I own a 2002 V70 XC with 192,000 showing. I get a vibration only when I accelerate at speeds above 40 MPH. After reading through a number of posts in this forum, it seems that the root cuase may be worn CV joints. How do I determine wether its the front or the rear CV shafts that need replacement? I have already replace the driveshaft between the transfer case and the rear differential and the rear shock absorbers with no affect to the vibration. I purchased the car 2 years ago at 162,000 miles. It is otherwise in remarkably great condition. Thanks in advance for your help.

 

Usually it is one of the fronts.
You can check the axle buy grabbing the inner joint and center shaft of the axle and do like an indian burn motion. If you feel play in the inner joint they are worn and most likely causing the vibration.

 

Thanks Mr Tech. I will check it out and reply with my findings. It will not be until next weekend as I will not be able to get under the car until then.

 

I finally found time to replace both front CV axles. I noticed the the passenger side had more radial play that the driver side did. I obtained reman units from my local Auto Value parts dealer in Kalamazoo. I made sure they were reman and not new Chinese units. It completely resolved the problem. The job was a bit difficult as after I had removed the lower ball joint nut, I could not lower the control arm enough to remove the BJ stud. The lower control arm hit the frame member and would not lower any further. After struggling to get it out and then not being able to compress the strut enough to get the BJ stud back into the control arm socket, I completely removed the lower control arm, which was still difficult but effective. The instant gratification of resolution of the vibration issue helped to relax my angered state at the rediculousness of such a simple task made almost impossible by lack of adequate control arm clearance to the frame. Task complete. Onto the next issue! The forum was invaluable in helping me diagnose this problem correctly. Thanks to all the respondents!

 

Glad the issue is solved.

 

For furture reference, a trick from the dealer repair manual is to pull the lower control arms down and toward each other with one of those ratchet type tie down straps to clear the ball joint stud.
Sumo

 

Sorry to hijack, but I have an 07 s40 with same problem. Excuse my iugnorance, but what is an "indian burn" motion? If I put my car in reverse and gas it i hear a audible clank from the left side front. If I grab the axle and push it in and out towards the transaxle then the wheel I can hear the same audible clank. It does this on both sides. Just wondering if this is normal.....

 

You really should not be able to move the axle at all. Also the motion I am talking about would be like holding the inner joint and rocking the tire back and forth.(forward and back)

 

The axle should slide in and out ( of the cv's) a small amount right? See, the car had this vibration when I bought it with approx. 25k on it. It was barely noticeable and the dealer couldn't verify it. Now it has 52k on it and is getting annoying. I tried rocking the tire back and forth and I have no play or noise. The noise I hear when backing up sounds just like the noise when i grab the straight part of the axle and slide it ( maybe 1/2 inch) in and out. The mounts all seem fine so I was thinking axle. I guess I'll keep digging at it....

 

The outer joint is a fixed joint. Only the inner joint is supposed to slide in and out some. So if you can slide the shaft in and out with everything on the car attached something is wrong. You should only be able to slide the axle in and out when it is not attached at the hub.

 

I changed both sides. EMPI @ about $100 and $130 each.
Who ever worked on the left side last didn't grease the splines, it took two guys to pull it out.
It fixed the shake.
When I got the right side on the bench you could see and hear the play.
I wonder if this will go easier on the tires?
Regards

 

Were the splines just rusty or did it look like something was on there?
If a customer complains of axle ping(noise from axles when going from drive to reverse) Volvo glues the axles into the hubs.

 

I have have some futher news to share since I replaced the CV shafts on both sides of my V-70 XC. After several weeks of driving, I noticed a funny clunk comming from the front right when I would be going over bumps and very lightly applying the throttle. At times, I could even modulate the throttle so that it would cylicly produce the noise. I suspected that it had something to do with the CV shafts that I had just changed-out. It sounded to me like a something was chunking back and fourth. I suspected that it was the cental shaft of the axle between the joints. I reached in, gabbed that part of the shaft and, sure enough, it moved axially. The left side wouldn't move like this. I changed-out the axle again and it solved the problem. This agrees with what the Tech has noted. By the way, the car has just clicked over 200,000 miles and runs and looks great. This is the best car I have ever owned!

 

Glad you have it all sorted out now.

 

Hi everyone! I'm having some of the same issues here with my 2001 V70 XC - vibration when I accelerate moderate to hard, some noise at road speed - and I'm thinking about doing this job myself. Is there another thread with sort of a step-by-step instruction? I've heard something about a locking circlip on the drivers' side that's a major pain . . . maybe that's another model? I don't see anything in this thread about it.

Thanks for the help! I love this Volvo, and it wants to be smooth again.

 

The left drive axel took two of us to get it off. The last guy that had it off didn't grease the splines. KD tools makes a puller head that would make it an easy job if it's stuck. The right side was greased and came right out.
The EMPI replacements worked fine, problem solved.

 

I believe that I have the same problem. My S60 also vibrates extremely bad under acceleration. Also, while accelerating when approaching a crest. It seems at its worst when the struts are compressed. My right front tire is wearing really bad on the outer side as well

Also, at low speeds when turning the wheel I hear these ping noises that sound like something is on the verge of snapping. and when I go over speed bumps at low speed my right front wheel area makes a squeak squeak noise. Is this the strut?

From what I have read it seems like changing out the axles is what might solve the vibration problem, but I am not sure about the tick, ting, ping noises coming from the front wheel assembly.

Any help is appreciated, Thanks

 

I don’t know how to post this question but maybe you can help me out I have a 2006 Volvo XC 70 I replaced lower ball joints control arms stabilizer links tie rods inner outer and left side front CV axle because it was shaking between 45 and 60 miles an hour I have new tires that were just recently balanced and it is still shaking in the front I noticed that when I jacked the car up off the ground the left side seems to wobble in the CV axle although the CV axle is brand new from TRQ. What else can I be

 

[QUOTE=Koondawg;519233]I don’t know how to post this question but maybe you can help me out I have a 2006 Volvo XC 70 I replaced lower ball joints control arms stabilizer links tie rods inner outer and left side front CV axle because it was shaking between 45 and 60 miles an hour I have new tires that were just recently balanced and it is still shaking in the front I noticed that when I jacked the car up off the ground the left side seems to wobble in the CV axle although the CV axle is brand new from TRQ. What else can I be? I did read that the vehicle have to be on the ground before you torque the lower control arms could that cause vibration because I did talk him what it was up in the air. I checked the wheels to see if they were bent and they all seem true the left side front driver side seems to be the wobble and I do see from underneath with the wheels off the ground transmission and drive there is a wobble between the CV axle which is brand new and front trams. Is there something inside the transmission like a coupler that could be bent or splines misaligned/damaged? I don’t think it’s the alignment because I can see it from underneath with the engine running and wheels turning that the
left front CV axle is wobbling. If you can please post this question in the form I have no idea how to post a form question