I plan on replacing the front struts on my 1995 Volvo 850 Turbo.

Probably going with Koni Adjustable Sports (unless someone can persuade me into believing the Bilsteins are better).

The rear shocks are a much easier job and I'll probably go with Bilstein HD's as they have gotten good reviews for the rear.

I have tools and floor jack and jackstands for the job.

I'll need to buy or rent the strut spring compressor.

I 'll do one side at a time to maintain a reference point.

Of course, I'll replace the strut spring seats while I've got it apart.

Question:

I remove the strut assembly as a unit and THEN use the spring compressor ? I.E.
The strut unit comes off the car intact and then the spring is compressed in preparation for its removal, right?

Any other guidance/direction on how to do the job would be welcomed.

Other than compressing those dangerous strut springs- is there anything else particularly challenging about the job?



Nate

The fronts go on and off pretty easy. As for the rear, I ran into two problems. The large nut at the bottom of the rear shocks are REALLY hard to remove. I highly suggest an impact gun for this. If I didn't have an impact gun, I probably would have had to use a super long cheater bar.

Also, when removing the bolts for the rear shocks that are in the interior, there was SO MUCH rust on the threads of the bolts that when unscrewing them, the bolts snapped. These bolts are secured to nuts that are spot welded to the sheet metal from underneath. So I used the left over bits of the bolts still stuck, and screwed in the bolts back into the ones that would screw in and out, used a hammer, and punched out the nuts that are spot welded. I went out and bought similar nuts and bolts, of a higher strength and resistance to corrosion, and reinstalled by me getting underneath the car holding the nut in place with a ratchet, while I had someone else tighten the bolt from the interior of the car.

Sin,

I had the same problem as you when trying to remove the bolts of the rear shock. Bolt snapped due to the corrosion. I took it back to dealer, and they punched out the welded nut and installed a nut underneath the car. Dealer charged me about $70 (part and labor)!!!

Ching-Ho Cheng
--
1995 855 NA, Bilstein Shocks, K&N Filter, E-Code Lens

Ouch! Yah, I'm glad I ended up doing it myself then.

Correct on the disassembly order. Having the Haynes manual is helpful, if not critical. Under the top cover of the strut is a large cross shaped nut. There is a special volvo tool for this. I removed it using a 12-inch adjustable wrench. Someone else mentioned that they removed it using a hammer to tap it loose. There are some bolts that are supposed to be replaced with new. Depending on how strongly you feel about this, you could scan through the manual beforehand so that you would be prepared with all the necessary parts. If you have any clunking in the front end, you might want to replace the sway bar links at the same time. It's only one more bolt on each side. I did the struts, spring seats, sway bar links and sway bar bushings all at the same time. It stopped all the clunking coming from my cars front end, but I can't say which of those things was the primary culprit.

This is really a pretty straight forward job. It is a bit time consuming, however. Good luck.

Phantom

You 've got it richt!!!

succes, Herman