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2003 Forester 5 speed input shaft seal question


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I have a 2003 Forester 5 speed already out and split to replace the input shaft seal.  My question is on the seal I received from Rock Auto.

I've attached a picture of the two, the one on the left is the original.  The one on the right came from Rock Auto.

 

As you can see, the one from Rock Auto is half as wide.  Does anyone have experience using their seal here?  I've used other sized seals like this on other not so critical areas but it's a lot of work if I have to pull this back out.

 

I was unable to find a conversion chart for National to NOK seals.  Rock Auto says it's the correct one.  My nearest Subaru dealer is 90 miles away so if I have to go, I'd like to go once. The National (Federal Mogul) part number is 222558.  The rest of the seals I received for the axles and rear main look correct.

 

My inclination is to send it back to Rock Auto and make the trip to the dealer. What are your thoughts?

 

Also, where do you guys shop online for your Subaru parts?

 

Thanks for your help.

 

 

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Why not just have the dealer mail you one to avoid the drive? It's small enough to over night in an envelope, and I'm guessing they can take CC payment over the phone. 

 

I've never done one of those, but would be inclined to go with whatever Subaru sends you given the thickness difference, unless someone chimes in saying it was superseded at some point. 

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I try to avoid using anything by National because of repeat failures and inconsistency with the sizing of some of their parts.

 

For a seal like this I go to the dealer or order from an online dealer, or search the dealer part number on Amazon. Sometimes the shipping cost on Amazon makes it prohibitively expensive to buy just one part, but if I have an MT split its usually to replace the bearing at the back of the input shaft, so I order the bearings and seals together.

 

The big question here is why the input seal on the trans needs to be replaced. Usually the only reason that seal fails is the bearing on the input shaft has play and allows the shaft to wobble which causes the leak.

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