Quest

I have a 1997 Subaru Outback. I recently was off road in the mountains and woke up to 14 inches of snow. For the first time I chained up my fronts and worked my way back to logging roads and then down the mountain. I was pushing snow with the front bumper and dragging the belly, but it made it. I was glad I had chains. Washington now requires ALL vehicles to "carry" chains and in rare situations, the state patrol can require you to put them on. http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/winter/

A couple years ago I got a flat tire. I have a 1997 Subaru Outback (automatic). I am aware that you are suppose to put in the FWD fuse, but it is not clear if the spare needs to be on the back. The owner manual states.... Before driving your vehicle with temporary spare tire, you put a spare fuse inside the FWD connector located in the engine compartment. You can confirm that it is in front-wheel drive as there is a front-wheel drive warning light that comes on. After you reinstall the conventional tire, your remove the spare fuse from the FWD connector. I ended up switching the full tire to the front and putting the spare on the back, with the thought it would handle better. The question is... is it required?

A good question I saw raised and also have.... I have a 1997 Subaru Outback. I recently was off road in the mountains and woke up to 14 inches of snow. For the first time I chained up my fronts and worked my way back to logging roads and then down the mountain. When I was telling a friend about it the next day, he asked if I put the FWD fuse in. I checked the owner manual and it did not mention changing to FWD. It indicated the following: Driving on snowy grades or icy roads may require the use of tire chains, to which case put the chains on the font wheels only. Use only SAE class S type chains that are of the correct size for your tires so as not to damage the vehicle body or suspension. When driving with tire chains, drive at speeds below 19 MPH. Is it required or is the any reason one should change FWD? At these speeds and conditions, it seems like the last thing you would want to do.

I have a 1997 Subaru Outback (automatic). I recently pulled out the owner manual because another Subaru owner asked about towing. I always thought that you had to tow Subarus with all 4 wheels off the road. It appears that you can tow it with 4 wheels on the ground or 2 up... though all 4 off the road is the recommended way. It indicates with 4 on the road that you only want to go a limited distance and speed... good luck getting a tow truck driver to go under 20 mph. It never really indicates any issues or restrictions with the 2 up and 2 down.... are there?