Bishop
Bored Member
- Joined
- Jan 20, 2003
- Location
- Brisbane, Australia
As some might have realised, your average 700 wagon does not come with a rear bar, which is a serious oversight when it comes to good handling, the following is just a brief guide on what you need, and how to fit it...
Step Zero, find yourself some brackets to mount the rear bar, the wagons do not come with these brackets, the rear bars have two mounting points per side, the front point mounts to the lower shock mount, but the rear point is secured to this bracket.
This Vadis pic shows you what you need, basically just the brackets (2-1272960), the square neck screws (3-947292), and the flange nuts (4-971095).
Don't worry about the lower shock bolts or the trailing arm bolts, the existing ones should already be heaps long enough to accommodate the mounting of the bracket and bar.
As for where to get the brackets and bolts etc, you can get them as a kit from a Volvo dealer (new), or from your local wreckers (used), they should cost no more than around $25 used, and I think Volvo quoted me like $50 ages ago when I inquired.
Step One, raise the rear of your car, either on stands, or ramps, but also keep the jack handy, as ideally you want to keep some support under the trailing arm, as you are removing two of it's four supporting points when your fitting a bracket...
Tools for the job should include a Jack, Work Stands/Ramps, 19mm Socket/Spanner, 17mm Socket/Spanner, 15mm Socket/Spanner, and some loctite and spray lube if you have it.
Step Two, it never hurts to spray some penetrating lube on the nuts and bolts you want to remove, you can do that and go make a coffee if you like, or be a real man and rely on brute strength, and get stuck in right away...
As mentioned before, support the side you want to work on properly, maybe I'm just paranoid, but I don't want to create to much load on any point where it's not necessary.
Even with the support shown here, the trailing arm to axle brackets still separated a good 1/4 inch when the nuts were removed.
These nuts are 17mm, and covered with a lovely coating of under body sealant, so they could be fun to get a spanner around at first, they are also on quite tight.
Step Three, it helps to scrape your nuts clean before refitting them (lol), you can also scrape the area where the bracket will go up on to, you don't really want all that goop between the bracket and trailing arm...
Once clean enough for your own liking, put some loctite on the nuts and bolts, and your now ready to fit your brackets into place.
Step Four, fit your bracket into place, and torque your nuts up nice and tight, I'm not sure of the torque setting, I just did mine up FFT (fairly ****ing tight).
Sorry for the lack of pics here, I was far too dirty at this stage to pick up the camera again.
Now, go back to Step Two and repeat on the other side of the car.
Step Five, undo your lower shock mount, it should be 19mm for the nut, and 17mm for the bolt, depending on who has worked on your car, the bolt could be facing in or out, for ease of fitment of the bar, it's probably better facing in, as then you don't need to remove the bolt to fit the bar, just the nut.
If you have to remove the bolt, make sure to support the shock, so getting the bolt back in is easy.
Step Six, with the shock bolts exposed, raise the bar into place, and onto the lower shock bolts, it should not be real hard, you can push the bolts out a little, raise the bar and push the bolts back in and wind the nuts on to secure it in place.
Once the shock bolts are holding it, lift the bar up, and fit your square neck bracket bolts into the bar, and also just fit the nuts by hand, it should start looking like this...
Now you just have to torque up the bolts, the nuts for the bracket bolts should be 15mm, I have no idea of the torque needed, again for me it was just FFT, and I did not bother with loctite here, but you can if your worried about them coming loose.
And now congratulations, you have a wagon with a rear sway bar, and it should look something like this...
Things to look out for, my lower shock bolts were bloody tight, and remember you need a spanner on both sides once you crack them, the bracket to bar bolts are easy, the square neck means you just need the one spanner, as the bolt is always secured in place by design.
I found on my wagon now, stuff in the rear actually moves around less than without the bar, my shopping now stays where it's put on the trip home...
Step Zero, find yourself some brackets to mount the rear bar, the wagons do not come with these brackets, the rear bars have two mounting points per side, the front point mounts to the lower shock mount, but the rear point is secured to this bracket.
This Vadis pic shows you what you need, basically just the brackets (2-1272960), the square neck screws (3-947292), and the flange nuts (4-971095).
Don't worry about the lower shock bolts or the trailing arm bolts, the existing ones should already be heaps long enough to accommodate the mounting of the bracket and bar.
As for where to get the brackets and bolts etc, you can get them as a kit from a Volvo dealer (new), or from your local wreckers (used), they should cost no more than around $25 used, and I think Volvo quoted me like $50 ages ago when I inquired.
Step One, raise the rear of your car, either on stands, or ramps, but also keep the jack handy, as ideally you want to keep some support under the trailing arm, as you are removing two of it's four supporting points when your fitting a bracket...
Tools for the job should include a Jack, Work Stands/Ramps, 19mm Socket/Spanner, 17mm Socket/Spanner, 15mm Socket/Spanner, and some loctite and spray lube if you have it.
Step Two, it never hurts to spray some penetrating lube on the nuts and bolts you want to remove, you can do that and go make a coffee if you like, or be a real man and rely on brute strength, and get stuck in right away...
As mentioned before, support the side you want to work on properly, maybe I'm just paranoid, but I don't want to create to much load on any point where it's not necessary.
Even with the support shown here, the trailing arm to axle brackets still separated a good 1/4 inch when the nuts were removed.
These nuts are 17mm, and covered with a lovely coating of under body sealant, so they could be fun to get a spanner around at first, they are also on quite tight.
Step Three, it helps to scrape your nuts clean before refitting them (lol), you can also scrape the area where the bracket will go up on to, you don't really want all that goop between the bracket and trailing arm...
Once clean enough for your own liking, put some loctite on the nuts and bolts, and your now ready to fit your brackets into place.
Step Four, fit your bracket into place, and torque your nuts up nice and tight, I'm not sure of the torque setting, I just did mine up FFT (fairly ****ing tight).
Sorry for the lack of pics here, I was far too dirty at this stage to pick up the camera again.
Now, go back to Step Two and repeat on the other side of the car.
Step Five, undo your lower shock mount, it should be 19mm for the nut, and 17mm for the bolt, depending on who has worked on your car, the bolt could be facing in or out, for ease of fitment of the bar, it's probably better facing in, as then you don't need to remove the bolt to fit the bar, just the nut.
If you have to remove the bolt, make sure to support the shock, so getting the bolt back in is easy.
Step Six, with the shock bolts exposed, raise the bar into place, and onto the lower shock bolts, it should not be real hard, you can push the bolts out a little, raise the bar and push the bolts back in and wind the nuts on to secure it in place.
Once the shock bolts are holding it, lift the bar up, and fit your square neck bracket bolts into the bar, and also just fit the nuts by hand, it should start looking like this...
Now you just have to torque up the bolts, the nuts for the bracket bolts should be 15mm, I have no idea of the torque needed, again for me it was just FFT, and I did not bother with loctite here, but you can if your worried about them coming loose.
And now congratulations, you have a wagon with a rear sway bar, and it should look something like this...
Things to look out for, my lower shock bolts were bloody tight, and remember you need a spanner on both sides once you crack them, the bracket to bar bolts are easy, the square neck means you just need the one spanner, as the bolt is always secured in place by design.
I found on my wagon now, stuff in the rear actually moves around less than without the bar, my shopping now stays where it's put on the trip home...
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