1997 Volvo 850 GLT Tie Rods

moses3 · Post by **moses3** » 11 Apr 2023, 21:54

My Right Outer Tie Rod is bad, do people typically replace both right and left at the same time? Car has 160,000 miles.

Should I also replace the inner tie rods while I'm in there?

Post by **scot850** » 11 Apr 2023, 22:54

It is one of those things, if you know the history of the car, one may have been damaged and that is why only one is bad as the other was replaced. If you don't know how to check these yourself, find someone that can. If the inners and the other outer are good I would not replace. If there is doubt I would replace both outers as often the cost to have 2 fitted is not that much more and you have to have an alignment anyway. Definitely have the inners checked for play and if they are good leave alone.

Neil.

Post by **jreed** » 12 Apr 2023, 05:41

I did all four on my '97 855 about 7 or 8 years ago. The inners were in good shape at that time and could probably have been left alone.

WhatAmIDoing · Post by **WhatAmIDoing** » 12 Apr 2023, 09:50

On my 98 S70, I ended up only doing the one outer the first time, only to end up doing all four about a year later at around 250k miles. I also did control arms and struts, and it had a dramatic improvement in handling, despite the majority of the components being seemingly "fine". If you find your car wandering down the highway or your steering lacks precision, then I would consider a whole front end overhaul.

You are in it for an alignment no matter what. I would at least do the inner and outer on that side, and thoroughly check the other tie rods, control arms, struts, and other front end components.

moses3 · Post by **moses3** » 12 Apr 2023, 10:08

WhatAmIDoing wrote: ↑12 Apr 2023, 09:50 On my 98 S70, I ended up only doing the one outer the first time, only to end up doing all four about a year later at around 250k miles. I also did control arms and struts, and it had a dramatic improvement in handling, despite the majority of the components being seemingly "fine". If you find your car wandering down the highway or your steering lacks precision, then I would consider a whole front end overhaul.

You are in it for an alignment no matter what. I would at least do the inner and outer on that side, and thoroughly check the other tie rods, control arms, struts, and other front end components.

This problem started after I replaced both control arms and the sway bars, and my theory is that basically when you put in new suspension parts that are nice and tight, they're going to put extra load and stress on the old parts that might already be weak, and then they break. So, usually a lot of these parts need to be replaced at the same time. I'm a little bit hesitant to do the inner tie rods because people said that the steering rack is very sensitive?

WhatAmIDoing · Post by **WhatAmIDoing** » 12 Apr 2023, 10:51

I had no problem doing my tie rods. I used a pipe wrench for the inners. Just don't put too much excessive force into it. Since you've already done control arms, then yes I'd do all 4 tie rods.

454cid · Post by **454cid** » 12 Apr 2023, 11:06

It's my understanding that in general outer tie-rod ends get more wear due to greater movement during use. This seems to be true on my truck. I would likely replace just the outers unless the inners were obviously bad. Both my Volvos are low mileage so I haven't had to deal with this on a P80.

Post by **abscate** » 20 Apr 2023, 05:27

Once you get the liters disconnected it’s easy to feel play in the inners. Also, take a good look at your boots when you are in this job. Easy to do with the rods disconnected.

Good boots here