Replaced front wheel hubs, control arms, struts, ball joints, etc. recently and put car back together. Everything fine for about 60 miles...then axle started to back out of the transmission. Got the car home (it finally seized up and wouldn't move, so had it towed) and everything *appears* fine now that axle is out of the car.

Can't figure out why the axle would come out in the first place??? Some considerations:

1. This is an after market axle. There is no circlip that holds the axle into the transmission. (I called a friend at a Volvo dismantler who looked at over 20 axles he had... None had circlips)

2. This axle ran fine in the car for 100k+ miles. There appears to be nothing wrong with it now. All splines look good, bearing is fine, etc.

3. I looked into transmission tunnel (where axle installs) and could not detect/see any clip... The "axle tunnel" looks clean

Any thoughts? What holds the axle into the transmission anyway? Any installation tips? I don't know what to do other than put it back together and pray.

Thx for your thoughts/suggestions...
Dennis

 

Which side?

 

Passenger side.

 

Do you have the bearing retainer installed?

 

So... further inspection analysis... the CV joint itself went bad. Replaced the axle today... but I cannot get the very last nut on!!! Doh! ... I cannot get the lower ball joint on after 90 mins. Uhhh. What is right sequence for rei-nstallation of axle? Here's what I did:

1. Insert axle into transmission
2. re-attach the cap that holds the axle bearing to the block
3. Insert axle into wheel hub
4. lock the axle down to the hub (tighten bolt that holds axle to hub)

This leaves the lower A arm kind-a hanging down... attached to the frame but not to the lower ball joint. The wheel assembly has the full struts, tie rod ends, steering, etc. still attached... but for the life of me... I CAN NOT get the lower ball joint on. Any ideas on how to get this done? Did I install in wrong sequence? Do I need to unbolt the lower A-Arm (already tried this and got nowhere)?

cheers,
Dennis

 

Volvo makes a special tool that is a huge c-clamp that compresses the spring to get it back together. Without it, you can try a huge pry bar, or unbolt the spindle from the strut (remove the axle bolt first), put the ball joint in, then put the spindle back in the strut.