oakman1437

Thanks for the welcome porcupine73! You're right about the Subaru rebuilds.....Expensive! The used trans and rear diff is a good option for us also but, since the entire drivetrain/diff combo also appears to be a scarce item, I think my son and I will start with taking a shot at this front diff and transmission. So far, I'm very impressed with the quality of the design, parts and materials on this Subaru Outback. My brother got 171,000 hard-driven miles (he put this horse up wet many times!) without ever thinking about gear oil. Thanks again for the reply!

Hello Everyone, I have a 1996 Legacy Outback AWD w/ 2.5 liter and 4EAT transmission that my son and I are restoring. The car has 171,000 miles and the biggest job appears to be a front differential with some chewed up gears. This was formerly my brother's car and the FWD fuse has been in for the last 40-50,000 miles because of problems with the rear differential. It was running ok until my brother said he heard a loud bang under the floorboard and it wasn't from anything he hit or ran over. After that, the car was jerking or pulling (almost as if something were out of round) in drive and not in reverse. He drove it home and replaced a CV joint thinking that would solve the problem but it didn't solve the problem. I drove the car back and forth a few times and noticed the jerking and loping but after I tried to drive it up a driveway with a bit of a steep incline, it seemed as if some gears disengaged (or broke) enough to leave me with a car going backwards down the driveway while making a loud noise as if a gear was trying to engage but the teeth were half chewed up. We've removed the transmission and can see through the dipstick hole on the front differential that some of the gears are chewed and going on toothless. I'm looking for the best and most economical way to get repair manual info and parts. Any and all help would be appreciated.