does anyone know if you can swap in a live rear axle like the ones that are in all the 'older' volvos instead of the stock IRS in these cars? thanks for your reply's-steve

Well, if you ever figure out how to do it...I'll take your IRS setup and you can have my solid axle. Pitty the '92-'94 965s were equipped with the antiquated axle...
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Lance '92 965 w/ 180K miles

Just curious, why?

The Volvo multilinks, both designs, have superior road holding and ride over the "live". Are you thinking of building a "Drag" car?
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'96 965 with 16' wheels at 112K. Had '85 745 Turbo Diesel for 200K.

if you have a torch and a real good eye. the floors are different and the pick up points for the suspension mountings don't match. good luck, chuck.

Yeah, suppose if they can convert an SUV into a limo, you can do almost anything with a good torch. And of course, Steve didn't ask us what the benefits or risks are of such a conversion, but I think there's more than one of us scratching our heads, and asking..but why?
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John Shatzer, '97 V90 @ 105K

sounds like someone blew up an irs and can't find the right 1 or afford it. or maybe got an estimate on the big bushing on the diff. and so it goes, chuck.

I can't speak for the original poster's intentions, but I can come up with 3 performance-oriented reasons why:

1. suspension upgrades are availabe for solid axle cars. Although the IRS has less unsprung weight, if an IRS car is limited to stock springs and shocks, a solid axle car can be made to handle better (at the expense of a soft ride, of course)

2. Cheap and effective (more effective than OEM volvo) LSDs are availabe for solid axles, like the detroit truetrac and the Dana PowrLok. Not too big of an issue with a 960, but with a modified 760 turbo or 940SE, or v8 swap ....
--Somebody please correct me if the same diffs fit into the IRS housing, I am not aware if this is the case

3. 1031 and even 1030 straight axles have been shown to be very strong, for lots of power.

Just to provide some justification here, the 95+ 960 is a very nice car, in terms of interior and exterior finish and appearance. A performance-oriented person with a decent budget might be tempted to buy one of these and upgrade the power in some way, but might be discouraged by the lack of suspension upgrade options available for the IRS.

Andy