I raised this question in an older thread regarding fitting a P1800 Sedan Axle to my 122S Wagon's rear. The consensus seems to be that it's a lot of trouble and the P1800's axle is far more valuable to sell to 122 Sedan owner.

It was suggested that a 145 or a 245's axle would be less trouble and give me the same result.

My 122S is a 1967 with the single circuit brake system with a working booster. I plan on converting as much of the 1800's dual diagnal brake system over to the 122 some time after I do the engine transplant. This will probably involve fabricating some new brakeline, but as long as I can find the stock, I have the appropriate bender and flare tools and such.

So... here in St Louis, I know of a 1975 245 that I could possibly raid for a rear end. Alternatively my original volvo, a 1972 145 is sitting in a junkyard out in Columbia, MO. Otherwise, the pickings are very slim for possible donors. There are no 122s or 145s at junkyards here in St. Louis. P1800s are extremely rare and largely hidden inside people's garages.

So, has anyone done this? Is it feasible? Are the wheel bases the same size?





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1967 P220 Amazon, 1972 145S, 1976 245 DL, 1983 245 DL, 1986 745 GLE, 1990 745 GL, 1995 945....
You mean to tell me that Volvo makes cars that are *NOT* Wagons?!?
1971 P1800E... Not a wagon, but it's just a donor car for the Amazon..

If all you want is diagonal dual line braking jsut use the original axle and change the plumbing. Otherwise you will need to put the front of a 1800 or other on as well. Personally I like to keep things simple and would not change out a rear dif untill it was giving me a problem.

Well, he has the front of the 1800E too. He bought a complete running '71 1800E parts car from me.
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I'm JohnMc, and I approved this message.

I know I've posted this before, but no one has said whether or not it's possible...

Won't the 1800E axle internals (brakes, hubs, diff, halfshafts etc - ie everything except the casing) fit into the 220 axle casing? If so, this has got to be the easiest way.
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'67 Amazon 122S o/d estate (now fitted with a B20)

In '67, Volvo did change over to the Dana 30 in both sedans and wagons, so the pumpkin guts would likely go in there fine. But I'm almost certain that the outer axle bearings are completely different. The backing plates likely bolt up differently as well.

Been a while since I was in there, but I'm fairly certain that the answer is no... you can't just swap the innards. You can't use the old wagon axles due to different spline count (10 spline axles on the 122, 27 spline axles on the 1800e), and you can't use the 1800e axles because the outer half is different.

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-Matt I ♥ my ♂

I am of the opinion (and it's just that... an opinion) that the 1800e components will NOT fit in a 122S axle housing. I haven't tried this, but I think they are dimensionally different animals.

Gary L.
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1971 142E ITB racer, 1973 1800ES, 2002 S60 T5

IIRC the only difference between a sedan and wagon axle (other than the mountings) is possibly the final drive ratio. If an 1800E / ES axle will bolt straight into a sedan (as has been suggested here and elsewhere), I'd be very surprised if (as a set) the internals weren't interchangeable too.

I'm venturing out of the area of what I know and into the area of what I think. But I think the 122 (at least of that vintage) is going to have a Dana 27 differential, and the 1800E is going to have a Dana 30. I don't think the parts are interchangeable. However, I've never had an axle apart, much less tried to swap parts around. The axles may have different spline counts and lengths too?

I do, however, have a Dana 27 posi-trac sitting in a box waiting to go into the PV. I know that Dana 27 lockers are rather rare and hard to find, while Dana 30 lockers are much more common. I'd just think that if a Dana 30 would fit in the place of a Dana 27 that lots of people would be doing it.

However, Jack has both the 1800E and the 122 axles at hand. It wouldn't be a huge undertaking to take the axles and bearings off each car and compare. If they aren't the same, just reassemble each axle.
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I'm JohnMc, and I approved this message.

Even better is that I not only have both cars.... I have two spare axles and bearings from another 122S (spare parts are fun). So, when the appointed time approaches, this may be be a little easier to check.

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1967 P220 Amazon, 1972 145S, 1976 245 DL, 1983 245 DL, 1986 745 GLE, 1990 745 GL, 1995 945....
You mean to tell me that Volvo makes cars that are *NOT* Wagons?!?
1971 P1800E... Not a wagon, but it's just a donor car for the Amazon..

I once stuck a 142E rear axle underneath my old '63 122 sedan. Although that was fairly easy (I'm sure remembering back 15 - 20 years back rubs most of the rough edges off memories). It involved cutting off the panhard rod mount and moving it to the other side, using one of the 140 links as is, and cutting the other set in half and grafting them to the front half of the 122 links. It might not have been the most precise bit of engineering ever done, but it worked pretty well.

The main things to ponder (besides the strength of the welds) are the fore aft positioning and the pinion angle, both of which are determined by the relaitonship of the lengths of the two sets of links.

It actually might not be incredibly difficult to put that 1800 axle in the 122. It just needs to fasten to the sprung lower arms (it hangs from it, upside down), and then you need to get the torque rods (the smaller set of links) attached and at the correct length. The Panhard rod is on the correct side, and if Volvo didn't mess with it for no reason, should be in the correct place.
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I'm JohnMc, and I approved this message.

I've not done it... as you know. I might try it someday.

The 140/240 rear will be a tad wider... but not much. Perhaps only an inch or so, but that might affect what wheels/tires you can fit without furthur modification.

As for the brakes.. I really don't know. But I would think you'd want to go all or nothing. That is, use the entire brake system from the 1800, or none of it at all, and either way, you might have some bias issues. I'd wager to guess that the brakes is definitely the biggest part of the project. And you don't want to mess it up...

If you do tear into it, do keep us updated!

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-Matt I ♥ my ♂