Volvo V70 driveshaft woes.

[Tetleysmooth]

It's a P reg V70 2.5 non turbo.

 

I did ask about this in the Shitefest thread, but realise it was probably the wrong place to ask, so here's a thread all of my own.

 

Last Monday, the dear old Volvo failed its mot on low handbrake on one side, and both driveshaft outer cv boots.

I've not had any time to sort this myself due to work, so on Friday a mobile mechanic came round to do the job.

By the time I'd made him a cuppa, he'd got the passenger side jacked up and the driveshaft end nut cracked off.

He left the nut on to protect the thread and gave the shaft a couple of clouts with a hammer.

'It's seized in there mate, I don't want to hit it any more in case I do the bearing in'.

I asked him if he'd cracked any other nuts and bolts off, but he hadn't.

He then proceeded to drink his tea and bugger off.

 

So, my question is, should the driveshaft move in the hub with just the end nut loosened off?

Maybe it's just me, but I'd have thought you would have had to release some other stuff before expecting the driveshaft to slide in the hub.

 

Or am I wrong? I've never done this before, so I just don't know.

[sierraman]

I'd have thought if there's not enough clearance you might have to drop the strut down a bit. He sounds like he was out of his depth a bit. If you aren't confident you could always use a sticky driveshaft boot, done properly it will pass the test. Won't last as long as doing it the proper way though.

[Tetleysmooth]

I've bought some stretchy boots for it, haven't got a cone though.

I think he expected the job to go tickety boo. He was flying out to Cyprus the same night. Why take the job on??

I'm going to try to get it in to the place where it was mot'd. If not, I'm going to strip it right down to the hub, and pull that off with a hub puller.

[Volksy]

IIRC the bearing is a complete assembly which bolts on to the stub axle, so you may be able to remove this to free up the drive shaft. Normally on FWD cars you need to at least undo the bottom ball joint to allow enough clearance to free up the driveshaft, as it allows you to pull the hub away from end of the shaft. But possibly you can unbolt the bearing carrier and extract this to have the same effect. 

From this video

you can just either unbolt the bottom arm from the chassis leg, or the ball joint unbolts from under the bottom arm. 

[spike60]

I would expect the shaft slide back down the hub splines a little but need a ball joint or similar off to get it all the way out. I usually thump them before releasing the ball joint as he did, it's easier with the hub still supported.

[sierraman]

So had he not undone the pinch bolt for the bottom joint? There is the problem. The hub needs to be able to move out slightly in order for the driveshaft to be knocked out. Get a replacement bolt though, I've had these shear on me before necessitating me to have to drill the bastard out.

 

Wouldn't worry about the cone, the 2 litre spring water bottles in morrisons are ideal in this respect.

[gordonbennet]

Oh hell it must be a Volvo thing.

 

My lad has an '07 S60, and had a cracked ABS ring on the front, regular thing apparently.

The bastard hub was rusted solid on the spline, we bent my hub puller, his regular garage broke theirs and ended up using the gas axe and replacing the drive shaft, possibly a new hub too i haven't looked.

 

All for the sake of a wipe of something anti corrosive, waxy or greasy at manufacture stage.

 

 

Try blasting some Plus Gas or other proper penetrating oil, not WD40 which isn't, into the spline from both ends, give it a day at least or several re-applications to work, and see if it will shift but be prepared to find a breaker for bits if it don't.

[Richard]

Worst case scenario you can fit a split CV boot kit. They are a bastard to fit and not very good but it might get you out of a hole and give you more time to deal with it properly.

[Tetleysmooth]

Well, it's in the garage being worked on as we speak.

 

Just didn't have the time/tools/mojo to do it myself.

[Tetleysmooth]

Well, the driveshafts were done. 120 quids worth of rubber boots.

Still no mot though. It looks like I've got to change the handbrake cables now.

Has anybody on here ever changed handbrake cables on an 850/V70?

If anyone has, could you do a quick write up please.

 

Indeed, has anyone got a couple of handbrake cables for sale? Possibly handbrake shoe expanders too?

