I’ve done it now, so I know what’s involved. The factory way is to attach a spring compressor to the left side spring mount, anchored from the upper shock mount in the body. Then you remove the lower left suspension arm and release the tension. From there it’s not bad, work your way from left to the right side of the car, dismounting the spring as you go. It’s still a bit fiddly, as the spring is released but still has some tension in the mounts. So I ended up compressing the spring a bit to get the lower mounts removed. Then release it again. On install I needed to do the same, while also making sure the upper mounts are seated, and the spring is not off center. One of those things that would be easy if you have 3 arms, a little more difficult with only 2.
About the tool though…it’s really a universal air-over hydraulic ram that the Volvo dealer has already in their required kit, combined with a specific attachment for SPA leaf spring release. To buy all the parts was over $2k and then I don’t have an air compressor. All that, to compress the spring 30mm! I though…maybe just have the dealer swap it. That could cost a lot, but they will have the tools. They would also give me some trouble probably for swapping parts, or just not do it at all. A Volvo indy….probably they don’t have the tools for this. Or figure out how to DIY.
What to do…I decided to take my chances. I bought the “attachment” special tool kit, to get the spring attachment parts, and figured I could maybe rig something up mechanical rather than a hydraulic ram. In the end I did, and yes it felt a bit sketchy but I think I was sensible and used my judgement about safety as I went. I bought a new floor jack, I needed something better than my old Craftsman racing aluminum jack that is great for travel but not a good high lift and low clearance jack. What I understood from the service procedures is the spring must NOT be loaded by any way other than through the mount. If you jack on the spring itself, the composite can be damaged then the spring will fail down the road which would be very bad of course. The factory tool attaches to the mount stud on the top side, lifiting through the mount. I compressed the spring, with the special tool attachment on it (the eye hook for the hydraulic ram removed).
You can see, it’s a little sketchy since the jack can’t be centered and engage the whole attachment as it has to clear the suspension arm. It worked out though, I got through it. There was really no other way than to just get in there and do it.
Once you have releases the spring on one side, it’s not too difficult from there, again just a bit of fiddling to get the subframe mounts off and on installation keeping things lined up.
Some of the lower arm bolts are quite tight (thank you Milwaukee Fuel M18 Impact) and hard to get tools on them. The torque specs feel just downright wrong, torque+angle where you need the longest handle wrench you got and swear you are going to strip the threads before you get to the 120deg specified…
Aftermarket spring sets are only front springs and spacers for the rear to adjust ride height to match…the kicker is, as I learned…the only proper way to get the spacers off is to remove the rear spring. I see why the studs are so long on the rear spring mounts, it’s the safety of the system. The rear spring is captured by the mount studs and cannot move out of place. So you can’t get to the spacers unless you remove the mounts, which means, dismount the spring. I think some have rigged up a way to do that without dismounting the spring, but that requires a whole lot of spring compression to clear the mount stud, directly on the spring itself. In my mind, that’s a dangerous operation.