[p.rico]

It's a complete pain in the ass in these cars. Volvos are the only cars I've worked on where the struts just don't come in and out when they are unbolted. I say that because even my old 240 was that way. It's probably some type of safety thing to keep them attached to the car in an accident.

When I did my lowering springs I ended up having to unbolt the control arm from the car, however, it is then a bitch to get those back in too.

It's a Ford design... when I went looking for videos on the process online, I found no S60 videos, but many, many Ford Mondeo Mk.4 videos, and the parts are identical.

Took a week off to go bird hunting in SD. Came back and still struggling. I got the LCA leverage bit down but I'm literally .5-.75 inches away from getting the LCA ball joint stud in the steering knuckle. I've nailed it down to two culprits that I can think of.
1 - the new strut bearing isn't aligned correctly. I bought the new version and it's not quite the same. The little channel is in the back but it only has one "nubbin" - the original has two, facing front and back. Looking at the other new one I have the nub should probably point backwards to align with the channel and the fin that slides into the knuckle channel. I originally had it this way but forgot the top rubber to spring isolator and in haste must have bumped it askew (facing forward) in my haste to fix that.
2 - the axle (I'm FWD T5-E) moves in and out of the transmission a bit but as is I can't push it inboard any further to get me that extra fraction of an inch. I cannot imagine it somehow just slipped out of the trans but... with how crappy this been anything seems possible.

More to come.

You're trying to force the knub in and off the LCA without removing the axle off the hub, correct? Any reason you don't want to remove it from the hub? It comes right off and would probably make your life a lot easier. I understand being lulled into doing it in a simple in and out, but I think I had less problems doing it the more involved way (tie rod and axle pull off).

Maybe someone else can comment on the Axel movement, but as for the "nub" on the strut, it needs to slide into the slot on the knuckle. For mine, the bottom of the strut sits almost flush with the bottom on the knuckle's hole.

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Yep, I just tapped the strut in until the plate with the "nub" sat flush against the knuckle (of course, this was done with the knuckle out of the car though).

 

[thebobwiley]

Here is my replacement video, maybe it will help.

https://youtu.be/xo2MVrScdEg

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[Savedsol]

"nub" on the strut, it needs to slide into the slot on the knuckle. For mine, the bottom of the strut sits almost flush with the bottom on the knuckle's hole.

Just to clarify - I've got the strut fin/nub in the slot (pretty much down to the bolt). I'm referring to the strut bearing. There are two halves, on has a grooved channel (like the original part) but the replacement only has one nub on the other half. https://parts.volvocarslisle.com/p/...on-Strut-Bearing-Front/71852139/31681161.html

SINCERELY appreciate the quick input and encouragement thebobwiley and p.rico

 

[thebobwiley]

That picture shows both "nubs", at least it is the same as the one I used. The nub that sticks out should be in line with the nub that goes into the knuckle slot. The "nub" on the top section gets aligned slightly different depending on which side of the car it is. I explain how mine was aligned on my video around 4:30 minutes in.

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[p.rico]

Yep, for another reference, here's this guy.... go to the 5:00 time stamp

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bwms4e5QilY&feature=emb_logo&ab_channel=AlanHowatt

 

[Savedsol]

:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:
I'm on it!

 

[thebobwiley]

Yep, for another reference, here's this guy.... go to the 5:00 time stamp

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bwms4e5QilY&feature=emb_logo&ab_channel=AlanHowatt

That's interesting. I had not seen that those nubs both need to align, on the struts I pulled out they were clocked slightly off of each other, and so I replicated that putting the new parts in. I got an alignment without issue.

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[02duxv70]

Like that video but I'm a little leery of using vise grips on the strut shaft. Maybe at the top where it never has a chance of getting into the seal on the damper. Wish I had seen that befor I did my struts. Now I'm questioning if I did it correctly!

 

[thebobwiley]

Never use grips on the strut shaft, if it gets dented at all you risk it not performing correctly.

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[DixonL2]

For reference, the mini Cooper S has the same strut/suspension design up front as ours, and I can do a pair of those on a gravel driveway with a car jack and jack stands, safely, in under an hour... did a full H&R lowering suspension on our familyHonda Odyssey (that thing was badass), and struts/shocks on our Miata and VW.... so I am well practiced at doing struts at home.

Unfortunately, our long travel suspension means a long strut assembly. I couldn't find any safe way to compress the strut enough. SO...if the strut won't move (it won't) and the upper strut mount won't move (it won't), the movement had to come from below. If the A-arm won't angle down enough (it won't, I believe the geometry prevents it without overly straining the bushings), then the bolts and LCA (a-arm) needs to move. I removed the LCA at the lower chassis mounts, then creatively used a pair of really heavy-duty ratchet straps to bring back into alignment before installing the bolts. Don't try to install before aligning the holes, the bolt's won't "bring it in". And, the lower A-arm will want to walk out of the rear LCA bushing - be careful or you'll be ratchet-strapping that one back in as well.

Then, if you're me, you find out your car's busted strut *would've been fully covered under a Volvo CPO warranty!* (it was which was great news too late) so that full day of struggling under the car didn't even have to happen. But it did. And I'm stronger for it.

 

[Savedsol]

Appreciate the help all. Took a week off for Thanksgiving and came back to it yesterday. Everything came apart and out (if it could). Strut assembled, bearing lined up, knuckle all the way up and everything back in. Still nope. I figured I had one of two things wrong the bearing and/or the axle/CV joint. I was wrong on both. The bearing is all set but I've diagnosed that the inner CV joint separated. The boot is weird in some places which seems to be a tell tale sign. I've got some YouTube vids of others with the same that were able to finesse it back - hopefully I'll be as lucky and not out $500 on a new one. Blah!

@DixonL2 - same, I've done springs and shocks on a few cars with no problems. This was hot garbage.

 

[Savedsol]

UPDATE!
I cannot believe it but it's in! I watched my church's Sunday service I missed yesterday, said some prayers and got the inner CV joint seated with a rubber mallet to the axle's end (took it out of the knuckle) - the lower control arm went back in like butter. I'll finish it all up tomorrow but wanted to thank you fine folks for your support. What a not fun experience!
Attaching two pics to show what the inner CV joint looked like as well as how small the gap was (<1/2") for the LCA ball joint to the hole in the knuckle (the hole to the left).
God bless y'all - one more side to go!