sjr 4 inch lift is thrashing my front axels

[85wagon]

when i bought this 4inch lift for my car i was under the impression that I WOULD NOT HAVE TO REPLACE Axles EVERY 5,000 MILES, im super super pissed off about this. 30,000 miles ive put on since ive had the lift and i have changed 7 axles. if this is the case, the lift is pointless......... am i the only one with this issue??? i was 100% under the impression that this would not happen with a 4 inch lift. wtf do i do i dont have the place to do this every 5,000 miles i live in an apartment.... so a HUGE warning to others interested in lifting there subaru, be ready to change axles constantly, i bought this car as a daily driver, and it is absolutly not.

[MilesFox]

It is common knowledge that overextending the axles will will cause them to fail prematurely.

 

Also Is this the complete lift kit, or just the strut spacers? you can get away with lifting the struts 2 inches, but you want to also lift the subframes as well.

 

A properly spaced lift kit will keep the original suspension geometry intact.

 

I would suspect you have only the strut spacers, being the cheaper option by whover installed it and sold you the car. This would not be a design failure rather than an incomplete lift(SJR supplies the whole lift kit, but can sell parts individually)

[obk25xt]

I have thousands and thousands of miles on a lifted subie and can for surely say, if lifted correctly, axles will last waaaayyyyyyyy longer than 5,ooo a pop. Even at 1-2" over stock geometry they will last longer.

 

That said, I've seen people with stock subarus go thru them like nobody's business.

 

There are 2 main factors I attribute this to.....

 

A) Quality of reman'd axle.

 

Driving style

 

I'm sure there will be more support of this opinion.

[bheinen74]

Yeah sounds like the installed lift kit is incomplete.

 

You can correct your problems by making sure the crossmember blocks are the same spacing as the strut blocks.

 

Or, you can remove the lift kit

 

Or, you are putting in junk axles.

[85wagon]

it was the whole 9 yards, full lift kit, i didn't install it wrong, i try not to turn my steering wheel all the way so i don't max out the axles, i was kinda pissed when i wrote that, i had just broke the axle pin, its just frustrating i do a lot of gravel road driving and highway. i do have re maned axles. its just frustrating to change axles that often. i guess if i have to i will have to put a 2inch lift on, i noticed today that my tires are wearing super bad on the inside on the back tires... i did a ton of research b4 i bought this lift thanks to usmb and the members being so knowledgeable, i felt that i had a good understanding that the axles would be fine. sjr 4 inch lift is only suppose to put a 1 inch suspension lift, and 3 body right? again i have to apologize for the pitty party, if it was every 30,000 miles i had to change the axles id be fine with that, not every other oil change.. lol i did buy the full lift kit the 495.00 one. im going to get some stock axles at the junk yard, maybe that will help. thanks for the info

[85wagon]

also is there an alignment adjustment in the rear? and what brand of remand axles do you guys have ?

[El Presidente]

Yes the rear is adjustable and there's a couple threads about doing this. Reman's are notorious for going out early and companys that reman these axles can cut corners, like turning down the spindle nut threads because they're damaged and rethreading them at a smaller size. I get newly manufactured ones(just their generic brand) from carquest for $80. Using stock JY axles is a good idea, but I'd reboot them first, because the rubber gets "settled in" at a certain angle and when you put them on a lifted rig, they tear fast and easy.

 

SJR makes good stuff and I'd be eyeballing the quality of those axles before the lift kit.

[blk99obs]

While I personally don't have any experience with the same issue you are having, I will say with experience from other cars (mainly honda CRX, integras, etc) reman axles are NOT worth your time, and can in fact be dangerous I've found... One screwed up at a very inopportune moment and nearly made me wreck. That said, my dad has an old GL thats bone stock, does nothing but putt down the highway, and hes always having problems with reman axles, and the same goes for a friend of mine that had a stock GL. The thing is, you are adding stress and using lower quality axles which is a bad combo when you think about it. Get away from those kragen special axles, and hit up Napa and buy some NEW ones, not reman. It will cost you more, but you get what you pay for, I put some on my integra and CRX, never had problems again... and I thrashed on those cars hard. If you can find some good stock ones, run em!

Edited November 30, 2011 by blk99obs

[bheinen74]

usuallynobody has much good luck with reman.

1. The boots on them are much thinner rubber and crack so so so easy in a short time, and when they crack they throw grease out and die soon.

2. The tolerances of the joints are not high, they knock a lot as well.

3. They are known to be bad right out of the box.

 

Who cares about the lifteime warranty on a reman when they are junk. I think you post sums it up, they are not worth the hastle.

 

How is that lifetime warranty treating you, are you tired of it yet....

 

Immediatley toss the reman in the garbage, and go get a nice OEM one, or a used oem one.

 

 

 

The lift kit is not the issue if you installed all lift blocks; the lift kit preserves axle geometry 100%.

