newsoobdude

Got to work on the Outback and finally replaced my Transverse Link bushings (no more clunking, kinda nice) and got around to replacing my radio antenna for the 2nd and (hopefully) final time. All I have to do now is make a support bracket for my new antenna as it's a little different than OEM.

I've got Grabbers on my Outback as I couldn't get BFGs and am happy with them so far. They do ok in the mud but do turn to slicks pretty easily and quickly but, even still. I've been wheelin them since Feb. and have gotten stuck only once because I went too slow, but that's another story. Rather quiet on the street and on the highways and handle decently too (they do flex though). I recommend them for dry fun.

Does anyone remember who had the diamond plate tailgate ONLY trim? DPDISXR4Ti, got any pic of her recently?

I was wonderin what happened to this. Good to know its being worked on. Are you gonna fill the ends of the frame?

That looks good! How well did it hold up to the punishment and how many coats did you guys apply? I'm lookin to do this to my Outback soon.

Looking good Kosta! Wish I was back up north to have an excuse to go to Sac and give a hand/ visit the yards.

Man that looks absolutely SIC monstaru!! How much ground clearance do you have under your oil pan and rear diff? Also, how close are the tires to the struts?

Thanks for the info Miles, have been thinking about roll vs spray so good to know. Now I gotta see if I can find a OD Green as the Hunter is too light and beige is also the color I'm painting one of my BRATs and don't necessarily want two beige rides . I do agree on the beige and black looking good and that's what the BRAT will be, I think. As for the body schutz, I might try that instead of the bed liner as the texture sounds better and not able to hold dirt as easily. I will be keeping it two tone though.

Been working on my Outback as it's the only one I have access to for the time being. Finally got all my lights wired up and into OEM switches, bypassed the neutral safety switch, mounted my Maglite, painted the wood grain inserts Green (need to redo OD Green), painted my struts flat black and disabled the ABS and disconnected said light bulb. Relocated my HVAC controls a while ago in order to put some gauges in but have been lagging on that and made my OEM fogs able to stay on with brights but going to redo as fully independent. Also painted the belt covers green but need to redo OD Green as well or maybe back to black.

Well upon spraying a test panel of Hunter Green, I realize it is too "bright" a green and I should just go with OD Green as the beige will be too big a PITA to make look proper.

Thinking of painting my Outback with some Rustoleum play-paint in either Hunter Green Satin or one of their Beige Satins (think tan primer) with Black bottom (bedliner). Which color would you choose?

On my 98, the seat belt receptacle has a wire coming out of it. I just unplugged it and all is good. Really nice as now my chime doesn't drive me nuckin futs anymore when I'm not belted in. I know on newer Fords, you buckle, unbuckle the belt so many times in so little time a certain way or something and the seat belt chime is disabled on them (not done personally but a lot of friends and ex-coworkers had done (F-series parking lot buss drivers)

subimonster, the HighGuys lift includes all the parts to drop the suspension and drivetrain down minus the center support bearing. On my Outback with 3 inch lift + Forester struts I just flipped the center bearing and dropped it down 1 inch to relieve stress on the bearing and u-joint. As for the Forester trailing arm, I know Austin did an Outback trailing arm bracket on his Legacy build with Outback struts and 3 inch lift (look for "water wagon" build thread). 30 inch tires will not fit without some massive offset and major cutting of the wheel wells/ fender openings (28s are a tight fit on my Outback and I've stuffed them in the rear without rubbing and in full flex). Granted I don't have a rear swaybar anymore but........

I would "think" it might be that you might have "muddied" the sensor and might have to re-submerge your ride as the sensor is dirty. Or you might have knocked it when you went through the puddle with a knocked rock.

Looking good, keep her up . MIght have my RSB going up for sale if you'd be intersted. pm me if ya want.

I have a Highguys ("Gloyale" on this board) 3inch lift on my 1998 as well as 04 Forester struts and springs. SJRLift.com is another option. Check out the off road forum as there are threads in there about lifting the newer EJs/ Outbacks/ Legacies. pic if mine-

"Enough" is what I always thought!!!

My friend had wired a stereo into his old truck a couple years ago and it wasn't working after the install. Started tearing everything apart and checking all the wires at the radio and everything with no luck. Drove him absolutely nuts as he couldn't figure out why no power. I asked if he ever checked the connectors he put on at the battery after a day of him trouble shooting. Of course he hadn't and it was the connectors that were too loose not anything else that he had ripped apart . Granted I don't do electrical as I release the smoke from the wires, but I generally start at the beginning and work from there, not the end back. On my Outback I put in a Group A Throttle Body spacer and the bracket for the throttle cable didn't work so I had to make my own after jimmy rigging one for the time being. Took my friend to school after installing and my idle was stuck at 1500rpms even though before I adjusted everything it was fine . Turns out my cable bracket was too long. Took me a while to figure out as it was only an 1/8 inch off. Thankfully my friend noticed that the butterfly flap wasn't going back to the stopper. It had taken me an hour of head scratching and everything and he noticed it in 30 seconds . Oh well. My dad had borrowed my Outback after I had put my new e-bay intake on it and he was saying it wouldn't idle or anything after having it for a day and no CELs. It was working the day before for him but then had the problem on the way home. Asked him to look under the hood for loose hoses or anything but he couldn't see anything. Turns out it was the big hose off the head for the intake and it took me 10 seconds to figure that one out.

Love these threads and FINALLY get to post in one!!! 1998 Outback Limited 5mt Highguys 3 inch lift with Forester struts & springs 215/70/16 Grabbers Custom bumper

Daang! Got any more pics? Who did the lift and how much of one is it?

Looks good to me but what does the stocker or other option look like (too lazy to re-read the entire thread)? As for your T-bars, what about completely shaved with just the stock openings? Or a simple 2 or 3 inch pipe chromed or silver in the rear for some rear end protection (think old school gassers). Coming along nicely, wish I was in the area to check her out but wont be back up that way for a while.

Cool! You'll end up with better ground clearance than a stock Outback.

You'd be looking for a first gen Legacy transmission as your 1998 Outback final drive is 4.11:1 and the earlier gens are 3.9:1. Not sure if the regular Legacy of the same gen (1995-1999) are 3.9 but someone with more knowledge will surely chime in. Check cars101.com for more info. Good luck and check the overall lengths as you might have to change out your drive shaft and DO NOT FORGET THE REAR END ALSO.

Yeah no kidding!!! They were going to change a guy $50 a side to replace his hood struts in labor alone!?!?!?!?! They ended up trying to charge me $150 for the strut assembly then more for "missing" parts even though all they had to do was assemble the strut yet couldn't even get the parts. Took them the weekend to tell me that, then they lost some of my parts too:banghead::banghead: Will NEVER have them touch my car nor purchase from them as they were extremely rude too. I ended up spending right around a grand to replace all 4 struts installed by me yet assembled by someone else as I've never dealt with struts before.

DO want pics when done. Trying to figure out a "clean" version for mine. Less- how close is the gap between your strut and tire? A spacer might make all the difference for fitment. I'd take it by a tire shop when done and have them test fit what you want (and BTW, I think you said you wanted BFG A/Ts in the 215/70/16s but they are, or at least were a month ago, on back order til further notice, hence why I'm running Grabber AT2s).