Yeah, it's still clunking. Kind of getting ridiculous. However, I think I may have found it. I had my Dad get under it and check everything, just one more time. He was kind of tapping on stuff and then he told me to check something out. He was tapping on the inner tie rod end right where it comes out of the boot. By him tapping on it was enough to make an audible clunk inside the steering rack, and that's just him tapping on it, imagine it under torque. This is the original steering rack too.

What do you think? Clunking only at accel from a stop and decel right as I come to the stop. New control arms, new OEM strut mounts and spring seats, new OEM sway bar links, IPD sway bar, new IPD HD trans torque mount, new lower right engine mount, front and rear hydraulic mounts replaced last summer, firewall mount replaced about two summers ago (still looks brand new). I have no idea what else it could be.

 

Hmm? Never seen a rack clunk; doesn't mean it can't happen. Any for/aft play at the inner tie rod? Racks usually get a chip in either the pinion gear or rack gear, but this causes distinct click/noise at specific point(s) in its travel range.

Are you sure got the rack mounting bolts good-and-tight; where it bolts to the sub-frame?

 

Very good chance it's not the rack itself. The rack has bushings at each end the rack shaft slides though. They do wear out, but it takes a LOT of miles, they are well lubricated.
Also, when a rack wears to that extent, the shaft seals will leak long before it gets that much play.
I'd bet you have worn inner tie rod ends, not a huge deal to replace.
Being a front driver, the steering will load/unload when accelerating or braking, so I bet that's what it is.

 

Brand new inner and outer tie rod ends, not even 200 miles on them. All the bolts are tight that hold it to the subframe. I've checked those numerous times. I know, a rack clunking I don't think is typical, but if you lay right under the car, and tap the tie rod ends, you can hear it bang inside the steering rack. This is the factory steering rack from 1994 with approx 230k miles on it.

Not to mention my steering rack has been leaking for so long. I don't even know what my steering rack looks like because the entire thing is caked in gunk. I think an alignment I got over a year ago is when they first told me that it's leaking, but the thing has always been covered in ****. Even the heat shield that's on the steering rack is black because it's completely covered in fluid/dirt.

 

Well, you've found your problem. Time to replace the rack.

 

If you have clunking while hitting it you will also have looseness when turning the wheel back and forth. Do you have any slop when going back and forth?

 

My steering wheel is like slop 101. If I go over uneven surface, my steering wheel will "rock" back and forth with the terrain. It's almost weird driving my Dad's S70 and the steering is so tight because I'm so used to mine.

 

My rack clunked, rocked too when going over jarring joints in the pavement. But I did not have the sloppyness. Rack is a big job.

 

good to hear I'm not the only one with a clunking rack. And the rack doesn't look too bad. Looking at VADIS it looks like I already did half of it when I did the front sway bar, so it shouldn't be too difficult. The only part I don't fully understand is how to disconnect to the steering column from the rack?

 

Volvo says:

"Disconnect hydraulic fluid pipes from steering gear. Remove steering column joint
bolt. Press joint up from steering gear. Remove steering gear-to-rear engine pad bolt. Remove steering gear to right of vehicle."

Tech might give more hands-on instructions...

 

Sounds simple enough. Not worried about it. Just hoping this will be the last of it.

 

I don't think so LOL...

 

You're NEVER done with suspension work on an 850/ 70 series.

The rack is a bit of a bitch, but not insurmountable. Not as easy as it is on a 700/900 series, though. The hardest part is getting to the lines, followed by pulling the shaft off of the steering column.

 

I did a rack and pinion on a Ford Windstar, I'm going to guess this one will be a little easier. :lol: Like I said before, I did pretty much half of the rack when I put in my front sway bar (dropped the subframe, unbolted the rack), all that I would have to do is disconnect it and pull it out. We'll see, going to be doing this one of the first weekends in June.

 

When you do it lock the column in a good position to get to the bolt for the column to rack joint. You might have a little problem sliding it apart since it is a northern car. The worse part is getting it to slide back together. Make sure you lube it all back up good. You also might want to slide a screwdriver in the slot on the column side to open it up a hair to make it easier going back in.