A month ago, the local tire shop had the V70 in the air for new tires and one of the mechanics noted that the front U-Joint on the rear drive shaft was dry and needed replacing. He said this was because they often get cooked by the exhaust because of their proximity.

In any case, I picked up an new U-Joint and have seen the old one with the six, 6mm allen bolts that hold it on. I'm wondering if there is a reference anywhere for the steps to replace this U-joint. The drive line doesn't seem to have enough slack to allow the old one out and a new one to pop in. Also, I wonder what the torque specs are for the six bolts?

Thanks

Removal and install will require a lift or rolling the car a few feet to get to all of the screws, turn the shaft. Once the screws are out push the joint to the side to take it off. I do not have a torque value, but they are screws, not bolts, so you cannot 'gorilla' them anyway.

Inspect the center carrier while you are under there.

Klaus
--
My advice is 2 cents, so you got what you paid for...

you can spin the driveshaft if you pick the tires up on one side and put the trans in neutral. I find it easiest to actually spin a tire (one that's off the ground of course) and that will spin the shaft.
--
1998 V70 AWD->FWD->AWD Turbo 220k+

I have no space to roll the car unfortunately. If I put the whole car on jack stands with the trans in neutral and the parking brake off, will I be able to spin the shaft by hand to get at all the bolts or will there be too much rotating mass to overcome?

Easily rotated with the tranny in N.

Klaus
--
My advice is 2 cents, so you got what you paid for...

I got the car in the air and rotated the shaft so I could start to loosen the allen screws but unfortunately a few were well stripped and I didn't have any kind of tool to get in that tight space to rotate the screws loose.

Unfortunately I will have to take this to the local shop to install the new U-joint. What I wonder is should I ask for the old U-joint they remove? I could perhaps grease it up and put it back when the new one dries out. It seems the joints are fine but the grease dries up because of the proximity to the cat. Just wondering if this might be a good idea or not?

You could... It might sit on your shelf for another 11 years. And you are quite correct, injecting some CV grease into the old one should fix the problem. Some have done that rather than replacing the joint with new.

Klaus
--
There is no present time, just the past and future