OK, I finally finished the rear trailing arm bushing job and am discouraged to see that the driver's side rear end still is sagging down lower than the passenger side.

The wagon has the IPD overload springs as well as new rear shocks. The rear end also has adjustable torque rods with poly bushings from IPD.

The track rod that goes diagonally in the back looked like the bushings were fine on it from what I could tell.

Any suggestions on what might be causing the rear to drop down on the driver's side?

Thanks,

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Here's a photo of my springs.

I'm not really sure if this will work.

I agree, the one on the left looks like that horse in a Mel Brooks movie. Was he pulling your wagon on some back road for you!
I would say the symmetry is a little off. I can imagine under a load, they looked like a Grandpa's cowboy knees. Maybe Volvo had those made in Italy but you said they were IPD did you not?

We know you are PNP bound!

Phil

Every picture tells a story they say so I guess you'll be looking for new springs. Perhaps seeing what IPD has to say would be a good start although I don't know the age or mileage of these. Standard wagon springs are fine if you don't carry much weight and heavy duty ones are too stiff when you're running light so choices have to be made.
As a side issue. I've not read anything here on the use of Nivomat self levelling shocks on USA cars. Were they fitted for that market? The Nivos use a slightly softer, shorter spring, so if you swap them out for standard shocks you have to get different springs or the back will be down a bit. Comfy ride though. My 92 SE wagon came with fresh replacement shocks, Sachs Touring, but I've replaced them with another set of Nivos, a lucky purchase from a friend. Much better. Nivos run about $750 from Volvo so it's easy to find a reason to use standard ones at a tenth of the cost!

As a side issue. I've not read anything here on the use of Nivomat self levelling shocks on USA cars. Were they fitted for that market?

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They came on the 740 series.....as a consequence the most popular aftermarket kit sold here was a replacement for the Nivos - as in getting rid of them entirely....due to the $500-1K replacement cost for 2 rear shocks.

one of the really sad/bad ideas from Volvo as they moved to enter the Luxury cost-o-lot so it must be good car market; after realizing that building affordable cars that lasted 10++years was a doomed business model.

long time Volvo 240 drivers were known to crap-their-pants, when they went to replace their early 80's 240 and found that the 90s version of the same car cost $25K++++ off the showroom floor.

I think they were part of the major problems with 700 series cars and probably helped that series be defunct at an earlier age in the Volvo history book.

The aluminum V-6 was another headache caused by Volvo trying to be too elite and attract bigger spending car buyers of the USA.

JMO
Phil

I don't know when they started fitting them on the 240 for the UK market but they are listed as optional in the '90 brochure. In the UK we don't tend to rack up the miles USA style so even now it's not unusual to find cars/wagons with well under 100k miles on them. Mine had only about 65k on it. I say about as I've since found that the mileometer is a bit erratic. I went to look at a nice silver '92 SE wagon at the end of last year with only 15k miles and one elderly owner. Rather nice. We talked around the price but as it was his father's he did't know what it was worth. He was working on his MKI Lotus Cortina at the time and the 240 was a bit modern for him.................
These are the two types of shock from mine. As you can see the Nivo is a much bigger bit of kit.

Looks like I installed the IPD overload springs in June of 2005.

The one on the left is bent. It looks like it is bent at the bottom oil where the spring mounts to the trailing arm.

I don't think springs are supposed to do that.

Yeah, Id contact them and see if they'd stand behind their product.. They may tell you you're out of luck.. In that case it may be time to try another spring?... I was curious about the Moog Progressive rate springs.. They're cheaper. But you're free to make your own choice. Good luck!

Unless there is an optical illusion here they do look different.

I have used and like stock rear wagon springs on my sedans.

Dan

The springs seat into the a formed lower mount seat, it could be that one of the springs is not properly seated? Loosen and rotate the spring to fit into the seat correctly.

7 or 8 year old springs may have aged or sagged differently. You could try swapping the left for the right and see if there is a difference.

Dan

Good idea pageda. I'll give swapping the springs a try on Saturday.

I'm pretty sure they springs are seated correctly, but I'll double check. There is kinda a round rubber nub that they slid onto, right?

My soon to be 16 year old son is happy about the sagging and is telling me this is the perfect opportunity to get some lowering springs....

Strange tho... If you kept both springs on the sides they have always been respectively, is the weight of your trunk a bit unbalanced?.. I'm not making excuses for the IPD springs, but I'm wondering if you have any weight in the passenger rear compartment?... I know the driver's rear compartment has the tire and jack in there, but what about the other side? It's a wagon, correct?... Not that you have to weigh them both out, so an equal load is spread out, but I'm just wondering...

Yup, it is a wagon.

The driver's side has the jack and spare.

The passenger's side is empty.

We'll see what happens when I look at the springs again tomorrow.

Of course, being from the South (where it is not snowy and icy today) this brings up memories of all the 70's and 80's single cab work and farm trucks. You know, pickups that did real work.

Almost all of them after five years had a serious drivers side tilt. It was because between the 300# Bubba, his 100# tool box and the washboard roads, the cheap coil front springs would be shot by 50k miles and the leafs would gone by 75k. The sag up front would be 2-3" and the rear about 1-2".

Only thing that sagged worse than the owner's gut was a GM pickup door but the springs were not far behind.

