Volvo RWD 200 Forum

Hey all,

Freshly armed with a bench vise, I tackled the left ball joint on the wife's '86 244 last night. I gotta say that was alot easier than I thought it would be; the old one came off the car easy, popped out of the mounting plate with one swing of the hammer, new one went in nice and snug. Only thing I had to do was loosen the sway bar link nut to get enough thread thru the control arm. Put it all back together, took it for a late nite cruise, no shimmys or shakes. The vague drifting is almost gone, but I still have about 1/2" play in the steering wheel (as measured at the edge) before the wheels start to turn. I know the P/S could use flushed, but the wheel has play before the P/S engages. Is my rack going bad or is it a loose U-joint? Thanks for any ideas or comments!

John

PS- It was a 5 year old post from Bean that gave me the confidence to DIY this- thanks BB'ers! This site is the absolute best!!!