Replacing 850 wagon rear shocks DIY tutorial

Let’s talk rear shocks

I replaced the rear shock absorbers and mounts on my ’97 850 wagon GLT at ~147K miles yesterday. I was replacing the shocks because they were good and worn out, with sagging rear suspension height (~ 1-2cm of sag), visible leaking oil on the outside of the shock tubes, and rubbing of one of the tires on the inner upper plastic wheel well liner when going over bumps. I took photos along the way to show how I did it in the hopes that it might help someone else out.

Original rear shock absorbers

I benefited greatly from the nice write-up by cn90, who posted a DIY for a ’98 V70 with Bilstein shocks last spring.

I did the job a little differently (I did not jack up the car) and used different parts (Sachs instead of Bilstein) and used different tools, so I thought it might be worthwhile to write it up and contribute it to go along with the nice write up already done by cn90.

’97 Volvo 855 Wagon Rear Shock Absorber DIY tutorial

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