Steering Column Bushing for 1983 Volvo 245 GL

Inside a rack and pinion housing, the rack bar slides back and forth through a guide that keeps it supported and running true.

In your Volvo 245, that guide is a bushing, and when it wears the bar is free to move in directions it was never meant to.

What a Rack Shaft Guide Bushing Does

A steering rack is a toothed bar running inside a tube. The pinion drives it from one side, and the bar slides left and right to push the tie rods.

For that bar to transmit steering accurately, it has to be supported along its length and held concentric in the housing. A shaft guide bushing at the end of the rack tube does that job, taking the side loads the bar generates while letting it slide freely.

It is a plain bearing rather than a suspension bushing. The rack bar moves through it constantly, every steering input for the life of the vehicle, under load from the road coming back up the tie rods.

Factory versions are typically molded plastic or rubber backed, chosen for low friction and quiet operation rather than longevity.

Why This Is Not the Same as a Rack Mount Bushing

Three different parts get grouped under steering bushings and the distinction matters when ordering.

A rack mount bushing sits outside the housing, holding the whole rack assembly to the subframe. Wear there lets the entire rack shift sideways, which changes toe on both wheels at once.

A shaft guide bushing, listed by some suppliers as a steering shaft bushing, sits inside the housing supporting the bar itself. Wear there lets the bar deflect within the rack rather than moving the rack.

A steering column bushing is different again, sitting inside the column supporting the rotating shaft between the wheel and the pinion. That is a column repair rather than a steering precision part.

All three produce vagueness at the wheel, and all three need different parts. Identifying which one has gone saves buying the wrong thing twice.

What a Worn Guide Bushing Lets Happen

The bar starts moving in the one direction it should not.

With a sound guide, the rack bar only slides. With a worn one, it can also lift, drop and rock slightly within the housing as load comes through the tie rods.

That shows up as a knock through the steering wheel over bumps, since every impact at the wheels travels up the tie rods and the bar has somewhere to go.

It also produces steering play that does not change with load the way a mount bushing does. A deflecting mount gets worse the harder you steer. A worn guide knocks over bumps regardless of how much steering input you are applying.

Left long enough, the bar wears the housing bore itself, which turns a bushing replacement into a rack replacement.

Why Older Vehicles Like the Volvo 245 Need Them Most

This is a part that matters more as a car ages, and more again on earlier rack designs.

Older racks used simpler guide arrangements with plastic or composite bushings that harden, wear oval and lose their support over decades rather than years.

Those same vehicles have usually covered enough distance for the bushing to have seen millions of cycles, and replacement parts for the rack as a whole are often difficult to source.

That makes a guide bushing one of the few ways to restore steering precision on a classic or an older performance car without rebuilding or replacing the entire rack.

On a vehicle where the rack is otherwise sound, no leaks, no play at the pinion and no damage to the bar, a new guide bushing addresses the actual fault for a fraction of a rack price.

Polyurethane in a Sliding Application

Material choice works differently here because the bushing is a bearing rather than a pivot.

Everywhere else in the suspension, polyurethane holds position and resists deflection. In a sliding application it has to do that while still letting the bar move freely, which is a harder requirement.

The benefit here is dimensional stability over time. A polyurethane guide holds its bore under load and over time rather than wearing oval, which keeps the bar supported where the original stopped.

What matters alongside it is surface finish and lubrication at fitting. A guide bushing has to slide, so it needs the correct grease on assembly and a bar that is clean and unscored.

A pitted or corroded rack bar will chew through a new guide bushing quickly, so inspecting the bar is part of deciding whether this is the right repair.

Diagnosing the Difference at the Wheel

Three checks separate a guide bushing from everything else it gets confused with.

With the engine off and the wheels straight, rock the steering wheel gently. Free play at the wheel with no movement at the road wheels points at the column, the coupling or the rack internals rather than the mounts.

Have someone turn the wheel while you watch the rack housing at its mounting points. Housing movement points straight at the mount bushings. A still housing with play at the wheel means something inside.

Drive a rough road and listen carefully at the front end. A knock that arrives with bumps rather than with steering input points at the bar moving within the housing.

Check the tie rod ends and inner rack joints before condemning anything, since both produce play that feels identical from the driver's seat.

Steering Play and Where It Actually Comes From

Play at the wheel has more possible sources than most people realize, and working through them in order saves money.

The column and its coupling come first, since they are closest to the driver. A universal joint or a collapsible shaft with wear in it produces free play at the rim with nothing happening at the road wheels at all.

The rack internals come next in that order. The pinion bearing, the rack bar guide and the yoke adjustment all sit inside the housing, and wear in any of them lets the bar move relative to the pinion driving it.

The rack mounts are the next thing to check. Those let the whole assembly shift sideways under steering load, which feels like slack that gets worse the harder you steer.

The outer joints come last in that sequence. Tie rod ends and inner rack joints produce knocks and play that feel identical from the seat but can be seen directly by levering at the joint.

Checking in that order, from the wheel outward, finds the fault without replacing parts speculatively.

Fitting a Rack Shaft Guide Bushing on Your Volvo 245

This is rack work rather than a bolt-on, and it is worth being clear about that.

On most applications the rack has to come out, or at least be partially dismantled, to access the guide bushing at the end of the housing.

That means disconnecting the tie rods, the steering shaft coupling and the power steering lines where fitted, then draining and refilling the system afterward.

Inspect the rack bar while it is accessible. Scoring, pitting or corrosion on the bar means a new bushing will not last, and the rack needs different attention.

Clean the bore thoroughly before fitting, and use the lubricant specified for the material rather than whatever is on the bench.

Set the rack back in exactly its original position when refitting, since moving it laterally changes toe on both wheels at once, and have the alignment checked afterward.

What to Check at the Same Time for Your Volvo 245

The access is the expensive part, so a few things are worth doing while you are in there.

Inner tie rod joints sit at the ends of the rack bar and wear on a similar timeline. Replacing them later means doing the same work again.

Rack boots are cheap and they are what keeps grit off the bar. A split boot is usually why the guide bushing wore out in the first place.

Rack mount bushings are accessible with the rack out, and they fail from a different cause but at a similar age.

The steering shaft coupling is worth inspecting at the same time, since it is disconnected anyway and a worn coupling produces play that gets blamed on the rack.

Find Steering Rack Bushings for Your Volvo 245

Steering column bushings sit within our bushings lineup.

Select your Volvo 245 to see the rack and pinion shaft guide bushings available for it. If the steering knocks over bumps but the tie rod ends and mounts check out sound, the guide bushing inside the housing is where to look next.