If there was no sign of the sag before you started the bushing job it might be reasonable to say that the springs are OK. No guarentees though. If you've had it round the block a few times to settle everything down I think I would set it up on a flat surface and loosen all of the nuts half a turn, give it a good bouncing and then tighten them all up again. An extra 50lbs in the back won't do any harm while you're doing this. Getting it done up on a lift is much easier of course and if you get a friendly garage to do it while you supervise it'll be quick and not too spendy. Might just need a couple of 6-packs.
No guarentee that will fix it either but worth doing before you take the springs out and compare them.

Sorry to hear that you may have a sagging IPD spring. I have had a set of those overloads almost as long as you have.

I first put them on my 84 sedan. They rode just a little to rough with no load over the speed bumps.

I changed them around with my 86 wagon springs about a year ago. I like the ride in it a whole lot better as I haul stuff with it quite a bit. Even unloaded its not as bad on speed bumps. I suppose the weight of the tailgate, being farther back, helps it hop a little softer.

As far as lowering your wagon, you have got that half done. Which side do you like better? When you load it now, which side do you load so you can still get under the edge of an open tailgate?

I really took notice of that once, when parked the rear bumper just short of a sidewalk curb. That four inches added to my height made it forehead level when I was loaded. I am only 5'10" high and clear it just about right unloaded on ground level footing. I am just saying, if you are taller, think about it.


A person posted that there is a top versus a bottom of a spring. I have never heard of that but anything might be possible.
I know they make linear and progressive spring rates.
For my 91, I might shop for progressive ones or research the idea adjustable air shocks. I do not know that progressives are made with dimensions to fit the top and bottom platforms of the present spring. I like the inch higher at rest, as just about any amount of weight quickly takes that away, on the standard sedan springs.

I would like to suggest that you look at the bottom end of springs for orientation let along the upper end seating pockets.
I have noticed among the four cars I have, that all the springs are located with the bottom clamping plate with its straight edge, to the left on both springs. That is looking from the back of the car and forward. The point is to have both springs compressing with their coil "bunching symmetry" in parallel. It should be important for axle tracking response.

With that thought, did you torque ALL of the bushings bolts with the car down on the ground or have the axle raised up an inch and a half or so? Especially the forward trailing arm bushing and the torque rod bushings.
I know it is a PITA without a lift but the manual stresses this last step.
It is because the bushings centers are locked by the bolts. The theory is the rubber will not be in tension of a twist with the axle supporting the car at its normal resting height.
I notice you said you put the thick side down on the TABS and you were on top of that!

I doubt this could be related to a sag problem. Just thinking about what I would look for short of pulling the springs for a testing exercise. Measuring the free length or compressing each with a like weight and remeasuring.

Going to a junkyard looking for a single match or a set and having those facts of their responses will help you set the car up the way you want. Ordering and buying newer ones without some idea what the heck they are telling you...is... a pig in a poke or a straw draw!

It's probably called..Learning to be a suspension specialist, or for your 16 year old, a low rider experimentalist! A father and child bonding project, if he is the future driver!

Does he wear his pants low too? I am just a...no kids fellow thats turning into an old fart!

Phil

I don't know about the rubber nub, but it sounds like you know there is a correct orientation for the spring to set into the seat.

You could measure the springs when they are out to see if there is a difference?

Dan

If interested I have a new set of lowering springs that I have decided not to use.

Thanks Pageda, I'll look at the springs again and like the idea of switching them and comparing the height.

So how much does a set of lowering springs run anyways?

Best wishes.

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"the driver's side rear end still is sagging down lower than the passenger side."

TABs just wear out. I can see gappage in mine. That gap would result in the rear sinking down a miniscule amount. Say, you had a new on one side, old on the other, 1/4" difference maximum or a 3/8" on my car.

It must be the springs. Don't blame the shocks.

I was thinking at first the TAB center spacer is bound in, bound to the rubber and tightened to the trailing arm tabs but that can't be the case.

Tom

Could you maybe just grab the springs and shake them a bit?... See if they're seated right on both sides?.... And sorry for stating the obvious, but you didn't install the springs upside-down? Maybe rock both sides of the car (like you're checking the shock action) and listen for clunks?... Also observe the action. Sit in the passenger rear seat and shift your weight up and down (like you're kinda jumping on a bed) and see if something on that side settles down... I mean, I can't tell, but is it horribly different? Or just a tad?

"and am discouraged to see that the driver's side rear end *still* is sagging down lower than the passenger side." says Dan Marino in the first post.

machine man wants Dan to check for correct spring installation.

It is hopeful that the IPD overload springs were installed incorrectly that 5 or 10 years ago. Otherwise it is a bad IPD spring.

Tom

So, you replaced ALL of that when you did the TAB's? (Springs, shocks, New torque rods?)

I take it both sides were sagging, and that's what prompted the TAB job. Correct?.. WHat did you "lump" in with that job?...

New Volvo trailing arm bushings from TASCA.

New Volvo rear shocks from TASCA.

The IPD rear overload cargo springs are probably 7 or 8 years old.

The IPD adjustable torque rods with poly bushings are probably 4 or 5 years old.

Hmmm, there's a up and a down to the TAB's, correct? Like the beefier side is to the bottom. Were you careful to make sure that was correct? I think there were markings if I remember correctly..

Yup, I installed the new bushings correctly.