ZRX Doug

THANK YOU! P/M sent, and I'll post his reply here if he doesn't himself, so's y'all can find out the exciting conclusion to this gripping drama..

Yeah..it acts just like a bent shift fork, it kicks the selector back when it pops out. I figure the previous owner of this tranny tried to force it into 4wd when the tranny wasn't having it, so now the fork is bent, preventing full engagement. Again, I'm pretty positive in my diagnosis..I just want to know if I can access and repair/replace this fork without removing the tranny..to be completely honest, if the trans has to come out this problem will just be ignored and Sue will have to live with being a FWD car. She's just my transportation when the weather is too fugly for my Kaw, not my dream car..so 4WD's not all that important to me, but if I can slam thru it in an afternoon I'd like to fix it.

No attitude, I just don't like hack jobs regardless of the worth of the vehicle..I prefer to do it right the first time and forget about it, ya know? BTW, I've been an ASE certified mechanic off & on since the days when they were known as NIASE, 'bout 26 years now. Worked in Toyota, GMC, Mercury, and Kawasaki/Yamaha/Honda shops. Nowadays I wrench out of my garage for spare cash and work with electronic banking equipment for my "real" job. You don't need to be a Subie mechanic to know how to work with tapped alloys..that's basic knowledge, not something that's specific to any particular make. I have no problem with doing the occasional band-aid fix on my own vehicles..but I'd never treat someone else's ride with anything but kid gloves, and this work ethic spills over to advice given. I don't wanna start a fight with the resident gurus. I'm glad that the shortcut works for you guys. Peace.

You're recommending using threaded rod (something like Grade 3, if it's graded at all) and ya think a non-Helicoiled hole is stronger than one with an insert? Okey doke..but please don't work on my car, ever..mmkay? BTW, taps are designed to thread holes which are drilled to the correct size..they are NOT intended to be used as reamers. Forcing an oversize tap into an undersize hole is sorta like stuffing a size 12 foot into a size 10 shoe..only aluminum doesn't stretch like shoe leather, ya know? Broken taps are a pain to extract, and broken alloy castings are a pain to weld. Again, if it works for you, so be it..but recommending incorrect methods to a mechanical noobie is sorta asking for disaster, IMHO.

Ahh..see when I did mine, two of 'em were so stripped that the SAE studs were undersized. Helicoil was the only option..besides, it's preferable to have a nice steel insert in any threaded aluminum part IMHO. If'n you can make it work, more power to ya, but I really like the peace of mind that comes with over-engineering, lol.

Yeah, SAE studs work fine. As a bonus, you can get 'em along with nuts in a GM manifold repair kit at most any parts store for under five bucks, in those little blister packs sold as "HELP!" products. Get the studs that are supposed to go on the end of a General Motors manifold, where the exhaust pipe bolts up. These look stupid-long for our application, but they work great and are intended to be used for exhaust purposes. As a further bonus, the Helicoil kit is MUCH cheaper in the SAE version than it is as a metric kit. Don't try to do this without drilling for the correct tap size first, you'll crack the head trying to force an oversize tap into the little hole. Once everything is Helicoiled and ready to be screwed back together, use some LocTite red on the stud where it goes into the head..but keep the Loctite away from the nuts!

I'm insanely jealous..here in Detroit, new bearings are pretty much the ONLY option, as the only Soobs ya find in the wrecking yards are pretty much rusted away to nothing.

Yup..I was a Pontiac/GMC parts dude too, can do the same thing with those keys. It's a fun skill..looks like magic to the uninitiated. :-p On the upside, it's a moot point in the case of my own Soob..I ripped most of the tumblers out of the driver door lock cylinder a LONG time ago, now ya can unlock it with anything that'll fit in the slot, lol..you guys won't tell my neighbors, will ya? I had to do it..my key is so worn out it looks more like a butter knife than a key blank.

Doing wheel bearings on these beasts is actually somewhat of a pain in the rear..essentially, the bearings (there are two per side) need to be pressed into the steering knuckle, then the axle stub needs to be pressed into the knuckle/bearing assembly. You can do it at home the old fashioned way with a hammer, a drift, a bench vise and some spacers to help pull the axle thru, but it's pretty easy to muck up a bearing that way if you're a newbie mechanic.

That's sort of the question I'm asking, guys..what degree of disassembly is needed to get to the 4WD selector fork & synchro? I think that I can access everything by removing the tailshaft housing with the trans still in the car, but I'd like to have this confirmed before I go crawl under the car and get greasy.. Fifth gear is not the issue, in FWD mode, the tranny works just fine..the problem is that it pops out of 4WD under a load or on deceleration. It's not a linkage issue, as it does this whether the thing's actually connected or not..I can fully disconnect the 4x4 selector, crawl under the car and pop it into 4x4 mode, and it'll do the same thing as if I'd selected it with the lever inside.

One last bump..anyone? Bueller?

Erm..posting a picture of your keys on the internet is..unwise, to say the least. I was a Toyota parts guy for a tad under 19 years, I quit that line of work 7 years ago, but I can STILL identify the the proper key blank and "read" the cut on a Toyota key without having to hold the thing..we used to get keys out of locked vehicles by "reading" the cuts on the one dangling off the keychain thru the passenger window. I would expect that Subaru keys & codes are the same way. It's not a hard skill to learn (just a number based on depth of cut), and the hand-held key cutting tools aren't hard to come by these days. So what I'm saying is, posting a pic of your keys is sorta like posting the combination to your wall safe. Bad idea, particularly if you also post pics of your car and your general location.

Dang..anyone? I'm fairly sure that everything I need to get at is accessable by pulling the tailshaft housing..I just don't wanna crawl under there and get a face full of gear lube only to find the tranny needs to be removed & split.

Oh boy..a new forum to post in. A little background..I'm not a real Subaru fanatic, I just like my little beater wagon..had it for 12 years & 200,000+ miles, it gets me around when the weather is too crummy for a motorcycle. So I'm not an idiot when it comes to mechanical things, but i'm sorta in the dark when it comes to Subaru things. I've got an '89 GL 4x4 with a five speed D/R trans. I just replaced the tranny with a used unit that seems to be fine in most respects. However, it acts like the 4wd shift fork may be bent or something, as it will pop out of 4wd under load or during deceleration. I've seperated the D/R linkage and tried all sorts of hokey tricks to adjust it externally, it pops out whether the shift lever is connected or not so it's not a linkage issue, symptoms just seem to be typical of a bent fork to me. Here's my question: It LOOKS as if the whole tailshaft area is fairly easy to access without removing the tranny from the car (not something I wanna do again for a good long time). Is it possible to access the 4wd selector fork/synchro while the trans is installed? My non-factory service manual leaves a bit to be desired in this area, basically says "take it to the dealer or the sky will fall," yanno? Thanks in advance..great site you guys have going here!