I'm about to embark on a major project and would love any tips/suggestions/warnings you may have.

My front end suspension bushings are all shot. I figured as long as I am going to replace them, I may as well take switch out the ball joints and tie rods while I'm at it. I plan to get all my parts through IPD.

I'm a pretty mechanically adept guy, but no pro, and the front end is about the last area of the car I've never had to work on before. I can't afford a pro, so I'm stuck doing this myself. Here's my questions:

1. Anyone know of a good "how to" guide for working on Volvo front ends? Commercial or internet?

2. I plan on taking my A-arms to a shop to have the bushings pressed in with a hydraulic press. Can anyone recommend a good place in the Portland, OR area?

3. Any special tools required?

4. Any tips or suggestions from someone who has done this?

Thanks,

Hi,

All the answers gives you a good idea, that this can be a tuff job, if you're not prepared for surprices or stock-rusted bolts for a-arms and so.

I might add a few things:

When lowering complete front-axel/crossmember do following:

You don't tell your "tools-situation" so I assume you don't have access to a lift, but are going to do this job on the floor.

The engine rests on the fron-crossmember, try to restrain the weight as much as possible. This can be done with some good wood sawed into firtting to rest on where the frontfenders are mounted - make 1 for each end of engine and if you can, release engine-bushings on crossmember and lift up engine as much as possible, secure the engine with rope or similar as described.

Jack up your car as high as possible, at least so that the crossmember, when released, can easily be lowered down and rolled out from car.
Support your car with firm solid stands or the like, do this at the very front of the 2 major frames under body.
Two bolts in front, one each side and 4 bolts in back, two each side, holds the crossmember to the chassis. When loosing these bolts, do it by hand - if they are very rusted, it's better to have feeling than using airtool that might loosen the nut welded inside the frame!
Beware that these bolts are locked with a little lock-plate that is bended arround the bolt-head (if these bolts haven't been unscrewed before).
Support the crossmember when loosing it and when all 6 bolts are loose, lower the crossmember. (brake lines for front brakes seperated of course!)

NOW! Pay attention to the shims that have adjusted the crossmember! Note which go where!
Same thing when disassemple the upper-support arms! (where they bolt on to the crossmember)

Now, assuming everything else is done as others have described, and you have the big tuff job behind you, disassempling the front-axel..

When you're ready to buy new bushings note this:

DONT save money by buying aftermarket ones like scan-Tech or the like! DONT!
Rubber quality is simply bad, and you will have to do all this job again within a year, NO DOUBT!
An original A-arm bushing has "teeth" that goes towards the crossmember and they are there for a reason - aftermarkets dont have these and rubberquality is NOT worth mentioning.

Don't save money getting Italien tie-rods or ball-joints. DONT! They will ALSO force you into re-do this job within a year..
Go for original bushings and german tie-rods/ball-joints. -EVEN if it's double up the price!! TRUST ME!

Well, clean everything when doing the job, inspect things, make sure they look good and while doing the job and it gets annoying, remember that all help is right in here, and you will be SO happy when it's all done!

Safety above all!

Happy working!

Ohh! NOTE THIS: When putting the crossmember/front axel back together, DONT tighten bolts for a-arm and upper support-arm. This has to be done when they sit in normal position = when car rest on fron-axel!!
So very final job, is final tightning of these when car is lowered and on it's wheels!

Sorry for the long, non-tech-danish-english!
--
/Soren

A couple of people have mentioned the long bolt and potential problems. I had that problem on an 1800. Impact wrench didn't work. Big sockets with breaker bars and cheaters on the breaker bars didn't work. I didn't know about PB Blaster then but tried other penetrants. (And if you don't have any PB Blaster do yourself a favor and get some now, then soak the relevant bits for a couple of days before digging into the project.)

I ended up cutting the bolt off so the A-arm could drop down with the bolt still in the sleeve. The difficulty is in getting through the sleeve, which is hardened. I ripped away the bushing to expose the sleeve, used a dremel and a grinding bit to cut through the sleeve, then a hacksaw to cut the bolt. Was definitely not fun, but a large part of the time and effort was trying to figure out what to do.

Its all very straightforward stuff.. Just a few minor issues you might encounter.

Be sure the springs are tethered when you let them release... Htey are highly tentioned until you pull either the ball joints or shocks or both. No biggie..... just be CAREFUL! when you get to that point. I would recommend leaving the shocks in there until the spring flops about easily.

The other somewhat common problems is the long bolts that go through the lower A-arm pivots and the xrossmember. Often they are rusted and near impossible to get out. If you get to that point and can't budge that bolt even though you've got the nut off, post again or search the archives. That can be a real pain. You might even get out your biggie wrenches first thing, take that nut off, and try your best to turn the bolt. If you can turn them, you'll be OK. If you can't, you may well run into troubles that will put a stop to the whole operation. If your car is super early, you won't have that problem.. your lower A-arm bushings will look jsut like the uppers. But them are pretty rare these days.

Of course, unless your car is a super early example, the lower A-arm bushings will need to be pressed in. Take taht job to a machine shop unless you are confindent you have the appropriate tools and know how to use 'em. Its real easy to bend the A-arms using the wrong tools (such as a vice) or the right tools incorreclty. Trust me on that one... I've bent my fair share.

Outside of that stuff, pretty much bolt on/bolt off stuff. Lots of tapered fittings and the like, but nothing unusual that can't be tackled with big and little pickle forks, or proper tie rod and ball joint separaters.

When you get each part stripped of old bushings, oil, dirt, grime, etc., paint it up nice so it looks good when you're done! And spend the money for a good alignment when finished.

Good luck, and have fun with the project. It *is* a fun project if you aren't in a rush. Real good sense of accomplishment when you are done, though your wallet will probably be a bit lighter than you had expected from buying parts alone... they add up quick.

-Matt
--
-Matt '70 145s, '65 1800s, '66 122s wagon, others inc. '53 XK120 FHC

I passed your posting along to Paul MacKay from our East Coast Vintage Volvo Club .... he was the guy who originally assembled the 122 front ends of all the cars that came off the Halifax production line. I hope that you can get him to reply on a message board as he is a fantastic resource. he currently owns a 72 P1800ES and a '67 123GT that should be fully restored and on the road by the spring. If you want to drop him a line directly .. e-mail him at pmackay@accesswave.ca .... you can tell him that I "Ratted him out " Check out his rides at http://ecvintagevolvo.com/mackay/

Brett
--
Brett Sutherland & the 1.5 million mile 122 CANADIAN www.ecvintagevolvo.com

Phil's article is very good and I used it when I did my 122 front suspension. The only comment I would make is that I found it reasonably simple to press the bushes in and replace them using a big (6") vice and assorted sockets, old plumbing joints and little bits of pipe as spacers. I might have been lucky in that none of my bushes were badly rusted into the eyes, but it wasn't too hard a job.

Regards

John

John, glad you found the article useful. I'm sure most bushings would press perfectly fine in a large vise -- the trick is to support everything properly, whatever is doing the squeezing.

I've done the job on a few other cars since writing that, and the one thing I'd really add is that it can be a royal &%$# to get the long hinge bolts out of the crossmember, because they can rust to it. I spent many hours over three days on one car with PB'laster, propane and all the torque I could muster before the bolts finally gave way.

Whatever you do, put them back in using lots of anti-seize compound. It's a very easy way to do yourself, or the next guy, a favor however many years down the road the things need replacing again.

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