My daughter slid into a curb Saturday night and mess up the passenger side wheel, had just enough time on Sunday to look at it, it seems that the front cross member where the arm attaches is bent up pretty bad, to the point that the bushing is almost torn out, the area that holds the bushing is just hanging on by just a few strands of steel. Any body ever replace this item and have a few suggestions? I think I can get one out of yard for 100.00 bucks. I looks as though it will take some time having to tear into both sides of the front end. Will I have to support the engine to do this? If so would this be a good time to replace the engine mounts? The steering wheel always has vibrated alot when in gear at idle, I figure the engine mounts are pretty hard after 11 years.

Thank you for any and all comments.

DanR 92 LX 124,000 miles- Volvo 960 239,000 miles

 

yes support the engine, its quite a bit of work. i think you have to drop the p.s. rack and several other components. very tough driveway job, and your going to need air tools

 

It's a tough job, but you don't need air tools. I replaced mine after doing the same thing last winter. I decided to pull the motor rather than support it while tearing everything apart. I also changed the timing belt, water pump, and other things on the motor while it was out and much easier to do. As for the cross member, I got mine from a junk yard for like $125. Once the motor was out the front suspension was already torn apart most of the way from removing the axles so it just took a little more disassembly to get the cross member out. You will need to take out the steering rack, disassemble most of the front suspension, and disconnect some electrical line the are attached to the cross member. Other than that the cross member is only held in by four bolts. And if you're thinking of replacing the rear mount, now is the time to do it because it's a real pain to get to with the motor and cross member in the car.

Also, I don't know if they're the same or not but I might be parting out my 95 EX real soon so if they're the same I could sell mine to you. let me know.

 

You do not need to support the motor.

We always remove the front crossmember to do tranny swaps.
Remove the bolts in the motor mount. Remove the radius rods. Take the 2 bolts on either side of the cross member out and drop.

Take a look at this pic and make sure we are speaking of the same pice. I am talking about #3.

 

I was refering to peice #2. I think thats the part he's refering to since thats where the LCA's connect to. I could be wrong though.

 

Thanks all for the info, yes the piece is #2. The area that holds the bushing is almost torn off. I will most likely do this my self, told the daughter that she will be getting her hands dirty with this one. Just hope it is only the cross member that is bent and not other items. I guess we will know when the alignment is done.\
Thanks again.

DanR

 

other parts to check would be the LCA, radius rod, and sway bar. I bent all those when I bent my cross member.

 

If the impact was hard enough to bend that piece I would be willing to bet that the rest of the suspension on that side is bent also.

Sorry I was speaking of the wrong piece.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by TouringAccord &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">other parts to check would be the LCA, radius rod, and sway bar. I bent all those when I bent my cross member.</TD></TR></TABLE>
you should get a front bushing kit since your doing all that work.and maybe check your cv axle too.also motor mounts....

 

engine mounts, would that help the vibrating steering wheel when in gear? I imagine that the rubber in those are pretty hard by now especially the one near the exhaust manifold.

 

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i drag front X member if thats any conselation....hehe...anyway if she hit that hard you will need to check the suspension, impacts can travel far. you will most likley now have a caster problem...