[JacksonRally]

I put remans on my 87 right after I lifted it and they were clacking right off the bat. I delt with it for awhile till the boots tore. I then bought all new boots from Subaru and used Subaru grease (all this was almost as expensive as the remans) The factory boots obviously werent 100% proper for the reman cv joints but after some fanangaling I got them on there and with a whole pack of grease in each cv. The inner factory boot also has the proper bellow sizes in the right spots. All in all this fixed all the clacking and Ive no problems since.

[one eye]

it was the whole 9 yards, full lift kit, i didn't install it wrong, i try not to turn my steering wheel all the way so i don't max out the axles, i was kinda pissed when i wrote that, i had just broke the axle pin, its just frustrating i do a lot of gravel road driving and highway. i do have re maned axles. its just frustrating to change axles that often. i guess if i have to i will have to put a 2inch lift on, i noticed today that my tires are wearing super bad on the inside on the back tires... i did a ton of research b4 i bought this lift thanks to usmb and the members being so knowledgeable, i felt that i had a good understanding that the axles would be fine. sjr 4 inch lift is only suppose to put a 1 inch suspension lift, and 3 body right? again i have to apologize for the pitty party, if it was every 30,000 miles i had to change the axles id be fine with that, not every other oil change.. lol i did buy the full lift kit the 495.00 one. im going to get some stock axles at the junk yard, maybe that will help. thanks for the info

 

So to be clear its a front axle that is going? Is it the same one that goes every time? is it breaking or tearing the boot off?

 

If it is a front and on the drivers side I would go check your motor mounts, I went through 19 axles on one of my rigs before I replaced the Left side motor mount never again did I break an axle or tear a boot, as for the tire ware thats pretty much part of the deal, El presidente and I have our blocks cut at 17* witch helps a bit more, all said and done I do belive that Scott makes a pretty good lift there are just some cars that dont agree with certian things you do with a lift on them, there is one That was lifted at my place that just kept waring tires like crazy no matter how much angle we put in the blocks and one kept pulling boots off, if anything look everthing over really good under there and see if any thing looks out of place if so see if that could be something causing the problem...................................

 

Jeff

[987687]

I just posted this somewhere else yesterday, here's how to adjust your rear camber.

 

 

I (for some reason) get napa maxdrive lifetime warranty axles. They're crap, half the time they click right out of the box.

Recently blew up a front axles on a 1100 mile roadtrip moving, the DOJ actually started seizing up, when it cooled, it would not move. Anyway, new napa axle clicked and knocked right out of the damn box. That made me happy for 500 more miles...

[Scott in Bellingham]

when i bought this 4inch lift for my car i was under the impression that I WOULD NOT HAVE TO REPLACE Axles EVERY 5,000 MILES, im super super pissed off about this. 30,000 miles ive put on since ive had the lift and i have changed 7 axles. if this is the case, the lift is pointless......... am i the only one with this issue??? i was 100% under the impression that this would not happen with a 4 inch lift. wtf do i do i dont have the place to do this every 5,000 miles i live in an apartment.... so a HUGE warning to others interested in lifting there subaru, be ready to change axles constantly, i bought this car as a daily driver, and it is absolutly not.

lets see a picture head on at front sitting on level ground

[Cyfun]

My rule of thumb is that if a car's axles are easy to swap, then I usually go with the cheapo Oreilly brand with the lifetime warranty, as they're only like $60. If it's on a vehicle that's a *************** to replace axles on, I spend the extra cash to get new axles at Carquest or Napa.

 

My GLW has a 2" strut lift with no body spacers. When I got the car, one of the inner boots was torn, slinging grease everywhere. Luckily my lower balljoints pop off pretty easily, so these axles are quick to swap once you've done it a time or two. I replaced it with the cheapo one cause I knew that the lift would stress the joints, and I only drive it around town and offroad, so I'd rather thrash crap axles with lifetime warranties than slightly better axles with only a 1 or 3 year warranty.

[Numbchux]

i do have re maned axles

 

don't blame the lift. 5-10k is all I've ever gotten out of remanned axles on any of my subarus, with or without a lift.

 

Hell, I've "re-manufactured" stock axles myself (taken dry, sandy, even fallen-apart axles, cleaned them, and put new boots and grease in there) and had great luck.

[Uberoo]

stay away from a remaned axle.An old stock axle with good boots from the junkyard is 100-1000X better than a reman.An old stock axle with new grease is easy 1000X better than reman.I had a reman on the front of my 2" suspension lifted EA81(with EA82 front suspension) and it siezed in 3 days of driving.I have a set of old stock axles with original grease and good boots that have been on the car for a long time with no issues.Heck,stock subaru axles are known to click for 10K miles before they die if they have a torn boot.

 

I vote junkyard axles,or if its the same side side each time look at your motor mounts..

[85wagon]

i definitely want everyone to know im not blaming the sjr lift kit, it was far superior than any expectations i had, and the people i've referred to his site have also loved the lift kits and quality. i will keep the remaned for extras, and go buy stock ones, again this is why i love this site, thank you for the info i will post a pic of the front end when i get the tires back on, and keep you posted if the stock ones solve it. i will also check motor mounts. i did have to tow my dads full size chevy up a hill in gravel for about 5 miles, about 2 weeks b4 i put the lift on so maybe i did break a mount.

