99 v70 t5. confused about type of steering rack

huzzsaba · Post by **huzzsaba** » 18 Aug 2011, 18:03

I know this has been discussed many times but i have tried all day to figure out what type of steering rack i have so that i can order the correct inner tie rods.

i have checked the id plate on the fender and there is no number 4 or 5 on it. it only has seven digits and the last digit is a S.

the steering boots indicate say TRW on it but and are pretty long is size. I called fcp and they tried to do some research on it. In the end, they told me that there is no way trw would make a boot to fit the SMI rack. However, i know trw does make a inner tie rod for the smi rack so that is very confusing as to why they would make a tie rod and not the boot???

I have a 95 850 as well so out of curiousity i checked the plate id on that one as well and the plate id had seven digist and also ended with an S like my V70. it also had TRW boots on it like my V70.

I crawled under the car to try and find a stamp somewhere on the rack but could not find one. I also called the 2 volvo dealerships and one said they could not figure out even though i gave them the vin.

The second dealership told me that in his experience, everytime there was an S on the prouct id plate it was the newer rack which i think is SMI? but then i got confused since both my 95 and 99 had an S on the id plate and supposedly in 98 they switched over from TRW to SMI.

I think you can tell why i am so confused lol. should i just go with the TRW sign on the boot and order the TRWs? considering they look same as the ones on my 95?

Thanks for any help.

Post by **jimmy57** » 18 Aug 2011, 22:04

Are you looking at the bottom line on right on the plate?

huzzsaba · Post by **huzzsaba** » 18 Aug 2011, 23:08

yes i am looking at the correct line.

von_braun · Post by **von_braun** » 05 Sep 2011, 12:41

I am in the same boat, need to get new inner and outer tie rods but the code in the fifth line, right of the divider says 2W2MMWA. WTF? Going to poke around VADIS to see if has any info there.

Edit: It appears to me that you can also tell by the chassis #. Anything 549830 and bellow is TWR. Anything 549831 and above is SMI.
But I'd really like a "pro" to confirm this method for those of us without the easy 4 or 5 codes. Lil help?

Post by **JRL** » 05 Sep 2011, 13:09

Do what I do, buy both, return the incorrect ones
(I believe that the outers are all the same,)

huzzsaba · Post by **huzzsaba** » 06 Sep 2011, 23:36

So in the end, ,the steering rack was a TRW.

Thanks