This is an '86 240 with AW70, 120k mi. The shift lever on the tranny was loose. Reading the BrickBoard, I figured out to replace the bushings in the shift linkage. Yesterday I did the job. I just wanted to thank BBers for previous help and to pass along a couple of tips on this job.

You're going to need two bushings. FCP has them as #666143 for less than a buck apiece. No reason to get the kit of 6 or 7 bushings, you only need those two. But you might as well buy 3, they're cheap enough and you might lose one like I did. FCP says they are for the '85-'93 auto trans.

I put the car up on ramps and had a look. This is a dirty job. There's about 18 pounds of undercoating in that area. I suggest you wear eye protection. Laying flat on your back you tend to get things dropping on your face/hair.

It's nice to have a good drop light. Not the LED things where you can't see anything. Just a plain old incandescent drop light. Also I took a couple of pictures before I loosened any bolt in case I couldn't figure out "assembly is the reverse of removal."

My original bushings were nothing but broken pieces of hard brittle rubber.

The fellow who suggested "do all the work on the bench" is right. I wish I could have done that. I decided not to loosen the top of the lever attached to the shift rod. There's a bolt way up in a tight spot. Removing it would be the easy part. I figured I would have a difficult time trying to re-attach that bolt because I couldn't get my hand up there without removing the U-joint.

This is right next to the cat so be sure it's cooled down.

I did the bushing for the tranny end of the rod on the bench. Straightforward. I did the bushing for rear end of the rod, the shift lever end, in place under the car. It is a PITA. I trimmed a little of the ridge off one side of that bushing and that made it easier.

Anyway everything is back together and the test drive went smooth. The shift linkage is nice and tight. Like new.

Did I say this was a dirty job? After-job shampoo mandatory.
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1986 Volvo 245