[bheinen74]

My post on reman'd got deleted, and it showed the real issue. what gives mods?

everyone else is here and there posts remain?????

 

not happy, gave good advice too.

[Red92]

My post on reman'd got deleted, and it showed the real issue.

 

 

This one? It's still there for me...

 

usuallynobody has much good luck with reman.

1. The boots on them are much thinner rubber and crack so so so easy in a short time, and when they crack they throw grease out and die soon.

2. The tolerances of the joints are not high, they knock a lot as well.

3. They are known to be bad right out of the box.

 

Who cares about the lifteime warranty on a reman when they are junk. I think you post sums it up, they are not worth the hastle.

 

How is that lifetime warranty treating you, are you tired of it yet....

 

Immediatley toss the reman in the garbage, and go get a nice OEM one, or a used oem one.

 

 

 

The lift kit is not the issue if you installed all lift blocks; the lift kit preserves axle geometry 100%.

[Redcap]

My post on reman'd got deleted, and it showed the real issue. what gives mods?

everyone else is here and there posts remain?????

 

not happy, gave good advice too.

 

Your post is still there dude...

[Loyale 2.7 Turbo]

lets see a picture head on at front sitting on level ground

 

Also I Believe that to see Pictures of the Car sitting on level Ground plus Pictures of the Whole lift kit install, could be Helpful to determine if there's something missing or wrong.

 

Kind Regards.

[Gloyale]

Possible you've got the front lift blocks installed on the wrong side?

 

Check the engine mounts for sure, and on a related note, do you have a proper length "dogbone" (pitch stopper). One or both of these issues could be causing the drivetrain to lift up, increasing CV angles.

[GeneralDisorder]

1. Reman axles are not all the same. Subaru of America sells reman axles that are of excellent quality.

 

2. Many problems people have with reman axles can be traced to really poor quality grease and boots.

 

3. Lack of attention to engine and transmission mounts accounts for a large number of repeat joint failures.

 

4. Clicking and clacking is not always the axle. Improper installation, bad wheel bearings, and a general lack of attention to the details of the cone washer and hub fitment accounts for a lot of problems people have.

 

5. Personally I buy either brand new axles from EMPI ($60 to $70 each), or remans from the dealer. I also pay close attention to numbers 1 through 4 above. I don't have repeat failure problems with axles.

 

GD

[85wagon]

Update: I finally destroyed my tires and got new ones"poor alignment ruined my awsome tires:(", I had a full alignment done when I had them installed "the alignment wasn't bad at all", I pulled the motor and checked both motor mounts and the transmission mounts, I also got 2 new axles from the parts store "I've gone through so many these were the last 2 the store would give me and they will no longer guarantee them..." I bought good red grease spendy stuff lol, and pulled the axles apart and cleaned and re greased them. I've really only put 3-4k on them almost all "maybe 1-2 miles on gravel" are highway miles and they are starting to go. and my new tires on the back are showing signs of wearing more on the inside than the outside.I love this car more than any other vehicle I have ever owned, Hands down it is the funnest and most capable car/truck/4wheeler/montser truck/tractor I have ever owned lol, I dont want to get rid of it, this car is more reliable "other than axles" than most friends Ive had so i really dont want to get rid of it, So Where can I get "subaru axles" or EMPI axles, the next time I replace the axles I will also do all wheel bearings, ball joints, tie rod ends, and struts. I may even try and find a way to attach the tranny better. any other ideas.

[torxxx]

google empi they have a website.

 

As for blaming the lift for destroying stuff, I honestly dont think its the lift's fault. Are you 100% sure you put all the stuff on the correct sides? And did you have your alignment set after the lift?

 

I've had my EA82 lifted since 2003 or 2004 and I beat the everliving S@#% out of my car, and I have done 1 CV axle in the front. My front lift is a AA 4 Inch lift with Honda accord front springs on my rear struts. the rear ends up being almost 5.5 inches with those stupid springs on there, and I NEVER have axle issues. The only time I've had to replace a rear axle was after losing the boot and driving it for a few years. My car has never had the alignment done to it, Its had 2 sets of tires put on it (both used sets btw, I never buy new tires) It was my daily driver until 2 years ago. It gets taken out several times during the week and gets trashed and parked wet. I've ripped the transmission/radius rod brackets clean out of the floor several times. So any of the issues I had, was never with the lift, it was with weaknesses within the car. Never broke a engine mount/tranny mount/dog bone since I started driving this car 15 years ago.

 

 

If you put reman napa axles in it, you'll be replacing them often. Buy a subaru or empi axle, problem solved. I would take a look at your radius rods/bushings. I've seen those wear out, and they will let your control arms walk forwards/backwards and that could put extra stress on the axles.