Differential cross sections for 87Sr(d, t) 86Sr transitions to the (1 g 9 2 ) −2 states of 86Sr were obtained with the Pittsburgh 18 MeV deuteron beam and the Enge split-pole spectrograph. States of 86Sr up to 3.82 MeV in excitation were studied with a total resolution of 12 keV. Successful distorted-wave Born approximation (DWBA) predictions for 87Sr(d, t) 86Sr angular distributions permitted the extraction of l-values and spectroscopic strengths. The sum-rule value agrees with the observed value for the (1 g 9 2 ) −2 configuration. The observed g 9 2 strength is spread over 13 states. Contrary to an earlier interpretation, the 0 + ground state is found to contain only 65% of the ( g 9 2 ) 2 0 + strength. Similarly, the full 4 + strength is not located in a single state. The new data change the interpretation of the ( g 9 2 ) −2 spectrum of 86Sr. They significantly alter the deduced low-spin matrix elements and bring them into much closer agreement with those derived from 88Y. Several new negative-parity states dominated by l = 1 orbital angular momentum transfer have also been identified.