From memory, this joint can be rocked easily from side to side - that is to say the rod end can be rotated a few degrees either side of vertical and that doesn't indicate excessive wear. Although others refer to track rod ends as being a weakness prone to failure and replacement, I have never seen this on my own S80. Brendon's original list of suspects is pretty much spot on and it's quite difficult sometimes to identify the culprit whilst it remains on the car. Drop links can appear to be ok until removed and the same goes for the upper strut mounts and bearings. More easy to diagnose are the lower wishbone bushes where the front fails fairly regularly - 80 to 100k or so if you are lucky and the lower suspension ball joint.
On my own car, the failures were in the following order:
Droplink
Wishbone front bush
Upper strut mount assembly (rubber and swivel)
Shock
Lower ball joint.
Although I have replaced them as a matter of course when doing the fronts, the rear wishbone bushes haven't packed up on me. As I have already said, the steering track rod ball joint has always been ok and I am now up to 195k.
Interestingly, a loud crash/bang/wallop from the front suspension has been part of Volvo motoring for pretty well the entire life of the car (I have had it from new) and it really does seem to be a weakness in the overall design.
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