I was checking under my 1995 850 GLT wagon to inventory for suspension problems before new tires and an alignment. I was also looking around in general to get acquainted since I've had the car nearly a year and barely touched it mechanically. I expected to see a sway bar on the rear delta links, but it is not there. I have always thought the car leaned a lot in the corners, maybe this is why. I found a couple places on the net with "specs" that said there should be a rear sway bar on this model. I see the mounting points on the suspension arms where it should go.

Can anybody tell me for sure if it should have a rear sway bar?

If so, I guess it's a trip to the salvage yard for me.

it should have a "stabilizer (anti-roll) bar":
Front- independent, Macpherson struts with coil springs and telescopic shocks absorbers. Anti-roll bar on ALL models.

Rear- Semi-independent "delta link" double longitudinal trailing arms and intergrated transverse arms, coil springs, telescopic shock absorbers, anti-roll stabilizer bar on ALL models.

any open mounting holes? and if that was missing the ride would be seriously poor, in a turn it would dip and roll out on you, is that how the ride feels now?
If its not missing the shocks are mabey bad? I have a sedan model, but the setup is the same.

I seem to recall reading somewhere that some models did not come with a rear bar. I don't think every model had one. I'll see if I can find where I got that from.

yea, honestly, i think the same, i just have this big thick dealer service manual. It also has a drawing and detailed instruction on R&R. Its been wrong before, but it did say all models.
does your 855 have one?

Both of my current cars have one, but they're both turbos. Prior to having these two, I had a '94 non-turbo that had no rear bar. At the time, I seem to recall seeing an article somewhere that listed all the different size bars and what vehicles they came on. I think there were 2 different size rear bars, and 3 different size fronts.

I'm guessing the base model cars came with a small front and no rear. The turbo models came with the mid size front and small rear, and the R model came with the large front and large rear. That's all a guess for now though, but I seem to remember it being something like that.

:thumbsup:

Rear suspension

The rear suspension of the car consists of two front-rear trailing arms (1) with integrated transverse arms (2). The rear wheels are suspended on the trailing arms.
The rear suspension also includes an anti-roll bar (3), it consists of a bar.

The transverse arms are supported in a transverse mounting (4) in the opposite trailing arm. In principle both trailing arms with the transverse arms operate as a unit, however rubber bushings allow a degree of movement in relationship to each other.
Each trailing arm is mounted to the body via a steering link (5) (rear axle link). The steering link allows the wheel limited pre-determined changes in direction. The steering link system compensates for the rear axle elasticity by resisting lateral forces. When the bodywork is subjected to lateral force during cornering the rear wheels move sideways without affecting the steering.
This design allows the car to retain neutral steering, making it stable and easy to control.
The rear wheels have a negative camber of 1.0°

By the way, ...

under my '95 NA 850 wagon it was hard to tell and i was about to type and tell you there isn't one on my wagon either... but then i saw the pics that ampangbear posted and went back out again with a flashlight. i have one and you should too. it not connected like my other so called american vehicles that i've owned&driven.

i imagine the car would ride like a rubber duck full of jello if it was actually missing. :cat: even though the front and rear suspensions are very different on most cars, i have driven a car without the front roll bar and i feel sure you would notice this difference at the rear too. i imagine they all have the bar, its necessary unless you have a rigid axle i imagine. loose sloppy suspension without it :blush: :P

good luck.

The sketches confirm what I saw under the car. the fittings and holes are there for the bar, but no bar. I bought the car last year from the original owner, who had lots of records and appears to be a dealer service type as opposed to a diyer. I can't think of any reason for the bar to be gone if it was there, no mods to the car that I've seen.

Looks like I need to find a few hours to hit the salvage yard and look for the biggest bar they've got. The car definitely leans over more in turns than I would have expected which makes the turn-in response slow. But once it takes a set it handles nicely, even with worn out shocks AND tires (and an AWOL sway/anti-roll bar). I guess I can live without it, but flatter cornering would be nice. Safer in an emergency maneuver too.

I'd love to get the IPD sways for it , but it's hard to justify $400 plus all the install time for a drive-to-work "beater" (it actually looks great for 14 years old and 150k miles). If I can prove to myself volvos won't bankrupt us with maintenance and that the 850 will last like the old 242 I had for a while, I'll get second one with a turbo and do the performance enhancements to it.

Thanks to all for the information. You guys are great!

Hopefully I'll be using some of the fixes described on the board to try and bring back some of the luster to my old wagon.

so to answer his original question?
and it is so ALL models have them or should?

In '95 the GLT model was an upgrade from the base model, but only in the interior. Things like the sunroof, and leather....stuff like that. Performance wise, they were the same, and that being the case I don't think the GLT came with one. I could be wrong, but as I mentioned above, there are 3 different size fronts, and 2 different rears. I believe the base and GLT had the small front bar and no rear, and the turbo and T5-R got progressively larger bars for both the front and rear.

Thanks for the photo Ampag, I hear a new rattle in the rear of my 855 I need to investigate.

Sure thing.

my stripped down, no-frills, 1995 non-turbo wagon has this bar and i was told my 850 is a 'base model' by my local indy-Volvo shop owner.

hmm...

would someone hava added the bar, or has my wagon been 'worked on' before i bought it?... i wonder...

Wonder no more, Tom.
Since its already there, it saved you a few hundreds already.
:)

Cheers.