95 volvo 850 glt wagon suspension questions

I recently purchased a 95 Volvo 850 GLT wagon with 181,400 miles on
it. The engine and the transmission work fine. The radiator is cracked
and I will be installing one myself.

The main problem is the suspension. The front rattles badly when going
over bumps or medium side potholes. The struts are leaking badly. They
do not compress at all just drop when the springs compress.

I jacked up the car on the driver side and the front driver wheel was
moving in and out perpendicular to the car about 2 cm in and out.
What is this?

My mechanic told me that I would need new ball joints (same as getting
new control arms), sway bar links and bushing, and the new sway bar.
Am I missing anything else?

How is it likely that sway bar would go bad. One from IPD is pricey,
then is it a good idea to go with a used one from the salvage yard or
where do I buy one which is less than $300.

Also how hard is it to change all this myself. I want to save some $$
by replacing struts and other components by myself. I got spring
compressors so that is not a problem for me.

Another thing is that the car i missing or has cracked mud shields
and some bumper clips are missing. Where do I get those clips and
inexpensive mud shields. Do I need to go with Volvo part or would
some other parts do from some car maybe?

 

I bought Volvo's rear mudguards for my V70 - they came with instructions
and all necessary mounting hardware, and they are not very expensive. I
think I paid something like $55 (DKK300,-) for mine here in Denmark.
I'd check the Volvo dealers price first...

 

Dunno about the details, but the movement you describe sounds like really
bad ball joints. Ball joint failure is *very* bad news - you want to correct
the problem before that happens. This web page shows a Honda product, but it
illustrates the results nicely
http://tegger.com/hondafaq/lowerballjoint/index.html

 

A bit off topic - my experience with the gear ring on the flywheel of my 745 TD
engine - if the same part is sold by Volkswagen-Audi (eg. for the 740 TD
engine, which is a VW-diesel-engine), the price of the identical part was about
triple at the Volvo dealer compared to the Volkswagen-Audi dealer price.

Viktor