Sounds like my original rear shocks might have some life in them yet. Incredible that yours made it to 250k. That is good to hear.

After reading everything I can find on rear suspension, I am going to order two mounts and hardware. Hoping to save an extra disassembly/reassembly. I think I can get the mounts locally which would make returns easy if need be. But it doesn't sound likely the noise would be anything else.

Will check the trailing arm bushings, too, while I'm under there. Thanks for the suggestion.

You're right, the mounts can be had pretty cheap - unless you go to original Volvo! Yikes. I guess I will go with the mid-range Sachs around $30-40.

Now that you guys have opened my mind to the possibility of bad mounts, I am hearing something on the left side, too. Hah hah. Nowhere near as severe, and a sound I've always written off as some of the debris I keep in the back of the wagon. But critical thought now has me admitting that the spanner, jack and so forth are fairly well packed in and may not be making that kind of noise. So I will disassemble the left rear shock, too, and see what's going on.

But I can't be blamed for ignoring that rattle for so long. As we all know, the first of the five stages of DIY car repair is denial. Then comes, anger, bargaining, etc. Finally, acceptance, and you put on your grungy jeans and drag the floor jack out.

Thanks for the front end suggestions. I'm going to start another thread on that because I'm getting a little drive shaft play.