So this week I changed both front axles because of heavy vibration under acceleration. (Helpful tips on multiple parts of this project in last paragraph) I bought a replacement driver side axle from FCP made by Empire. Well that did not solve the problem and being low on car funds I decided to buy the boot replacements for the passenger side. NAPA sells boots that are a direct fit for around $20 a piece which included the grease. I must say that just buying a replacement one would have made this job so much easier but taking the axle apart wasn't too complicated.

To disassemble the passenger side axle slide the boots off the joints and clean out as much of the grease as you can. Then take the snap ring out of the inner joint end and then with a heavy metal rod of any sort and a hammer, hit base of the joint by the splines till it comes off. This will take some work. Make sure to mark the splines and the part you are hitting to reassemble correctly. The wheel hub side comes off the same way except there is no snap ring. The CV joint on the hub side can come apart completely with some work of spinning the parts till they pop out. My passenger side inner joint was the problem area. It had too little grease in it and about 30% of the grease was rust colored.

Once all is out wipe it down with a thousand paper towels and reassemble. MAKE SURE TO PUT BOOTS ON BEFORE HAMMERING THE JOINTS BACK ON. For some reason I only put one boot on then hammered the other side and had to hammer it back off. I was doing multiple things at once and wasn't paying attention.

After going through this I would have rather just replaced the axle but hopefully with a genuine Volvo axle I want to get a lot of life out of the original axle. A couple major tips are to not remove the tie rod end, brake caliper, etc. Simply remove the higher bolt holding the strut tower 19mm and 21mm(see attached image) and loosen the lower one. Then pull it toward you and the whole thing will rock forward to allow you to remove the axle. By doing this method the only bolts necessary to remove is the center axle bolt and the higher strut bolt and the whole unit can come out. To get the driver side axle out of the transmission take a 5/8 chisel between CV joint housing and transmission at the 6 o'clock position give it a few good hits and it pops out.

 

FYI- Removing the strut bolts changes the alignment. To avoid this, renove the lower ball joint nut and pull the spindle outward to get the axle out of the hub.

 

I took a metal punch and hit a few markings where the strut was located relative to the other surfaces in attempt to avoid this. But I will be changing other suspension components so I thought an alignment may be coming up anyways but thanks for the heads up.

 

Scribing the spindle around the outline of the strut helps get it back together close.