Volvo Maintenance Hints for 7xx/9xx - Bill Garland's Nuclear ...

[Note from Abe Crombie] The 93 through '95 model AW71 gearbox has a ball bearing instead of the earlier
bushing. You can tell by looking at the output flange where driveshaft attaches. The bushing style has no bell
shaped slinger/protector for the seal; the bearing type has this type flange. The slinger/protector prevents you
from seeing the seal. The standard flange on the bushing versions allows you to see seal on tailhousing. The
bearing can't be used in place of the bushing as it requires a different output shaft in rear of trans; and it is
costly. This style has an oil seal at the rear of the housing and an o-ring inside. Repair is simple: just pull the
housing off and replace both the seal and the o-ring.
Procedural Notes:
Trans Bushing (not
bearing) kit
What you're going to do is take out the bolts that connect the output flange to the driveshaft, support the tranny and remove the rear
transmission mounting bracket. Four bolts hold the tail housing to the rest of the transmission case.
Tool Rental:
[Editor] There is a tool available that pulls the old bushing out. It is no longer available from IPD due to "quality control problems."
[Cautionary Tale regarding the IPD tool:] I attempted to replace the tailshaft bushing/seal with IPD parts and their rental bushing removal
tool that allows this to be done quickly and easily without removing the tailshaft housing. The removal tool didn't function quite the way I
had imagined. The puller's center bolt got tighter and tighter until it sheared off about two inches from the bolt head. But wait, it gets
worse... I removed the tailshaft housing and discovered the removal tool shaft is wedged into the tailshaft end bolt hole and I can't get it
out. There were wire lacing threads around the hole so I don't know if my tranny is toast or not. The tailshaft housing was removed without
damage. The broken bolt is currently stuck in the tailshaft end bolt hole (no better way to describe it).[Another Tale:] The exact same
problem happened to me on my 240 this past weekend with the same tool. Amusingly enough, I was able to get the broken bolt out by
using a pipe wrench, and a LOT of elbow grease. Although there was some slight thread damage in the hole in the output shaft, it wasn't
severe, the bolt ultimately torqued up with no problems, and I haven't had any more trouble with it. This is what was recommended by my
mechanic, when I called him. After the bolt from the tool has been successfully extracted, spray WD40 into the bolt hole, holding a white
cloth underneath to catch what comes out. This is to flush out any loose threads that would cause MORE trouble. Then experiment with
threading the driveshaft collar's bolt into the hole, to determine the extent of the thread damage. If it appears as though the bolt will be
ruined and won't torque to spec, the hole will need to be re-tapped. IPD, incidentally, was gracious about the problem, and agreed to
refund my money. Since I didn't have any major transmission damage, I didn't ask for anything else.
[Procedure Notes 1:]
Start with the driveshaft bolts while the car is still on the ground. That way you can roll the car a little to get to all 4 bolts *easily*. If you're
driving up on ramps like I did, this won't work and you'll need a crow's-foot wrench (my 9/16" worked fine) to get to the ones on the top of
the flange. A generous supply of profanity helped in my case... It's a good idea to mark the output flange and shaft flange so you can mate
them up when the time comes to put it back together [critical for proper driveshaft balance.] Once the bolts are out, push the driveshaft
toward the rear of the car and it will pop out of the flange. You can shove it up above the flange to get it out of the way. Raise the car up
(jackstands, ramps whatever)if it's not already and drain the tranny fluid. Put the selector in Park and use a 30mm socket to remove the