Hello all, trying to figure out which rack I have. My 87 sedan has a sticker in the truck area which tells which rack the vehicle came with. Can't find the sticker on my wagon... any idea where I can find it?

Also, anyone have a recommendation on who has a quality rack at a fair price?

Thanks

I'm feeling kind of stupid--have owned G-d knows how many wagons and can't recall where the sticker is. But the sticker is really irrelevant. With your car all of 26 years old it could be working on it's 3rd or 4th rack by now. Better to look at the rack to make a determination. This isn't a 100 percent way but---if the boots outer end clamp onto the tie rod with a flat rubber disc and the boot ends with a wide "mouth" to expand over the disc---you have a ZF. If the end of the boot is small in diameter and fits tightly directly onto the tie rod you probably have a CAM rack.
Maybe you could post photos of the rack--and mounting. CAM and ZF mount differently---one uses U-clamps (ZF, I think) and the other has studs & bolts. I hope I haven't confused the issue. -- Dave

....and as volvofromheck alluded to -- the reman'd ZF in mine has the CAM/TRW style small diameter boots. So even that isn't reliable indicator any longer.

Product plate, engine compartment, passenger side, at the bottom of column under "Made in Sweden. Should be a 2 (cam gear) or 3 ( szf ).

Ron J

I took a photograph of the plate. is there anyway to post a photograph on here?

Use a hosting site (Imagur, photobucket, etc) and select the html tag for the image - copy/paste that tag into your post and the pic will appear
--
82 242 6.2L coming...; '15 Honda Fit; '16 Subie X-Trek

Not all vehicles have this info in that location -- my under hood name plate is devoid of any code in that area -- in fact, other than the VIN number and the paint code - most of the blocks are blank on mine.

To everyone's point though - my '82 model has a "3" on the steering gear column on the decal in the back. I believe that indicates it originally came with a ZF rack. As mentioned before, in 2001, it had a CAM/TRW rack in it. The likely hood that these 25-40 year old cars still have the original racks in them is slim. So I wouldn't even bother trying to find out what was in it or what is in it. I'd focus on making sure the replacement lasts as long as it can.

You are correct,this information is located in different places depending on the year of manufacture. Starting in the 45 week of 1990 this information was moved to the passenger side of the engine compartment. Hence my reply to the OP's 1991 wagon.

RonJ

That esssplains it!

That would irk me. The advantage of the two piece boot when it needs replacement is significant.

I haven't run across a ZF which wasn't identified clearly at the pinion, like this:



However, the sticker (which I also could not find on the later 90's cars) is really useless unless you've owned the car from new and know its history of replacement parts.

Watch out for the parts houses and even Volvo's parts reference, too.


--
Art Benstein near Baltimore

“Never underestimate the difficulty of changing false beliefs by facts.” --- Henry Rosovsky

Source...other BB's will prob also post them

http://www.jorgenauto.com/rack-pinion/volvo.html

Here's a bump so someone can help you find your gear-type decal.....mine's a sedan and in the trunk as you indicated.

My car had a CAM rack in it when I got it. I suspect it had been replaced at least once prior to that. I had a failure of that rack and the reman that showed up at the car parts place was another CAM rack. That one lasted from 2002 to 2014 - remanufactured by Cardone. I suspect I accelerated it's failure by not replacing the pump/hoses at the same time, not adding a filter and by using some steering arms that placed a much higher load on the rack.

Here's the rub -- the remanufacturers simply rebuild what they get back as cores. I was unable to find anyone who could obtain a PARTICULAR type of rack. When I replaced the rack in '14, I went through 3 (with a local supplier who I have a great relationship with) before I got a ZF rack that would fit my car....5.0L Ford conversion with motor mount arrangements that interfere with some of the racks. In the research I did, there are 5 or 6 different configurations of CAM/TRW and ZF racks for the cars. If the car is stock, they are interchangeable - although mounting and hose configuration varies slightly. So far the new Cardone/ZF rack has performed flawlessly.

If it's a car you're going to keep for a while and the pump/hoses are vintage - I'd replace the pump and hoses as well as add a filter. Hoses deteriorate from the inside over time and if the pump has any problems at all, debris from it can damage the new rack. I think frequently on older systems, reman racks are put it -- and problems with existing hoses/pumps take it out after a few years. And the blame usually (often unfairly) gets placed on the reman'd rack.

"If it's a car you're going to keep for a while and the pump/hoses are vintage - I'd replace the pump and hoses as well as add a filter. Hoses deteriorate from the inside over time and if the pump has any problems at all, debris from it can damage the new rack."

Good point. I never thought of that, but it makes sense. My '87 is a keeper and I’ll look into this come spring, thanks.

Erling.
--
My 240 Page