240 rear sag: bushes or springs?

Discussion in 'Volvo 240' started by David Balfour, Jan 11, 2006.

  1. The back end of my 240 estate is sagging quite badly. It's covered 160,000
    miles and has towed a horse trailer for a few years of its life.

    How can I tell if the bushes or the springs are bad? The bushes don't look
    easy to get at or I'd just do those and see if makes a difference.

    Thanks,

    David
     
    David Balfour, Jan 11, 2006
    #1
  2. David Balfour

    James Sweet Guest


    Replace the bushings first, they commonly wear out, the springs don't.
    You need a special tool to replace the trailing arm bushings, I built
    one from plans I found online but then I had access to machine shop so
    it was easier. You can build one with more basic tools if you need to
    though or have a shop replace the bushings.
     
    James Sweet, Jan 12, 2006
    #2
  3. David Balfour

    Mike F Guest

    You're not going to find out for sure unless you remove the bolt through
    that bushing and inspect it, or crawl under a non sagging 240 and
    measure the length of the spring, and compare it to yours. Sagging
    springs are quite common.

    --
    Mike F.
    Thornhill (near Toronto), Ont.

    Replace tt with t (twice!) and remove parentheses to email me directly.
    (But I check the newsgroup more often than this email address.)
     
    Mike F, Jan 12, 2006
    #3
  4. David Balfour

    Johan Plane Guest

    Even if the bushes are worn, they don't make the rear sag. We're talking about
    1/2 inch if all the rubber in the bishing is gone. More likely the springs are
    worn out - fatigued.
    Having dragged caravans for the past 20 years, I have had to replace springs a
    few times. There are springs that are harder, however, that may have an impact
    on comfort when driving without load on the rear. The alternative is to mount
    pneumatic shockabsorbers that can be adjusted automatically or manually.

    / Johan
     
    Johan Plane, Jan 12, 2006
    #4
  5. David Balfour

    James Sweet Guest


    Sure they do, my 240 was sagging pretty noticeably, replaced the
    trailing arm bushings and torque rod bushings and it fixed the sag. When
    they all go out the axle not only rides up but rotates a bit and the
    effect is the back end of the car sags down quite a bit.
     
    James Sweet, Jan 13, 2006
    #5
  6. David Balfour

    M-gineering Guest

    The alternative is
    Due to their offset mounting this solution is not very kind to the axle
    bushings
     
    M-gineering, Jan 13, 2006
    #6
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