My 1998 C70 221k needs at least one control arm replaced (Ball joint boot is ripped). I have a set of replacements on hand and would like complete the repair today.

This is a late-1998 model that uses the 4-bolts-through-the-subframe style control arm.

If you've dealt with this type, you know that the engine is in the way. I don'
t have the "facilities" necessary to lift the engine, so I can't bring any power tools to bear on the bolts.

I made a brief attempt to do this replacement last weekend, but was stymied by lack of access to those bolts. Even with the car sitting on jackstands and the tires under the body, the positioning feels a bit precarious for the wrench and that's the only tool I can get into the tight space.

Does anyone have any good advice on how to loosen these bolts w/o stripping them and w/o dropping the car on my lap?

Two weeks ago, I installed a brand new set of control arms sourced from IPD. These are the only units that IPD sells and I was surprised to discover that they are URO parts. However, since I I trust IPD to sell me decent stuff, I decided to go ahead and install these arms - that was about two weeks back.

Yesterday, I installed brand new OEM volvo tie rod ends (also from IPD). I immediately took the car to a local chain shop to get a front end alignment and steering inspection. The car came through just fine.

I took the car out for some errands today and when backing out of a parking spot (wheels hard right) the wheel started making some awful noises.

I got the car home and checked under the fender and found this.



I am *VERY* disappointed. IPD is the trusted seller of Volvo parts, but they sold me this piece of junk. I will be contacting them and sending them photos. They've usually made problems like this good, but I think it is important to highlight the extremely rapid failure of this part.

I buy *all* my volvo parts from either Tasca Volvo, IPD, or FCP. When I don't need dealer parts, It's a bit of a toss-up between IPD and FCP. I like IPD on a much more personal level - both for their long-term commitment to Volvos and because they are a decent bunch of folks who seems to love Volvos as much as I do. I don't grumble too much when they don't give me a discount and charge me full shipping on the hundreds of dollars worth of parts I've bought from them - mainly because I trust them.

This... however is very disappointing.

Well, nobody offered any insight, so I'll offer my own.
For anyone who is facing ball-joint/control-arm replacement, I have this advice.

17mm ratcheting wrench.

Get one. You only get about 5 degrees of turn on most of the bolts and you *will* need this ratchet to make this a speedy repair.

Unless you hoist the engine, you will not be able to remove any of the driver's side bolts (transmission is in the way) and only two of the passenger side bolts (Oil pan is in the way).

Re-use of the original bolts is almost unavoidable.

Use lots of anti-seize on the re-install. If you got the URO arms, then you may need to "upgrade" back to OEM quality arms in the next year or so...


#1 observation is this: Any semi-competent home mechanic can do this repair. you can replace these yourself. I did both sides in a few hours.

The URO control arms that IPD sells use an 18mm-head bolt, while the OEM arms are secured by 17mm-head bolts.

Great advice.

You can lift the engine by jacking underneath the oil pan. This is the official Volvo repair procedure as listed in VADIS.

Try to only lift it as much as you need an no more, as VADIS says you can damage the CV Joints on the driveshafts if you make their angles too sharp.

For the passenger's side, use a small piece of 2x4 between the jack and the oil pan so you don't wreck the pan, and make sure your 2x4 is long enough to reach beyond the edge of the pan (to spread the weight the full width of the pan and to use the pan's edges to do the lifting) and short enough that it doesn't catch up on anything when you lift the engine. I also like to try to get it across the section that's made to go around the oil filter, as there is more reinforcement, but VADIS doesn't say anything about this. You will need to unbolt the two horizontal bolts on the lower engine mount, underneath the crank pulley.

For the driver's side, you can jack right against the transmission housing. I think you need to undo the upper engine mount where it mounts to the firewall.

The 4-bolt control arms are a real PITA if you ask me. Worst of all, the place they seem to go bad first is the vulcanization between the mount rod and the bushings at the 'frame end' and replacement bushings assemblies are terribly hard to find and actually rather expensive (~$40 a piece, so $80 for one control arm!! Compare that to ~$15 for a kit for both bushings on the 2-bolt control arms...).

I've been trying to devise a way to either replace the bushings with something else (like rod ends or something) or rebuild the whole control arm using DOM steel, but have yet to come up with anything that I think would work right. I think I could build a complete control arm using DOM steel that would have replaceable bushings and ball joints for about what the OEM control arms costs... Local welding shops seem reluctant to get involved...

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1998 V70 AWD->FWD->AWD Turbo 220k+

Whoah, jacking up the engine using the oil pan? I'd have *never* considered that. Especially seeing one of those pans with a hole punched in it.

Having the transmission out of the way would have made life significantly easier. I'm a bit uneasy reusing all the DS bolts and half the PS bolts.

I totally agree with your assessment on this part. I'm wonder what the heck Volvo was thinking on this design - access is a nightmare and the control and ball-joint are a single piece? $150.00 a pop on a critical wear part. Dang.

I've wondered that myself. Ditto for a later design (like for the P2 cars).

I can't see how it would work without drastically altering the subframe, which I'm not inclined to do.

BTW I had someone measure the bushing from the P2 control arm that looks similar to the bushing for these 4-bolt 850 platform cars. It was way bigger and longer so we can't use that either.
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1998 V70 AWD->FWD->AWD Turbo 220k+

I was actually thinking about the feasibility of swapping the subframe itself.

It's almost certainly possible. Definitely a lot of work though. The subframe is often referred to as the 'engine cradle' and the engine and transmission are mounted to it so you'd need a way to hold the engine up while doing the transfer, plus you'd need to transfer all the other stuff like the steering rack...


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1998 V70 AWD->FWD->AWD Turbo 220k+

With my limited tools, I would have been under the car for a while with my box wrench.

Klaus
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Did you do your Random Act of Kindness today?

Even with the ratcheting wrench, I had extremely limited movement on the 2nd driver's side bolt. I was only able to get these loose by locking two wrenches together and prying.

Without lifting the engine, I'm not sure how one could ever get the torque back to factory spec...

Moreover, I'm not sure how one could ever turn such a bolt with a 6-sided box wrench.