99 V70 XC Shutter/skip on slow speed turns...Help!

[FE MAN]

Hello,

I have a 99 XC v70 and recently when I slow down to a stop or slow down to ~10-15 mph and turn right (onto another street) it seems to shutter and the steering wheel shakes. Any ideas? Is it a bad cv joint ?

THanks for your help!

[JRL]

Most probably the driveshaft, they go bad
Could be the transmission, could be the bevel gear, but unlikely by your description

[FE MAN]

Thanks for the info. When you mean driveshaft, are you thinking the one going to the rear diff or one of the front half shafts?

Also did some more investigation, It does it on slow speed acceleration as well. I can pinpoint it down to light acceleration from 5 mph -15 mph....
I tend to think it is one of the 1/2 shafts because I can feel it in the steering wheel, but I am now suspicous of the rear drive shaft as I thought that I heard a slight squeek with the window open.

[JRL]

There is only one driveshaft (Volvo calles it the propshaft)
Long 5' round tube thingee with 3 U joints!
The front shafts are called axles.
Easy to find out if it's one of those, but it's most likely the drive (opps!) propshaft, $1000 or so, they FAIL.
That's what it feels like, a shudder. First when turning, then all the time as it becomes worse.
If it's determined that the FRONT U joint is bad, ($300 or so) there is a replacement part.
If it's the center or the rear joint (the rear rarely fails), you have to buy a new driveshaft. A bad one will really fight you (in the steering wheel) until the XC at one point becomes undrivable
People have found a couple of shops in the country that rebuild them for less, you can try a search here I don't know who they are

[FE MAN]

Thanks for the info.

I crawled under the car and only found 1 universal joint on the prop shaft. It is just before the carrier bearing assy (above the Catalytic converter). I did not pull the prop shaft out of the car yet, but I did see some rust traces coming from one of the caps....(A sure sign that the factory lube is long gone). I will pull the shaft out soon and drive around and see if the shutter goes away. BTW, does anyone know where I can get the shaft repaired or if anyone has a u-joint part number that I can buy to replace?

Thank you and God Bless!

[JRL]

Thanks for the info.

I crawled under the car and only found 1 universal joint on the prop shaft. It is just before the carrier bearing assy (above the Catalytic converter). I did not pull the prop shaft out of the car yet, but I did see some rust traces coming from one of the caps....(A sure sign that the factory lube is long gone). I will pull the shaft out soon and drive around and see if the shutter goes away. BTW, does anyone know where I can get the shaft repaired or if anyone has a u-joint part number that I can buy to replace?

Thank you and God Bless!

The one in the front is the replacable one. The one in the middle is INSIDE the drieshaft (cannot be seen) and the rear joint is right before the viscous coupling at the tail end of the driveshaft

[FE MAN]

I got a chance to pull the drive shaft off and indeed, the u-joint was toast. I matched up a precision number u-joint for $12.95 and replaced the joint, tack welding the yoke once installed to prevent it from coming out. NO PROBLEMS! Definately beats paying ~$1,000 for a replacement shaft!.

Thanks for the diagnosis!

[JRL]

Which joint (front, middle, rear) and the PN please what you used

[FE MAN]

O.K.

First of all, I had to replace the u-joint that is in the middle of the car, under the sheetmetal x-member that has the carrier bear mount and the exhaust hanger mount. Here is what I used....I looked up in a Precision U-joint catalog and used #413 u-joint. It has a .945" (24mm) diameter cap with a "X" length of 2.490" (63.25mm).

I torched the old one off so as I did not damage the swedged/staked portions of both yokes....(Hint: I made a sheet metal heat shield that I fastened to the yoke to protect the rubber carrier bearing assy from the torch flame and heat. I also soaked a couple of rags with water and placed on the carrier bearing to keep it reasonably cool from the cutting torch heat).

Once the u-joint cut, I "popped in" the caps and proceeded to use a rotary file to remove the swedged/staked metal on one of each of the yoke holes. This allowed me to install the new u-joint in and "butt" it up against the other 2 staked marks. Once seated, I double checke the depth on each side to make it centered within .010" then I took out my handy welder and tack welded 4 dot sized beads onto the yoke to keep the u-joint cap from coming out. Call this "D" for done.

[JRL]

Well, you have talent, congrats. WAY too much for me (of most of us here) to handle plus
I assume you had the assy. balanced afterwards?
This is why us mere mortals buy new driveshafts.