760 Turbo: Steering Rack?

[AndyPants]

Hi all

Well it seems my 760 has developed an interesting fault, namely an alarming wheel front left wobble at about 55+ mph much to my surpise a week last friday whilst in the fast lane at 70 on a dual carridgeway Felt much like I'd imagine a flat tyre would feel like except the car wasn't soggy and there was no noise (wheel bolts are fine). The fault is also intermittent but does distinctly feel like the wheel is trying to part company with the rest of the car... I believe the problem was 'accelerated' by the front left brake binding.

Anyway basically the front left wheel has left/right play when the wheel is shaken, even with the weight of the car on it. My brothers had a look at it (who knows more about these things than me) and I agree it does feel like the plays in the rack rather than the track rod ends or lower ball joint. Other previous entertaining symptoms include occasional hestiation in wanting to turn left (always fun that one!) and heavy steering in the morning (resulting in me almost driving into the C70 a number of occasions...). From doing a bit of searching these all seems to point to a knackered rack on my 156k miler 760.

Anyway my instinct is to take it to the garage where I expect Volvo would charge me circa £500 (ouch). However my brothers wonders just how difficult it would be to change the rack ourselves on our drive? The Paynes manual mentions the anti-roll bar may need to be 'displaced' hmm.... my brother also wonders whether the engine would need to be moved at all to gain access? From what I can tell looking at the pictures the access looks relatively good? However I often seem to stuggle with the basics... so wouldn't attempt this without my brothers help anyway I wouldn't think...

Also I would probably think about getting a replacement geniune Volvo rack, but if they are vastly more expensive is there much benefit? I would of course want the rack to last, but I suspect there all refurb jobbies anyway?

[narc]

The heavy steering in one direction is the same symptom my 740 rack displayed before failing its MOT on the steering rack

It's a fairly easy task to change the power steering rack on the 740 (so would assume it will be the same on the 760) I did mine on my own on my drive so with an extra pair of hands it would have been a doddle.

A genuine Volvo rack will I suspect mean that you will have only one arm available to help your brother (assuming the hand is still attached to the arm and leg that it will cost) On the basis that a pattern unit will only last half as long as the original do you see yourself using the car for another 70 -80k miles? If answer is yes you should probably go for the original. Mine went at about180K miles, if I remember correctly, and the pattern rack lasted a further 30K before I scrapped the car due to other issues.

Good Luck.

Ian

[rogerthechorister]

Same as all power steering 7/9s innit?

But it sounds more like the drumsticks to me (the things a bit like track rod ends but at the rack end).

[chris&julie]

i would jack it up and remove the rubber bellows so you can check out the inner tie rod first nice easy job and the cost next to nothing. if its not this the rack is not a bad job should only take a couple of hours for a diyer.

[AndyPants]

Thanks for the replies, very useful to get experiences of others Wish I knew as much about the mechanics as I do about the brand/models in general...

I think I'd be tempted to change the rack just to be sure what with the odd turning/early morning symptoms, thats its done 156k and also been flagged on the MOT a couple of times (although interesting that was the O/S not the N/S where the play seems to be...) and I suppose it would save having to separate the inner tie rod. Ebay seems to have a recon-rack for £90 + p&p which seems pretty reasonable and Euro Car Parts aren't too far behind either which doesn't seem bad.

I'll have to see if I can persuade my brother to give me a hand... I would hope to get it done within the next few weeks since my younger brother is relying on my turbo brick to get all his uni stuff back 100 miles in each direction!

Might jack it up tomorrow anyway to have a look. I only had a brief look at it jacked up in the car park at work after it had first happened and didn't really fancy sticking my head under when using the emergency scissor jack!

Originally Posted by narc

A genuine Volvo rack will I suspect mean that you will have only one arm available to help your brother (assuming the hand is still attached to the arm and leg that it will cost)

[zetor160]

I have a spare rack in my garage that is surplus to requirements.
It is still boxed and is a new/recon rack which I bought as a replacement for my previous 740 which I scrapped. I paid over 100gbp+post for it at the time. It now needs to go.
Can be bought for 75.00gbp+postage
Regards

[AndyPants]

Originally Posted by zetor160

I have a spare rack in my garage that is surplus to requirements.
It is still boxed and is a new/recon rack which I bought as a replacement for my previous 740 which I scrapped. I paid over 100gbp+post for it at the time. It now needs to go.
Can be bought for 75.00gbp+postage
Regards

Thanks for the offer but its not much cheaper than I've seen recon racks with 12/24 month warranties and some comeback if there no good.

narc: You were right. Thought I'd get a price from Volvo just to see how much they'd charge. Was thinking hmmm maybe £300 or so? Nope... £601!!! And what looks to be 2 1/2 hours labour or so to fit on top of that. Although to be fair they did say its because it could be pretty rusted on and that their not used to doing them. I think I fancy retaining my limbs(!) for the time being.

They did also mention that there are various types of rack. Suppose I'd have to have a look under to see.