Greetings all,
It's time for the annual inspection of my 965, and while making the appointment with my mechanic (independent, but not primarily Volvo oriented) I asked if he could look at what might be making a rattle in the front left. Basically, on rough roads --and I'm in Pennsylvania where that is a frequent condition: my neighborhood has cobblestone streets-- when I slowly turn right I sometimes get a rattling from the front left. He said it sounds like the cv joint but it's not such a regular clicking sound as I associate with that, it's more like a shaking a can of spray paint, sometimes fast sometimes slow.
He hasn't seen the car, but what has me a bit puzzled is that he mentioned that it would be easier to replace the axle in such a case. I'm not sure what that entails, but it seems sort of like radical surgery, working back sort of far.
Any thoughts? What does it take in time and $ to replace an axle? Is that kind of a dramatic approach?
Thanks.

p.s.: Got to take a trip from Philly to a couple hundred miles north of Toronto, about 750 each way, and it was great. Such a smooth, comfortable ride all the way, with room for gear to boot.