I have two S70's and plan to swap the struts from one car to the other. I looked at the strut replacement instructions on the link in the 850 section and it looks like I can swap these out without using a spring compressor and a few other things.

Can I just unbolt the units and swap them out in the matter of a couple of hours? Do I need to install new hardware on the good car?

 

You must have a spring compressor plus a 22mm socket and then all the common tools/sockets wrenches.

 

Why did the guy in the replacement strut instructions have the strut removed before he attached the spring compressors?

 

LOL you can drop it without clamping the springs. Don't be under it and the top thread of the strut or the bottom of the top nut will be damaged from the spring snapping the strut down. Never done it on a Volvo, I used to be a Ford service Tech. If the spring is even slightly compressed it has massive force stored in it.

 

What he said - use due caution.

 

Oh and I am doing mine next week. Oh boy shock and struts and it won't pass emissions yet but it will corner. Putting a Bilstien Touring Set on from IPDusa.com

 

I believe these are the Blistien HD's.

 

I heard from several people the HDs are harsh. I like touring with hard corners and good recovery in slides. I flip my car sideways in corners right now that is how bad my shocks are.

 

These are real bad. I put my wife in the car and within 1/2 mile she said we were on the lake.

Besides that, do you guys think I should put new nuts in there? The instructions say I should.

 

You can do it by removing the entire unit as an assembly with the spring seats attached.
Otherwise you are wasting a lot of time by not replacing the strut cartridges.
It's OK to reuse fasteners that are in good shape with the addition of loctite.
Ed

 

Man, I just swapped those struts, I haven't worked so hard in years. I'm cramping from head to toe. Mostly because of how tight the bolts were and the fact that I do not have a proper braker bar. Killer, but everything went smooth.

I'll post my instructions tomorrow or so, if I'm able to lift my arms and type. I'm so sore and tired that I didn't even move the car. I cleaned everything up and left the car as it say, windows till down.

 

I had to take care of some things today and wanted to get the front end aligned on this S70, after the strut change. These Bilstein struts are incredible. I assume that I still have stock shocks but the ride of the Bilsteins are better than I expected.

I was expecting a hard ride like in my T-5R but it's much different. Maybe because the tires are not low profile which may soften the ride a lot. When I seen a HUMP in the street, you know the ones that say 15 mph or 25 mph or whatever, I decided to take the thing head on at 25 mph. A day or two ago this car woud have bottomed out once or twice, this time it went over the HUMP like a spider. Didn't bounce once, just crawled over the hump like it was part of the road. They respond well to normal cracks in the road to. Maybe I'll put some on my T-5R, I think they are due.

 

That is great. I needed mine replaced for awhile. In January I bottomed out so hard it cost me an oil pan oil cooler and radiator.

 

Went to get the car aligned today and they rejected me. Said my inner tie rod, outter tie rod and lower control arm are bad. Need to get that fixed 1st then aligned. Uuuurrrrrgggggggg!!! Not sure if I should try to take that stuff off the S70 or get new parts.

 

I would go with new if you can afford it. I own a very old truck and I never find usable parts for the steering.

 

Should I go with OEM or will after market at FCP be fine? Also, how hard are they to replace.

 

IPDusa eEuroparts.com or FCP I looked at all 3 and seems eEuroparts.com had the parts you were talking about all of them at least.

 

If you intend to swap with the springs and mounts too the you have to remove the nuts from the three bolts on top and the two screws on the bottom behind the wheel and is out. then just install on the other car. Its a verry easy job.

 

Mine are in a week now and the Bilstien self locking nuts are a pain to get installed. The want to rotate the shock and strut rods real bad. Spinning the rods with an impact will cause the seals to fail fast. I kept my stock nuts and they are going back on next time I go into that area.

 

Did you say it's an easy job? I did that almost 2 months ago and my left elbow is still hurting. I was so tired after that day of swapping the struts/shocks that I almost drove another car through my garage that night.