Ta muchly.

[Manbearpig]

Driveshafts, gaiters etc, after changing a few over the years I decided they weren't worth the effort and one of the few jobs I hand straight to a garage for what it costs.

 

Changed a few handbrake cables over the years but not lately; the AWD ones were the worst, the FWD ones didn't seem to bad, just some rear footwell carpet to shift to thread them through. Are you sure they are seized and you need new ones? If just stretched there's loads of adjustment if you slacken off fully at the handbrake and reset the inner shoes.

[Tetleysmooth]

Driveshafts, gaiters etc, after changing a few over the years I decided they weren't worth the effort and one of the few jobs I hand straight to a garage for what it costs.

 

Changed a few handbrake cables over the years but not lately; the AWD ones were the worst, the FWD ones didn't seem to bad, just some rear footwell carpet to shift to thread them through. Are you sure they are seized and you need new ones? If just stretched there's loads of adjustment if you slacken off fully at the handbrake and reset the inner shoes.

 

Well, it seems the mot garage were talking a huge load of cock.

Had another go at this yesterday. I found loads of adjustment on the offside wheel.

The nearside was a different matter. The handbrake would work, but not release.

To cut a very long story short, I stripped it down again and found sort of raised areas on the backplate. They were very shiny, like something had been catching on them. By this time I was getting a little exasperated - for exasperated, see well pissed off. I got my punch and made a dimple in each of the raised areas, then smeared cv grease over them. Built it all back up, then had to get ready to go to work last night. When I got to work, I thought I'd give it a try in the car park. The handbrake stopped the car and released immediately. I think I might have cracked it.

I'm certainly seeing my mot garage in a different light now. Firstly they told me the offside handbrake cable was seized, then changed their minds and said it was the nearside, when in fact it was neither.

May go somewhere else next time.

[colnerov]

 Hi, re the drive shaft, it sounds like the guy knew what he was about. The drive shaft seized in the hub is the difference between a half hour job and half a day so a quick release of the nut and a clout with the hammer told him this. If he was off on holiday later that day then a quick half hour job is a nice bit of extra cash, but he also probably had a list of things to do from 'senior management' so didn't want to be bogged down with this. Plus although he didn't progress the job he didn't leave you worse off either by possibly immobilising the car on the drive.

 

 Re the handbrake cable, the MOT stations job is to tell you that the handbrake doesn't work. They are not obliged to fault find for you that is the job of the repairer, although giving you a clue as to what it could be is down to their goodwill. A handbrake that doesn't release is usually seized, because you use more force to engage it than the return springs in the drum can manage to release it.

 

 Colin

[Tetleysmooth]

Now with 12 months MOT.

[Tetleysmooth]

 Hi, re the drive shaft, it sounds like the guy knew what he was about. The drive shaft seized in the hub is the difference between a half hour job and half a day so a quick release of the nut and a clout with the hammer told him this. If he was off on holiday later that day then a quick half hour job is a nice bit of extra cash, but he also probably had a list of things to do from 'senior management' so didn't want to be bogged down with this. Plus although he didn't progress the job he didn't leave you worse off either by possibly immobilising the car on the drive.

 

 Re the handbrake cable, the MOT stations job is to tell you that the handbrake doesn't work. They are not obliged to fault find for you that is the job of the repairer, although giving you a clue as to what it could be is down to their goodwill. A handbrake that doesn't release is usually seized, because you use more force to engage it than the return springs in the drum can manage to release it.

 

 Colin

To be fair, the mechanic shouldn't have taken the job on in the first place.

 

If the garage's only job is to tell me the handbrake doesn't work, then maybe they should keep their gob shut rather than leading me on wild goose chases.

They were still maintaining the nearside cable is seized this morning. I think it could do with a new nearside brake backing plate, although everything is working now.

[r.welfare]

Did you get someone else to do the MOT second time around?

[Tetleysmooth]

Did you get someone else to do the MOT second time around?

 

Nope, I just kept going backwards and forwards to the same place until they were satisfied.