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Are all the strut assembly's the same?

M.H. Yount said:
"Also not mentioned the larger spindles are for accomodating vented discs, so if your car has non-vented discs you will need to change them out also. " Not sure if this is correct --- my '82 DL has (I assume) the smaller spindle, but the vented rotors/wider calipers bolt right on with no other changes when I upgraded from the stock non-vented rotors/narrower calipers. Gotta think the larger spindle/bearing was simply for more robustness given the heavier/more optioned GL's/GLT's and turbos.

Which begs the question - is the hub different on the non-DL '82 and up cars?
Click to expand...

I have heard that the vented discs can be fitted on smaller spindles, but I wouldn't. The bigger spindle supporting the bigger wheel bearing and vented disc's were never offered from Volvo that way AFIK. I think even the 83-84 245 DL's that had non-vented discs used the bigger spindle and bearings, too.
Hubs for large spindle are different than small spindle cars, as the bearings are different. Rotors are the same bolt config, though.
 
Thanks vvpete! I figured the hubs must be different. My car is in year 13/40k miles of it's beta test with V8 driveline and bigger brakes on smaller spindles. Data point of 1 though. Original bearings....about 200k on them. But I'm about to upgrade....

So to the OP, if he goes with a later tube/spindle, he'll need the later hubs as well. But I think he could re-use his smaller brakes without a problem.
 
M.H. Yount said:
Thanks vvpete! I figured the hubs must be different. My car is in year 13/40k miles of it's beta test with V8 driveline and bigger brakes on smaller spindles. Data point of 1 though. Original bearings....about 200k on them. But I'm about to upgrade....

So to the OP, if he goes with a later tube/spindle, he'll need the later hubs as well. But I think he could re-use his smaller brakes without a problem.
Click to expand...

Easy to tell in the junkyard the castle nut is smaller on the older stuff.
 
The older stuff - the threads come all the way to the end of the spindle and there's a keyway cut in the shaft. The newer/bigger stuff has no keyway and the threads don't start til the other side of the cotter pin. Photo courtesy of Ben....

spindlespec_zps37419645.jpeg


I'm not sure I could tell the larger/smaller nut Ken unless I had them side by side, and down this way it's getting rare to find the '75-'82's in the yard.
 
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The vented rotors and the calipers that pinch them bolt right up
to the older, skinny spindle, struts.

I've done this to both my '79 and '75.

We have big long hills here, so it is a pretty smart thing to do.

The package is marginally heavier, but I don't see that as being
a big deal.
 
Bit more of a mystery on mine today. Headed to the pull-a-part to see if they had decent later/larger tube struts/hubs. Two sets there - and I confirmed that the tip of the spindle looks just like the picture Ben has above. When I got home, I pulled the grease cap off of mine. And I found that the threads went all the way to the end - but, NO KEYWAY. Thinking that confirmed that my '82DL does indeed have the smaller spindles (per Ben's picture above) I measured the ID of the outer bearing. 21.95mm - let's call it 22mm. Which is consistent with the LARGER spindle data shown in the picture above.

So it appears that my '82DL came with the larger spindle.....which seems to muddy the water on the info that vvpete provided above. Don't know if it matters, but my car was ordered in Germany by a US soldier, picked up at the factory in Sweden, and brought back to the states in '85. Left hand drive and all US-based gauges - pretty sure it was a US spec car...

Based on this - wondering if the small spindle break is indeed the end of the 1981 model year....
 
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M.H. Yount said:
Bit more of a mystery on mine today. Headed to the pull-a-part to see if they had decent tube struts/hubs. Two sets there - and I confirmed that the tip of the spindle looks just like the picture Ben has above. When I got home, I pulled the grease cap off of mine. And I found that the threads went all the way to the end - but, NO KEYWAY. Thinking that confirmed that my '82DL does indeed have the smaller spindles (per Ben's picture above) I measured the ID of the outer bearing. 21.95mm - let's call it 22mm. Which is consistent with the LARGER spindle data shown in the picture above.

So it appears that my '82DL came with the larger spindle.....which seems to muddy the water on the info that vvpete provided above. Don't know if it matters, but my car was ordered in Germany by a US soldier, picked up at the factory in Sweden, and brought back to the states in '85. Left hand drive and all US-based gauges - pretty sure it was a US spec car...

Based on this - wondering if the small spindle break is indeed the end of the 1981 model year....
Click to expand...


1982 should be the larger spindle. The small to large spindle transition occurred before 1982 1982 should not have a "built in" spacer at the bottom. 1982 should not be galvanized.

ABS strut housings have a single brake line/hose mounting. Non ABS housings have two.

The best would be a large spindle, no spacer, galvanized housing.
 
M.H. Yount said:
Based on this - wondering if the small spindle break is indeed the end of the 1981 model year....
Click to expand...

In the US, all GL turbo and GLT's after '80 all got the larger beaings/spindles with vented disc's, and DL non-vented B21F cars continued to use the smaller spindles until the end of production in '82. Basically the transition was based on model not by year.
Who knows what the rest of the world got.
 
My car seems to defy that last point. Confirmed with original owner it was a U.S. spec car - simply arranged delivery in Europe. It's a mystery.
 
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Okay, so i got the spindle off of a 79 245. It had the small spindle. Got it home, found out my car has the large spindle...
 
Great, well mine is like M.H. Youn'ts. The threads go all the way to the end but the spindle is the larger size. I'm just going to have the smaller spindle on one side and the larger spindle on the other until i update both sides to the 1990 year spindle. So i'll be lopsided until i can get the larger spindles all set up and hopefully upgraded with rx-7 breaks.
 
Redwood Chair said:
No doubt the changeovers weren't an exact model year thing for a lot of parts.

I once saw an 86 245 DL with original struts and solid discs.
Click to expand...

Probably just had the spare assembly laying around the factory and decided to be rid of it.

There are a few odd outliers on these cars so you never know exactly what you're gonna end up with.
 
Just bumping with what appears to be an 82 DL with a larger spindle as per Mr Yount's picture, no threads at end and no keyway.

P1040115.jpg

Couldn't get the brake caliper off with a 2 foot breaker bar to go any further and grease them, I'm working almost one handed still for another month because of my shoulder I dislocated. :grrr:
 
5 year bump...

1981-on cars will have larger spindles, as per the old RPR catalog, and the GCP catalog, etc. I had an '81 242DL, built in February 1981, which used rotors, calipers, and hubs off a non-ABS 1991 244, when I upgraded it to vented rotors from the stock solid rotors. swedishiron.com thought otherwise, when he tried to put non-grinding wheel bearings from his '84 242T parts car onto his '81 245GLT and discovered that the spindles were smaller. When I reminded him that the front suspension parts came off his old '79 245DL that someone ran into many years back, it began to make sense. He replaced the strut assemblies with the parts off the '84, reverting his wagon to stock.

-J
 
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