Hello,

I'm on the hunt for a suspension leg for my 340. I finally got hold of one, but apparently there's no space for the speedometer cable. Could someone talk me through how to recognise the different suspension legs so I make sure I get the right one this time?

Also, I talked to the garage about welding a new cup on and they said it wasn't possible. However, they'll give me the old leg back and if I upload some pictures to here can someone advise me about whether it would be possible to weld a cup on? If so, hopefully Mac will sell me one and then I've got a spare leg for the future.

Hoping for some help, and apologies if this information is somewhere else and I've missed it. The closest I found was http://www.volvo300mania.com/technical/ ... ension.pdf , which at least gives me a much clearer idea of the setup.

Upload some pictures of this leg with no hole please...

Veritas wrote:can someone advise me about whether it would be possible to weld a cup on?

Yes it is possible, there are even some pictures around: http://www.volvo300mania.com/forum-uk/v ... 82#p109626

Sorry, I didn't make myself very clear. I'd seen other posts about welding cups on, but I meant in particular reference to my strut once I get pictures uploaded, which should be around Monday/Tuesday.

Have you got the right side? The speedo cable goes through the left hand leg, the right hand leg has no hole

Veritas wrote:but I meant in particular reference to my strut

Ah, I see. The mysterious strut with no hole.

Apologies that a reply to this has been a long time coming - my son has been away at university and so I've had to wait for him to be able to add photos.

Here is an album of images, including the strut with no hole and the strut that was removed from my car: http://imgur.com/a/bUtLP .

Hopefully this will resolve the mystery!

Have you worked out the problem yet?

Mysterious strut = Right leg

Broken strut = Left leg

The replacement strut is the wrong side.

I will have exchange struts available very soon once they have been cleaned and coated.

Thanks both, nice to finally know for sure. Seems it got mis-labelled.

Fortunately, I managed to find a replacement already. Good to know there's still spares about for the future though.
Speaking of which, is the strut with the rusted cup useful to anybody, or just scrap?

I would like it to refurbish if possible.

Veritas wrote:Speaking of which, is the strut with the rusted cup useful to anybody, or just scrap?

Never scrap as a new cup can be welded on.

... by Dai. I went to a local (very experienced and good) welder who also said you couldn't repair struts so I ended-up getting Dai (200 miles away) to do it. I then went back to the original welder for something else and he saw the repaired strut and said something like 'Why couldn't I do that?'. I think Dai has some tricks that other welders won't know about - he's a legendary welder.

OK Dai, I'd much rather see someone get some life out if it than see it go to waste.

I remember seeing the cups last time, but same situation as Bogbasic - got told that it was no good. Glad to hear that isn't the case!

Hear Hear bogbasic. My wife was reversing F704 into our driveway a couple of weeks ago when she heard a sickening bang from the front of the car. The evidence in the road looked like the coil spring had broken, but we have since found it was far worse. Others will know that noise when the rusty cup holding up the coil spring breaks and I was very concerned as our garage was not able to find a replacement. However, thanks to this web site, others had overcome this problem, either by welding on a new cup, or the option we chose, which was getting a superbly reconditioned suspension strut supplied by Dai at Classic Swede. On stripping down the parts, our local garage found that the shock absorber had leaked most of its oil into the strut, the coil spring had to be replaced and then the bottom ball joint needed to be cut off. Fortunately, the garage was able to get a shock absorber, coil spring and the last ball joint in stock from its supplier. It’s great to have F704 back on the road.

Great - glad to know Dai still does them. The original struts were oil-filled so if a sealed shock-absorber leaks inside it, that may be not too bad.