Volvo genuine wishbones not available
 

I need to replace both my front lower wishbones due to excessive play in the bushes, and my MoT tester has advised me to only use Volvo genuine replacements. Unfortunately, Volvo tell me there are none in stock in the UK at the moment, and I would have to wait about two months for more to become available.
So, what do people suggest please? Is there a make of aftermarket ones that are good quality and that are currently available? Or should I replace just the bushes in the wishbones that I already have? If so, what kind of press do I need to be able to get the old bushes out and the new bushes in?

Many thanks.

Personally I would (and did) just replace the bushes, I went with powerflex poly's but I've no doubt the original type are available

The press itself isn't the problem, it's the tooling required to hold it at the right angle while you press it in, the first one I managed gradually using a piece of tubing milled out to the right ID but then my press broke (long story)

On the second one I actually dismantled the bush so I was only working with the metal sleeve, then I just used a bobbin sander slowly and gradually until it went in nice and tight with a hammer

Don't force it in too hard straight away or it'll get stuck in there and you'll have to cut it out, back to square 1 trying to find a new wishbone. Ask how i know..

Getting the old ones out is fairly easy just time consuming, drill away at the rubber until the middle falls out, then hacksaw at the sleeve in two places about 10mm apart and chisel out the cut piece

Due to work involved getting the damn things off the car in the first place it needs to be thought of as a whole weekend job and even then make sure you have a backup car for the Monday just in case

I did find aftermarket ones at energised customs which were priced low but they felt cheap around corners, I used them as temps while my polys were being fitted

I'm sure that I have seen a video of how to make tooling for a press to make fitting of the bushes easy. I seem to remember it was someone from this forum, but I have tried Si Robb and can't find it. IIRC it has something to do with a scaffolding component which is cut to shape and then matches up with the slope needed to push the bush home straight.

Why not try another dealership ie Mill at newcastle or RFR swansea. They both will post parts out, I guess there will be others, but I have used both.

Cheers
Bob

Found it!
 

Try this utube vid

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hc5dOZ67W6Y


Cheers
Bob

That would definitely have helped but I would have had to make it a bit shorter not that it really makes any difference to the way it works

Just bear in mind the wishbone is alloy and very easy to damage if you don't go easy with it

Be careful with part numbers as i needed to replace my wishbones on a late 2004 t5 V70. Pattern parts from factors did not fit. Waited for genuine volvo parts but part numbers cast in old wishbones do not appear in relevant section of vida. I presume volvo used registration number to supply correct parts. I have kept old wishbones as spares so could send you numbers and picture if needed.

You should check whether your car has the earlier alloy lower arms, or the later steel ones. The bushes are the same but the ball joints are very different. I'd be surprised if Volvo cannot supply the front & rear bushes. The front ones need accurate fitting. Poly bushes are probably the easiest alternative, not cheap though.

Thank you to everyone, I have read all of your responses several times to try and make sure I understand them all.

I have tried several Volvo main dealers for the genuine wishbones. Mill in Newcastle appears to now be Stoneacre, and it was them saying "Sorry there isn't any stock on these in the uk so it could take up to two months to get hold of", that I assumed meant they knew the stock level at all Volvo main dealers and it was zero.

Anyway, I definitely have the alloy version of the wishbones and I think I'm going to attempt the re-bushing option.

So, I don't have a hydraulic press, but 6 tonne versions seem to be available for about £90, and with a pair of new wishbones being about £330, I could justify buying a press just for this one job alone! However, do I actually need one? The Powerflex website says "POWERFLEX suspension bushes are designed, in general, to be fitted by a home mechanic without the necessity for special tools". Presumably they can't assume most home mechanics have a hydraulic press? Stuart says he fitted one bush using a hammer, although if I've understood correctly that the alloy casting was sanded out to be able to accomplish this, I'm slightly concerned that is required and not sure I'd be happy to judge the correct tightness of fit.
But how much force is required to fit the powerflex bushes? If I bought the scaffolding joiner shown in the video and shaped it to support the wishbone correctly, could I then press the bush in using a large vice? Or if I supported the wishbone on the scaffolding joiner on a large anvil, would I then be able to drift the bush in using a suitable sized socket and an club hammer?

Thank you all for your help on this, and your further thoughts or suggestions would be much appreciated on my proposed approach.

For me it was a case of needs must, it had to go in and we're talking 1000ths of an inch at a time

The problem is it very nearly goes in but jams about halfway so mainly you want to ensure the the inner face is smooth (which you probably just nicked with a hacksaw and chisel) and for some reason the collar of the new bush has a slight bulge which presumably helps to hold it in tightly

And of course none of that is possible with the rubber and metal bar in place so they needed to come out and then silicone greased again on reassembly .. that actually was a bit of a faff to get back in as well but not impossible

So it's a mixture of the two things being smoothed out slightly and gently tapping until you think it's gonna go all the way before committing to big whacks

I will grant you it's not the officially sanctioned method lol but mine have been on about a year now and I've done plenty of hard acceleration and braking in that time

The other bush (nearest to steering rack) is a piece of p.ss you just push it in at an angle using a vice

I then painted the wishbones black because it makes them look nicer although totally unnecessary and had to do touch ups where I've scraped them doing other jobs which is annoying

you're right about the cost of the press though I did the same thing but non hydraulic which was my mistake because annoyingly I did then break it by adding a bar onto the arm for extra pressure and the whole casting just snapped right down the middle lol

still the job gone done and it was cheaper than new wishbones .. so I didn't lose any sleep

tonnage I would say at least 3 possibly more but that's on the basis that my 2 tonne press wasn't sufficient (although, oddly it did do the 1st one?) weird