Hi folks

First post, and finding good info for my repair on an 850, 1996 5 cylinder.

I'm currently stuck with the seal install itself. It won't slid over the crankshaft. I'm making a tool I hope will help press it on.

Back tracking, I never opened a hood on a volvo before, this was a first. I'm impressed with the ease at getting at the bolts. No difficult bolts to get at.

First step in this project was the breaking loose of the lug nuts and the axle shaft nuts.
2.I jacked the car up removed these and loosened and then the 7 mm bolts to the brake caliper. Removed this and let hang on a bungee cord.
3.Next I tackled the strut removal,
4.then the loosening of the rod end for the steering link{rack and Piniom}.
5.I Hit the Axle end where the the nut was ealier attached with my 10#sledge to break it loose from the rotor hub, and pushed it out the back.
6.Removing the axle was harder from the transmission, but a tool I"m sure with a plate to get in behind it and a handle at a perpendicular angle would make this step easier.
7.Placed a drip pan under the transimission to catch the fluid from the axle seal in the transimssion.
8.Then I drained the fluid with a 24mm wrench or maybe it was a 21mm on the drain plug.
8.This was the left side axle removal, the right axle had a bearing about halfway down the shaft bolted to the engine block, I removed it from the engine block, then used the housing surface on the bearing cap to hit the shaft out of the transmission.

Next I moved under the hood. I wanted to leave the engine in and disconnect any parts attached the crossmember below.
First I got the radiator out of the way, I think it really didn't need to come out, but the fan shroud defintely was in the way.
2. This required getting the wires disconected along the top of the radiator a plastic bracket about a foot long and 4 iches wide held on with two scews, helped gain more access to the fan shroud. I left this part still attached to the car. A couple wires would not release right away and it was plenty out of the way.
3.I then removed the Two bolts holding the fan shroud,10mm
4.I then removed the transmission lines attached to the left side of the radiator. Easy clips hold the fittings to the radiator were removed first, I used a flat srewdriver. I captured any fluid in the lines with a drain pan. 5.Next I removed the radiator hoses, top and bottom with a sloted srewdriver. Drained the coolant into a big 18x24x6 inches high plastic container. I get this from the local Walmart in the storage section. I always drain my radiators this way. The big pan catches the water as it shoots out the hose and the radiator at the same time, in two direction. Small spillage.
6.Under the bumper I removed the two 14mm nuts holding up the radiator.
7.With the radiator loose I can get to the two bolts at the top of the radiator holding the the A\C condensor to the radiator, behind the gille. They are 10mm. 8.Now the radiator comes out. I hold the condensor in place with another bungee cord. The radiator dropped out under the car.

Under the car I see the power steering lines attached to the crosmember.
1.I remove the bolt holding these,10mm.
2.And any wires or tubes attached to the front of the crossmember too.
3.Then moving over to the Transmissiom I remove any wires attached to it on the bottom, the starter wires and the battery wires. Oh yea first I removed the Air Cleaner and the Battery from up top.
4.Then up to the top of the transmision
5.I remove the bracket for the shift cable and the harness next to it. The harness had a easy fulcrum clip that rotated up and pulled the wire harness off the receptical,, nice job Volvo.
6.Along the top and towards the rear of the Transmission, I remove wires where they attach to the transmission. There was one clipped to the engine head, right in the center, just above the transmission. It went to the Pick-up senser for the Flywheel. Don't need this to ripp off during removal. Now evevything looks disconnected from the Transmission.
7.I start to unbolt it at the top across the cylinder head first.
8.Under the car I get the ones along the starter side, and the starter two bolts. Then the ones on the other side of the block about 5 of them 13mm or 14mm.
9.Then the front engine mount bolt too, while I'm in the area.

