that also I guess Ill start with that, then pry the clamp open a bit.

I still have the sway bar and steering arm attached, do I really need to removed thoes?

 

When I did it I replaced my tie rod end as well and that came off easily, i left the sway bar link attached.

IF i can remember i used a floor jack to lift the strut then it made it easier to get the ball joint out.

 

Hello Mr. rejeep,

Greetings from Chicagoland.

The following links are my past posts, they may help you:

https://volvoforums.com/m_10964/tm.htm
https://volvoforums.com/m_41117/tm.htm

For driver side ball joint, I had to cut a small portion of the brake dust shield (aluminum) to get better access otherwise the procedure was impossible.

You do not have to remove the ball joints to get the axle out, you can disconnect the control arm-subframe attaching point. Just remove the nuts and tap the bolts with a hammer, then tap on the control arm with plastic/soft-face hammer. You will need new nuts for re-assembly, though.

Good luck,


JPN

 

well everything went together quite nicely.
dropped it off for an alignment and 4 new snows, well see how it all is after.