What is the procedure for replacing the spring seat? I have been looking for a write up on this but can't find anything.

 

Nobody knows of a link where there are instructions for this repair? I have looked everywhere, and all I can find are instructions to replace the struts which I am not doing because the struts seem ok.

 

Either those who know the procedures were off-line or have had priorities in their lives.

A Haynes manual is a good place to start.

1. Loosen lug bolts on front wheel.
2. Jack up the front end, place something soft (wood, cloth) between the floor jack and the subframe.
3. Place the front end on a pair of jackstands.
4. Remove wheel and detach ABS cable & sway bar end link-to-strut attachment point.
5.Remove strut-to-knuckle attaching bolts & nuts. The nuts must be replaced.
6. Remove upper strut nuts x3. The nuts must be replaced. Remove strut assembly.
7. With a spring compressor, compress the coil spring. Do so at your own risk.
8.Remove the centre strut nut. This may be the toughest part.
9. Remove the cross-shaped nut.
10. Now you can remove all hardware from the strut assembly.
11. Reverse everything and use torque wrench on all fasteners.
12. Done.

Please note that we are volunteers and are not getting any form of returns other than a note of thanks from good people, and people have priorities in their lives as well (family, school, jobs, etc...).

Today is my day off so I could spare some time.

I hope you understand. Be sure to go through the procedure before working on the strut assembly, because if the spring compressor was not used right, it can pose serious threat against safety.

Let me know if I have skipped a step, I'll follow up.


JPN

[IMG]local://upfiles/6892/18933798A5DE4B80BB3A0494D052EEEF.jpg[/IMG]

 

Oh, I understand completely about having other things to do! I was hoping replacing the spring seat wouldn't be such a big deal, but it sounds as if it's going to be a pain.

 

Sure does. If I was doing that much work, I would probably just replace the struts and most other parts. I would have replied yesterday, but didn't know how to do it either and actually did some looking around for you and didn't find anything either. good luck

 

Good morning (it's actually evening in Japan[8D]).

As Jim said, I too would replace the struts if you can afford a pair. In my case, I replaced everything except the struts & coil springs, only to find myself going back a month later to replace the struts. I would replace everything you see in the illustration (except the cross-shaped nut), but you can defer the replacement on the struts until later, as long as your car is not bouncing or noticing nose dive, excessive roll around corners, etc...

I wish you the best of luck,


JPN

 

The only problem I have is on certain roads I get a lot of vibration, and hitting potholes I get a thunk on the drivers side. The other thing is with the hood up, when I push on the drivers side, the strut nut moves up about half an inch above the mount, whereas the passenger side does not. This led me to beleive the spring seat was the problem, but could this require even more parts to be replaced?

 

Try turning the nut.
If it turns the spring seat is bad. If it doesn't and feels rubbery it is good.

If you have done them before it isn't that bad.
I did both of mine in my driveway about 1 month ago in less than an hour.
But I have also done about 200 or so of them by now.

 

Well, I tackled this project today. It wasn't too bad getting everything apart, the worst part was putting it all back together. I had to compress the spring 4 times to get it right, you have to be very careful to make sure the ends of the spring stay in place while decompressing the spring. Even with the spring in the right place, it seemed to have a tendency to push on one side of the seat and make the spring not line up properly, and the spring was pushing on the wheel well which made it very difficult to get the strut into the mounting plate. I wish I would have bought a new bump stop because it was shot, but I completely forgot to order one.

 

The bump stops can be done when you do the struts. I would replace the struts in a year/10,000 miles. Auto mfgs say dampers are good for life, whereas damper mfgs say they wear out after years/miles of use. Those who're into rally say that they need replacement at every race.

My 850 did not have much handling problem and there were no leaks from any of the dampers. But after having replaced all 4 dampers & sway bar link, handling of the car had improved so much that it felt like a new car. If I had money to do it, I would've replaced the sway bar too. BTW, I used Bilstein Touring on all fours. Heavy Duty dampers have poor reputation of being too firm.

The only re-usable parts on the strut assy, as far as I found, were the cross-shaped nut & dust boot. There is a special tool for the cross nut, but I used a punch & a hammer and they were actually finger-tight.

Well, at least you won't get that annoying "clunk".


JPN

 

People think this procedure is difficult but it is not. The only suggestion is to be very careful when unseating the spring. uneven compression can cause it to come loose from the clamps and shoot out in any direction. YES, this spring CAN decapitate you. Not to scare anyone, cause it IS easy. I worked extensively on my acura before deciding on a hybrid front lowering spring/rear coilover setup which worked great on my car, gave me the handling I wanted for daily driving/autox'ing. the tokico adjustable shocks really made a difference.All strut assemblies are basically the same. After some practice and acquiring the right tools, it is not difficult to do each wheel in less than 30 minutes each without power/air tools!

 

One piece of advice regarding this is to follow the above proceedures in the exact order, I made a mistake and took the strut nut off and pulled the strut out of the strut mounting plate, which was probably really dangerous as the only thing keeping the spring from flying was the old broken spring seat. It's probably also why I had a hard time getting the spring to line up, because it was pushing on the spring seat unevenly and was bending the one end of the seat out. I don't know why I didn't figure this out when I was doing the job.

 

One advice I can give anyone who plans to work on Volvos is, take time and do not rush. You are not competing or trying to impress others, you're trying to do the job right safely. Speed comes as a result of repetition.

Yes, removing the centre (piston rod) nut could have been a dangerous move, though the cross-nut still holds the spring seat in place. Also, for suspension components, a good quality torque wrench is a must.


JPN