The guy at Firestone that did my alignment said that he could not get rid of my mild pull to the right. "You need a new strut rod, probably one a little shorter. The one you have is worn out" and he could not adjust it to get the car tracking correctly.He said that Volvo probably had rods of slightly different lengths for this purpose.

Does this make sense to anyone? Is the name of this part correct?

I need to educate myself on what I need to get this job done.

I assume the rod is the right hand one. if the bushing is worn, the tire drag force would push the rod back causing the the wheel to toe out, which would of course, steer the car to the right.
Replacing the bushing should fix the problem.
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84 242Ti IPD bars&springs, 89 745 16v M46 IPD bars, 89 744 16v M46 IPD bars, 93 945 Turbo AW71, 91 245SE AW70 IPD bars, 93 245 CLassic M47

Also known as radius arm. Here's a link.

http://www.brickboard.com/FAQ/700-900/FrontSuspension.htm#RadiusArmBushingReplacement
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Yes they do make different lengths. But usually replacing the bushings is the fix. Commonly called control arm bushings.
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The man is correct. Those control arms wear out. I went ahead and replaced the cone bushings in there. That will tighten it up. I put mine on the alignment machine. I aligned it myself. The only thing that I could ajust was the toe. The rest was done by certain length parts such as control arms. You can check the tie rod ends. Just shake them and see if there is any play in there. I also replaced the tie rod ends. It drives really good.

Thanks! ---from the help I'm getting here it seems that my problem may be the bushings or the Control arm itself. Is the name the Firestone Tech used an informal name for this component that you guys recognize? I'm hoping to be more sure about my problem.

I think I may need to go to the local independent Volvo shop for this. Too bad. But the help I get here is very welcome.

Some terminology confusion here in responses.

The figure below is from the FCP site:

#17 is the Control Arm
#18 is the Control Arm Stay AKA strut rod or stay rod



FCP only lists one stay rod 3530789.
Did tech actually look at the cone bushings & washers (6,5,5,7)?

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Bruce Young, '93 940-NA (current), 240s (one V8), 140s, 122s, since '63.

Thanks very much for the diagram. The Firestone tech was not clear on the problem as anything more than the strut rod, possibly being too long, because it was old and worn out. I think that replacing the bushings is in order, and intend to take the car to the local Volvo shop for evaluation and probably repair.

#18 is where I replaced mine. Did just the front. There have been numerous changes to the front over the yrs. The rears were still tight.
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I'm guessing the "firestone tech" is a brand name. The front bushings on the control arm is a DIY fix. The rear bushing on the arm has to be pressed out/in.
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Mine on the 91 (the control arm) is aluminum. They do wear out. Only Volvo would sell a new one. You wouldn't want a used one. They are a certain size. That's how they adjust the caster. Check the spring sag. In other words measure from fender to center of wheel bearing. See if they are even on both sides. That will affect your alignment as well.