I have a 1992 with a rear end that's starting to talk back to me. Mobil 1 didn't fix it. If things get nasty, will I be limited to later model replacement axles that were built with a speedo pickup? Or can I swap the current diff cover with the speedo pickup onto an older replacement unit?

Thanks for any help you can give.

Doug Harvey

Hm... is there a lot of debris on the drain plug? I'd be shocked if there was.

SOme of them are noisy, but sometimes it's the center carrier bearing (which can whine at speed) and/or the transmission which can also have a gear whine that echoes through the driveline.

I'm not trying to say you have the wrong location, though. You probably have it right--the rear end is making noise.

There isn't reason that it SHOULD be making noise though. If the fluid stays rather clean, I wouldn't get too worried.

The ABS axles are from year 91-93. If the car has ABS and the same speedo head (look for the number at the bottom, like K9800 or whatever) it should work since it would be the same ratio and also an ABS axle. I don't know if they offered more than one rear axle ratio in 91-93.
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Chris Herbst, in Wisconsin.

If it is in fact your rear end that is going bad, perhaps the cheapest thing to do would be to go to a junkyard, get a rear axle, and just swap it in. You will need to get one from a 93/93 model, and make sure it has the same number of "windows" in the sender wheel. The 240s had the electronic speedo pickup since 86, but from 86-91, they had a different number of "windows".

Greg

If it is the differential, you will need to replace it with a unit with the electronic speedometer output. On 700 series if the car has ABS, you will need to find an ABS rear end since the tone rings are different between ABS and non-ABS cars.

Apparently also there was a speedo sender change for the electronic senders around 88 or 89 at least in the 7 series. So you may be further limited to the last few years of the 240, rather than any year with the electronic sender. Worth looking into should you come to this point. Or perhaps you could change your instrument cluster to a later one and run a new wire/terminals?

Philip Bradley

You are correct about the change in the speedo pick up in the 700 series. That is an easy fix, just get the speedo pick up with the rear end and butt splice if necessary. At least some of the ABS 700 series have a signal convertor before the speedometer, so the speedometers may all look for the same signal.

I'm pretty sure that you would need the ring gear that "talks" to the speedo pickup.

Volvo rear ends are pretty rugged - are you sure you don't have an axle bearing that's making noise? Does the noise occur at tire speed or driveshaft speed? If the former, then maybe it's the center bearing or even the pinion bearing which is the problem.

If you're sure it's the diff making the noise, maybe take it to a 4WD shop... the axle is a Dana 30 which is nearly as old as dirt and used on a number of Jeeps. They should be able to at least advise you as to options.