I'll start by saying that I'm nearly positive that my inner tie rods are going bad, and I know that I need new tie rod ends, at least on the drivers side (the car wanders a lot at highway speeds and there's tons of steering wheel play).

My real concern is a binding issue when I turn left, and it doesn't even need to be full lock for this to happen, the inside wheel (drivers side) binds up and seemingly hops across the ground. While I can't stick my head out while turning to get a better look, the entire car lurches in a repeating motion... It scares me and I'm not sure what to make of it, being RWD it obviously isn't an axle, which would most commonly be the culprit on a FWD car. There's no humming or screeching to indicate a bad wheel bearing, only the constant vibration from a very bent and unbalanced wheel. When the car is on the ground with my hands at 3 and 9, I can wiggle the wheel back and forth, but an associate and myself have concluded that is due to the wearing tie-rod end.

It's been rather cold in MN the last several days, with the temp today dropping to -60 with the wind, I haven't really looked at it. The car still starts right up and gets me to work each day, but I know I need to put a little money into the front-end. Really hoping my steering rack isn't going out and I can get away with new tie rods and maybe some ball joints. But WHAT ON EARTH would cause the wheel to bind up. It only does it while turning left (I should also note that it seems easier to turn right than left, and the car pulls to right at highway speeds). Oh, and what's even more odd, is that when I park the car and leave it running to power the steering pump, I can effortlessly turn the wheels left and right, no obvious noises outside the car, only a little thud here and there while inside the car, which I'm attributing to the tie-rod ends/ball joints/inner-tie rods.

I'm sure it's not the safest thing in the world to drive right now, just hoping that it doesn't break and send me veering into oncoming traffic at 65mph, that would really suck. My summer car is not coming out of the garage for a while so this is my only means of transportation, point me in the right direction!

 

I'd be wanting to get that car up on jack stands, and inspect the front end carefully. with the front end up on sturdy stands, have someone turn the wheel stop to stop slowly, smoothly, while feeling the wheels at 3-9 oclock for undo travel/wobble.

pull the boots back off the steering rack like this,



and check that thin rod where it comes out of the ball end on the rack. thats your inner tie rod. ANY play there you can feel is bad news.

 

I've already assumed those need replacing, they are cheap and easy enough to install. I'm more worried about the binding issue. In all honesty, I'm just trying to get the car through winter and then if it's stilling running great like it is now, I'll keep it and fix the steering/alignment issues. If not, then I'm just going to buy another car. I payed $1000 for this thing and it's probably not worth much more so I don't plan on spending a fortune on it when I have the means to purchase another vehicle. I hang on to it because I have a soft spot for old Volvos because I know they CAN run forever with some TLC.

So on my list of things to replace already:

Inner tie rods
Outer tie rods w/ends
Ball joints (maybe, I haven't checked if they are bad)


How sturdy are the steering racks? I've read that on older Volvos the looseness in the rack could actually be adjusted by turning a screw and forcing the gear downward, I'd assume that's not the case on these.

 

the racks are pretty sturdy, but they do wear out. we have around 400K miles on our 87 240, and its a little sloppy but still well within reason. it does need control arm bushings, last time we had the wheels aligned, there was about 1/2 degree of slop on the camber-or-something.

 

Hmmm, not bad at all. I'm at 261xxx so maybe it's just the inner/outer tie rods. What do you think about that binding issue though?

 

I think my on-the-stands test may show you whats binding.

 

I had experienced a shuddering on hard turns on my 240. The issue ended up being improper toe-in alignment. You could try to get an alignment done but no reputable shop will do an alignment until you address the tie rod issues.

 

on said 2 jackstands, you can pretty easily get the alignment within a gnat of being perfect using a tape measure. aim the steering as straight as you can, via eyeballing both front wheels from a good distance in front of the car. now pick a tread line on the front tires, and measure between the front edges of the two tires as close to 3/9 oclock as you can. do the same measurement in the back. the front measurement should be between 0 and 1/16th inch smaller than the rear.

put the car back down on the ground, roll straight forward a couple car lenghts, verifying the steering is straight, then straight backwards to where you were, again, verifying the steering is dead straight. note exactly where the steering wheel is, jack the car up again, put the front on stands, verify the wheel is in exactly the same position, and check your measurements on the front and rear of the tires again.

I did this with ours after doing the repair job above, and when I took it to my mechanic to have it aligned, he told me his machine said it was just fine the way it is, so he didn't have to tweak anything, and I know he's really thorough on alignments.

 

btw, when our 240 had the really bad inner tie rods, the symptoms were mostly that on sharp turns, the steering would 'pull' even harder into the turn. this was mostly noticable on near full stop U turns. It was worse on a left turn than a right turn, and indeed, the left tie-rod was worse than the right. driving straight, the only symptoms were that the steering was sloppier than it should have been and required a little more in the way of constant corrections, but it didn't vibrate or anything.

 

Even still, an alignment without correcting the tie rod problems is a fruitless endeavor. That is why any reputable shop will not do an alignment without correcting the tie rod issues.