I have a 1983 245 GL, when you start of from a stop there is a vibration from the rear of the car. It stops once you reach driving speed. Also the harder you take off the worse the vibration is. I have already had my traling arm bushings replaced and the center support bearing seems to be just fine. Is it the U-joints or the torque rod bushings? Any help would be great.
Thanks,
Jonathan

YOUR PROBLEM WILL BE ANY OF SOFT/BROKEN ENGINE/GEARBOX MOUNTS AND/OR WORN/SEIZED UV JOINTS AND/OR SOFT CENTRE SUPPORT.

SOME VOLVOS JUST HAVE THAT VIBRATION WORSE THAN OTHERS TOO - DONT KNOW WHY!

GOOD LUCK

First, you may want to check motor mounts. My '81 245 GLT had similar symptoms and I feared the worst. A friend suggested that I "power brake" the car to see if the motor moved. To do this test 1) make sure you have lots of room in front of the car (in case?) 2)raise the hood to be able to see motor movement. 3) Push the brake pedal HARD and accelerate motor while engaged in first gear. If the motor just rolls a little the mounts are fine, look for your problem else where. If it really raises up, the driver side mount is broke and you are hearing the shuddering that the broken mount is doing. It shakes all the way back to the rear transmission mount.
Good luck,
Wagonboy

On my '80 242 GT I had a very similar problem and it turned out to be the rear-most spider joint in the driveshaft. It is VERY common for older Volvos (usually 200k+ miles) to need new spider joints here or else simply a new rear-half of the driveshaft.
The best way to inspect for this is to apply the parking brake and with the car in neutral give the drive shaft a twist back and forth -- there should be very little or no free play in the drive shaft parts. Also be sure to visually inspect all four joints on the rear spider, often the shim/gasket/wear surface will break and fall off of the drive shaft leaving the spider in an abnormally large hole.

good luck!

A siezed or binding U-jount will cause this. You really have to remove the drive shaft to check. Usually 1 joint will be free in 1 direction but not the other. Best to replace all joints at the same time along with the center bearing. Torque rod bushings can also contribute.