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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jan 2012
    Location
    ma
    Posts
    67

    Default Problem Reassembling Rear Sprint / Strut / Seat

    I just bought a second black 2004 XC70 with 120K on the clock that had a broken rear driver side coil spring. I removed the spring / strut assembly, which was easy since the spring basically broke in half then spiraled into itself, so there was no tension. I purchased a new Sachs Strut and Volvo spring, but the rest of the mount / assembly looked to be in good shape. The problem I have is that due to the spring being broken in half, with no tension: the rubber, coil and top mount were all rattling around separate from one another so I could not make a proper alignment mark between the rubber and the aluminum mount.

    I was able to get the strut assembled, using what looked like the proper alignment between the spring and the rubber seat, as I just terminated the spring end to the deepest correlating point in the rubber seat. The top mount was a little trickier, so I placed it in the orientation that most closely resembled the angle for the control arm bolt and the top mount hole in the trunk, but it's not exact. One side of the assembly seems fine, but the whole thing just doesn't look right to me. Can anyone explain to me how I should go about confirming this is correct or is there some other procedure I can use when the original orientation was not able to be marked?

    Here is the part I think looks off, it's where the spring terminated into the deepest part of the rubber mount:

    https://i.imgur.com/0lVvv5a.jpg


    Here are revolving pictures of the setup where it looks OK to me:

    https://i.imgur.com/myk0LdW.jpg

    https://i.imgur.com/8jMzs6Q.jpg

    https://i.imgur.com/qnr3FMn.jpg

    https://i.imgur.com/xVZKkuZ.jpg

    https://i.imgur.com/GEDWN3D.jpg

    https://i.imgur.com/e8Du3Kr.jpg


    This is the final picture. You can see I did attempt to mark the assembly, but as I mentioned the rubber was floating so there was no real way to be sure that it was still positioned correctly, but this was around where I found it, and it seemed to correlate to fitting properly in the car that way.

    https://i.imgur.com/ft8aihp.jpg

    Any help would be much apprechiated.

    Thanks!
    Last edited by Ryanmcgrim; 06-07-2019 at 08:12 AM.
    04 XC70 w/ 235k
    04 XC70 w/125k
    96 850 NA w/ 235k

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jan 2012
    Location
    ma
    Posts
    67

    Default

    I guess my question is, do I keep moving forward and attempt to install in the car or is there a better procedure to follow to assemble the strut and spring and spring seat / topmount?
    04 XC70 w/ 235k
    04 XC70 w/125k
    96 850 NA w/ 235k

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Apr 2017
    Location
    San Diego
    Posts
    182

    Default

    I commented on this when putting in my Bad Swede springs. It seemed to me you had to guess about the rotational position of the big aluminum top mount relative to the rest of the shock, put it together, release the spring, and then test fit to see if you got it right. If the bolt holes don't line up with the body, you have to take it out, compress the spring again, and rotate the top mount and try again. My thread has a picture of the original shock still assembled if that helps you.

    http://www.volvoxc.com/forums/showth...ight=bad+swede

    Surely they don't do this guessing game at the factory when they assemble these things. They must have some kind of jig so they get it right the first time.

    Brett

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jul 2007
    Location
    Toronto, Canada
    Posts
    602

    Default

    I don't remember having any problem with the top mount when I did my rear shocks last year. The only alignment was that both ends of the spring are supposed to point in the same direction (in, I think, but I'm not certain).

    Of course, I did have the usual problem getting the bottom mounted correctly but an assistant was useful in getting that done. He stood on the hub and I jacked the bottom bottom mount on a roller jack until it aligned. Then a tap with a mallet was all it took. First one took hours, second one a few minutes.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jan 2012
    Location
    ma
    Posts
    67

    Default

    Thank for both of your input. I decided to just assemble as it was, and it went in perfectly, in just a couple of minutes, without having to adjust. I agree that Volvo must have a jig for assembly, but eyeballing it worked for me. Hopefully there will not be any alignment issues.
    04 XC70 w/ 235k
    04 XC70 w/125k
    96 850 NA w/ 235k

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