Thanks for your great comments. They are very helpful. My indy mechanic lives out in the sticks (near where I work, but 50 miles away from my home) and has a shack for a shop, but lots of tools (oh, and he does have electricity...lol). Yeah, I know, it sounds bad. Well, he's owned several Volvo's himself and loves them...the thing is, he's good...real good. Just that not hardly any supply places around, therefore, he appreciates it if I bring him my parts. If I get to his place on a monday morning, folks are lined up around the block to drop off their cars. He doesn't advertise...just word of mouth, and he's trying to make enough money to get a better place. He has a family and is a manager of a McDonalds at night...unbelievable, so he's working 2 full time jobs. When I bring my cars in, he thanks me for allowing him to work on such "pieces of art." He appears genuinely appreciative. Wierd situation I know, but he's tired of doing truck alternators and farm equipment and the like and wants to move up to "higher class" vehicles. He did my entire pcv system replacement, including taking my intake manifold off and dealing with my fuel injectors, my sturts and shocks along with all of the suspension parts I replaced and IPD sways on front and back on both my S70 and wife's '04 V70...and never a problem from his work. Oh yeah, when he put my Silicone turbo hoses on with T-clamps, he actually took the clamps, put them in a vice and bent them to the contours of my hoses...this was an extra touch I didn't expect. They take up much less room under my hood and look better to boot! Anyway, I could do these things myself and would also tackle the axle issue but I just don't have the time, so I'll let him do it and he won't charge me much...his rate is $40 an hour (up from $35 8 months ago). So, I'll let him do the axle too. He'll know if it needs more than a boot. However I have bought the boot kit from eeuroparts along with the axle nut and a new axle seal (his recommendation to get the nut and seal). These should be to me in the next couple of days, when I'll call him and schedule a time for him to do the work on my car. Otherwise, he's booked...he'll have to "make time" out of all the other cars lined up for his service. I'm really fortunate to have found him, and was introduced to him by another Volvo owners who drives close to 2 hours to get to his shop when she needs service on her '00 AWD S70.
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1998 S70 T5 Emarald Green Metallic (125K), 2004 V70 2.5T Ruby Red (45K), Previous Owner of Black '94 850 Turbo Wagon (Sold at 140K and miss her). My cars have been running so well lately they've got me worried.