I replaced the swaybar end links today and found both outer CV boots on the axles ripped completely around. There's road grit inside the driver's side boot. I have tools, do about all my own work and want to replace both front axles with rebuilt units from FCPGroton. I also have the Haynes manual. You know the one where everything is nice and clean, accessible, and comes apart easily.

:^)

The car is a turbo and has 125,000 miles on it. Runs great. What are some of the problems I might run into in this job? How difficult is it to drive or press the axle out of the hub? Would a large gear puller work? At this mileage would it make sense to replace the hubs/bearings as well? Do the axles pull easily out of the transaxle differential?

I may even go as far as replacing struts & mounts as long as I'm there.

Cheers,
Erwin

Erwin, I just finished the job. I borrowed a slide hammer from autozone to remove the passenger side. I have tried this on several cars with a prybar but never been successful. The slide hammer gets it with one or two pops. I broke two socket wrenches attempting to remove the axle nut with a cheater bar. I ended up purchasing an electric impact wrench which did the trick. I agree with the suggestion that you should remove the control arm frame bolts instead of using the Hayes method. Good luck!
Scott

I haven't done the job, but I have heard the driver's side axle pries away harder than the passenger side.

Thanks,

Autozone has a hub puller. Or an axle pusher, if you like. It bolts to the wheel hub with the studs and you push the axle out of the bearing.

I'll be tackling the job after New Year's.

Erwin in Memphis

Hello, I find it is much easier to remove the lower control arm mounting bolts from the frame than trying to remove the ball joint from the spindle. I don't mind spending the extra time removing the two bolts instead of 1 because 50% of the timeI can't get the ball joint out of the spindle. The only other obstacle is the nut for the axel. 36mm and a 1/2 inch breaker bar most of the time will not remove it, without breaking the breaker bar, (I have 3 broken breaker bars to prove it). Take a rod about 3/4 inch and 6 inchs long and strike the flat of the nut toward the front of the car. 10 good wacks and the breaker bar and socket will remove the nut ok. Use a screw driver to hold the rotor from turning. Good luck. No need for special tool to remove axle from tranny, just a 14 inch pry bar and a good jerk will release the axle from tranny.

Thanks. I saw the option of removing the control arms from the frame at Volvospeed. I'll likely do that as well. As far as the axle nut, I see this as a good excuse to finally buy an air wrench. ;^)

Pry bar to get the axle free of the transmission? Ok. Also, no one has mentioned replacing the seals there so I guess it's not an issue. Thanks for the advice, I'll take pics.

Erwin in Memphis

Yeah, impact wrenches make front end work sooooooooo much more "pleasant"

It's not that hard if you replace them with rebuilt ones. If you want to replace the boot yourself, the hard part will be to remove a snap-ring.
To remove axel for driver's side: remove axel nut, brake caliper, rotor and tie rods. Then you can push the hub down to remove the axel shaft out of wheel hub. After that yank the axel out from the transmission.
For passanger's side: do same as above to remove axel out of wheel hub. Passanger's side axel is longer than driver's side. You have to go under the car, and remove the support bracket that holds the axel shaft before it enters the transmission. Once you remove the support bracket, you can yank it out.
Make sure to put oil pan under where axel is connected to transmission some oil will com out.
God luck

Aaron says "yank out," but I've read where several people had trouble just doing this. If you have trouble, Volvo makes a special tool, I believe called an "axle puller" that can be helpful in getting the axle out of the spline. Good luck and let us know how things go. If you can take pictures, it would be great to see a write up on this.
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1998 S70 T5 Emarald Green Metallic, 2004 V70 2.5T Ruby Red, Previous Owner of Black '94 850 Turbo Wagon. My cars have been running so well lately they've got me worried.