Rack and Pinion Removal

I got to remove the Rack and Pinion too. I loosen the mount nuts {4} 17mm.
2.I remove the Transmission Mount bolt going through the rack mount/19mm nut while down here.
3.Next I make sure the steering wheel is still aligned and loosen the universal coupling bolt and nut 12mm, sliding out the whole bolt. Then you see the the coupling has a split..
4.I hammer a chisel through it to spilt it. I used a metal wedge under the coupling between the firewall and it, to keep it from moving for more impact effect of the hammer and chisel.
5The rack will now disconnect from the steering wheel.

Earlier I counted the threads exposed on the rack and pinion steering rod ends after the lock nut. 6 threads. This is the number of threads I need to have showing when I re-attach the tie rod ends for a good alignment. I alway break the lock nut loose then finger tight it back against the stop before spinning the rod ends off. This lock nut position, if not disturbed, will be my stopping point when I re-install the rod ends. I also put some paint, or white out, on the flat portion of the nut facing up, this gets me real close{a whole thread turn} to the exact position it was removed in.

I saw a Plastic vapor tube going to the rear along the right crossmember frame I cut it here for ease of removal. Later I'll slide a larger rubber tube over the ends of the plastic tube to connect them back together. A easy quick fix than rerouting long hoses that go all the way to the back of the car.

Engine\Transimmison Support

Next I had some wooden round poles laying around and a couple of strong straps. I cut the 4 inch round poles down to 55 inch lengths. I straddled them on the inside of the fender tops. I use this as support for the straps. One strap goes around the Harmarnic Balancer {crankshaft pulley} then up along the Power Steering Pump bracket and ties at the top to the two poles straddling the top of the engine. I wrap them around the poles too.

Next I wrap the other strap around the forward engine mount over and around the two poles then down to the rear engine\Transmission mount and back up. I tie it to the strap going to the front mount. There, this will be my support for the Engine\Transmission until I get the crossmember out.



Crosmember removal

I have my jack stand up under the bumber on the frame. A canister for the fuel system is under the left front bumber I remvoved some hoses from it first and then unbolted it from the crossmember. The jack stand hit this canister as the crossmember was being lowered.
I also broke loose the crossmember bolts {4} before ever jacking up the car. Slowly the member drops as I loosen the back two first. Then I move to the fromt to loosen the last two.
I get my jack and place a long 4x4 post under the crossmember from front to back and lower the crossmember as I remove the last two bolts.
I now can get to the Rack and Pinion power SSteering hoses One tube nut is 17mm the other was 19mm. I think. I loosen them from behind the crossmember by sliding under the car from behind the front tires. I climb back out and finish them off from the openning in the wheelwell.

Transmission Removal.

I get back under the car with my straps holing everthing up, I forgot to mention I had to unbolt the Torque Convertor from the engine first before I suppported the engine.
This required me getting under the car and finding a small hole on the back side of engine to get at the {6} bolts, Torq 50 size head socket, on the end of my breaker bar. I spun the crankshaft pulley around with a 36mm socketat the other end attached to a breaker bar, or use an adjustable wrench. I can them get each one of the bolts through the small hole by spinning the the crankshaft till each one is visible. Before this, I removed the Spark Plugs to reduce compression load on my crankshaft pulley wrench.

I got to remove the rearTrans\Motor mount as it is holding up the Transmission. I go ahead and support the transmission on a floor jack. The jack is large, and a piece of flat plywood about 12x12 gives it better support. Plus I put a 2x4 on the inside end of the floor jack, by the handle, place on its end, {the 2" side} to support it {the Transimission} at that end. I begin to take the weight off the strap and remove the mount {rear} three bolts, one bolt is hard to see. Now the Transimission resting on the JACK, it will separate from the engine with some prying. I support the engine oil pan too with another jack watching the balance of weight from one JACK to the other. I lower the trans JACK down to the ground after seperation, but it will not clear the wheelwell until I jack the car up an inch. Transmission OUT!!I replace the engine jack with an jack stand to deep weight off the strap. The back strap. It is now only holding the engine on the front side. The balancer strap is holing the front of the engine

When supporting the car with JACK STANDS I put them on top of some 6x6 wooden blocks to get more height of the car. The stands are also extended about half their limit.

To Be Continued...