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I finished the front suspension (control arm bushings, sway bar bushings, the rods, steering boots, tie ends, and ball joints) on our '88 244 GL yesterday, and learned a few things along the way.
1. The old control arm bushings were ScanTech, and according to the maintenance records had about 40k miles on them. They were completely shot, with circumferential cracks in the rubber that went all the way around. No more ScanTech bushings for me.
2. The garage that replaced the original bushings stripped out one of the three bolts that mount the rear control arm bracket to the vehicle subframe. Naturally, it was one of the "blind" bolts that can't be accessed to add a nut. I ended up drilling out the old hole (sized for a 10 mm bolt) and tapped it for the next size up (a 12 mm bolt). By taking it slowly and using plenty of lubricant, the new threads were great. When you replace these brackets, clean the mating surfaces thoroughly. A congealed grease layer, undercoating, etc. will dramatically reduce the strength of a bolted joint, even if the bolt is torqued to specs. For a good bolted joint, with proper bolt torque and metal-to-metal contact between the mating surfaces, most of the external load goes through the mating surfaces, NOT the bolt. That's why bolts almost always fail during installation and removal, and not during service.
3. Do not use a pickle fork to remove your tierod end from the steering arm. Use a tierod separator. There is one available from Harbor Freight that costs about $6 and is a perfect fit for Volvo tierod ends. It works like a GREAT. It's like the Chinese copied a Volvo special tool. Do not risk damaging your rack, tierod, or steering arm by pounding away with a pickle fork.
4. If your car is aligned, you can get very close to maintaining alignment by precisely counting the number of threads between the end of the lock nut and the end of the tierod end, and mounting the new tierod end at the same location. I mean a PRECISE count, not +- 1 thread. Count fractional threads. Presumably, the old tierod end setting yielded a correct toe-in setting. I found that new hardware and the old tierod end settings centered my steering wheel and left the car with a very stable steering feel. I need new tires in about 10k mile, so I may postpone an alignment until then.
Happy bricking!
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'88 244GL, '89 244GL, '90 244DL, '91 244, '92 244
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