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Hiya someone claiming to be Robb McC,
Not sure why. There may be a reason for this approach to slightly compress the front suspension as you loosen the hardware, primarily around the ball joints (and the three points where the ball joint secures to the control arm)?
Are you reading a Bentley 240 service manual or a 700/900/90 Bentley service manual? I'm so confooooosed (Mr. Kotter)!
Bentley Volvo 240 users, your thoughts on this?
I've read through other folk's Bentley Volvo 240 service manuals. I don't entirely recall the Bentley version of this procedure.
The front 700/900/90 suspension is a very different beast mechanically than the 240/260 though the same geometric control. Do not abstract and transfer the Bentley 700/900/90 control arm removal and replacement procedure to your 240 control arm service you are about to perform!
On all 240 service manuals I'd read, raise the 240/260 front end, secure forward unibody jack points on axle stands. (The jack points are the same used to lift the car using the factory jack for say, a tire change, but that is your risk and choice to do so). If the 240 jack points are bent or severely rusted, you may need to use a different method to support the unibody front end while performing front suspension work.
Some may use the squared struts between the transmission tunnel and the rocker panels sort of behind the jack points to support the unibody when raising the front end. The jack stand saddle design, if not wide or accommodating of the front floor pan cross struts (for lack of the proper term), can bend these floor pan cross struts, bend the floor pan, break paint and galvanization coating, inducing a rust risk inside and around the floor pan cross struts.
I'd be glad to list the procedure steps. I could retype what the Haynes manual lists.
However, as you own a vintage Volvo and you want to care for it, versus enlisting a slim shady mechanic at 80-160$ hourly, I urge you to acquire at least a Haynes, better, a Bentley, or best, a (used) OEM Volvo 240 factory service manual. Someone may have posted such info on the i-net.
Briefly:
1. Raise car front. Observe safety procedure in doing so.
2. Remove wheels.
3. Disconnect stabilizer bar from control arm. (Choose the stabilizer bar to end link nut (note how much thread the retaining nut has passed for reassembly) or the bolt and nut securing the bottom of the end link to the control arm.)
4. Loosen, do NOT YET remove, the front (small) control arm bushing retaining hardware.
5. Remove or the ball joint to control arm retaining hardware (No, don't remove the ball joint from the strut assembly, that's just silly.)
6. Remove or loosen the rear (large) control arm bushing housing retaining hardware (three bolts that secure to the housing the unibody).
At this point in the procedure narrative, you may want to support the control arm on a jack stand or not. Two different control arms exist on 240, a regular and a heavy-duty that is somewhat heavier. Or not.
7 Your order of choice in removing the:
- ball joint to control arm retaining hardware
- control arm bushing housing retaining hardware
The control arm assembly can now pivot freely on the front control arm retaining hard you loosened in #4.
8. Remove the the front (small) control arm bushing retaining hardware.
9. Withdraw the control arm assembly.
10. Remove the control arm to control arm bushing retaining hardware (big nut at rear of large control arm bushing).
11. Using a press and proper mandrels, remove the failed bushing and replace with new.
12. Reverse this procedure for reassembly, however:
- If using a pivoting urethane bushing, and you are still using the front (small) rubber control arm bushing, you reinstall hardware to torque spec. You do NOT torque rubber bushings unless the suspension is under normal load (resting in your garage on a flat surface). You torque rubber bushing usually on a wheel alignment rack. Some will compress the suspension using a jack to the point the spring is compressed as if it appears to be at normal suspension preload. I'd rather torque the rubber suspension bushing hardware to snug and not full torque. Then, as you've pre-arranged an appointment, get the bushings torqued while on an alignment rack. You may want to get an alignment as well.
- Had you replaced both front and rear control arm bushing with pivoting urethane bushes, you can torque the Volvo 240 control arm bushing retaining hardware to spec.
I'll guess you are installing new rubber bushings.
Perhaps you have access to an auto service trench like that used at oil change facilities so you can drive your Volvo 240 with new rubber rear (large) control arm bushing and torque the front and rear control arm retaining hardware to spec there.
You may want to "double nut" the large (rear) control arm bushing retaining hardware. Install a second retaining big nut behind the already torqued big nut behind the big control arm bushing. Add another and torque it. If you are really good and the now cooled header pipe is not too much a bother (or use offset spanners {wrenches}), you can also tighten the second nut against the first, preserving the proper torque of the first big nut while locking both nuts.
I think that does it.
Questions and comments?
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Hope that helps.
Big Nut
--
"Bushings are cool."
Too grumpy to futz with HTML-generated numbered (or ordered) lists right now.
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