When I first purchased the Volvo I looked around the car to see if there is anything obviously wrong. I noticed the pinion seal was leaking like crazy. So, I thought I would “simply” change the pinion seal. I placed the rear axle on jack stands and I was going to turn one wheel to see what direction the other wheel turned to determine if it had a limited slip differential. Well, this is where the madness started, the rear right wheel would almost not turn by hand. So I started digging, there were a few problems, first the hardware holding the brake pads on was one week from failing. Next, the axle bearings were toast. I ordered a ton of parts and started the surgery. I first removed the drive shafts, they were bent, that is in another post. I removed the differential cover, the fluid did not look bad, but old. I marked the pinion nut, shaft, and housing with pink fingernail polish, to make sure everything was properly aligned for the reassembly. The pinion seal change went without incident, except for the fact I had to use a 6′ cheater pipe to get the nut back in the proper place. I think it is something like 225 ft lbs, very tight. I replaced the differential cover after painting it red, then added 1.5 quarts of Amsoil 75w90. I replaced the bearings on both axles. I also replaced the seals in the axle housings. The brake pads still looked really good, but I did replace all the brake pad hardware; just a pack of springs and clips. Now for a big challenge, the runout (in and out movement) on these axles is set by a set of shims that go between the axle housing and the backer plate. I think I dismantled the rear axles probably 6 or 7 times trying to get the runout tolerance set properly; which is 0.007 – 0.20 mm. I messed up once lubing the race before install, not good, the race slowly moved out of place. After finally getting everything perfect, I noticed something really bad, my left tire was wobbling. Axle Wobble Yes, it was a bent axle, so everything has to come apart again. The only good out of this build, rebuild madness is the fact that I know the rear of that car like the back of my hand. I took the axle over to Riggs Cat in Little Rock, their machine shop is very impressive. They kept the axle a few days and when returned it was absolutely perfect. Fixed Axle Once again everything goes back together, setting the runout on the axles. All of this was a huge pain, but I know a lot of these repairs are something you only have to do once every 100,000 miles. Hopefully the next adventure in the rear of this car will just be a new set of brake shoes.
Products used:
- 1.5 quarts of Amsoil 75w90
- 1 can of high temp red paint
- One pinion seal
- Two axle bearings and races
- Two brake shoe hardware kits
- Two axle seals
