TeamCF

It's the end out at the wheel/hub. The diff side came of with only a little prying. The driver's side came out no problem. But we all know that you have to drop the diff some to get the clearance to pull it all the way off the shaft. Kind of a pain on the trail. hehe. I'm just having one of those days/weeks. Seems stuff non Soob related is going wrong today as well. Even little stuff like getting a new garden hose.... has a hole in it gotta go back to the store. Such is life. I think 3eyedwagon has the idea I'm gonna go with. Which was my original plan. Or just throw the open diff back in and leave any and all hassel for another time.

So I did all my searching. Found all the info I could on it here. I have a rear axle that is frozen on to the axle stub at the wheel side of my EA81. Tried heat. Tried soaking for days with PB Blaster. Tried a 5 pound sledge and a piece if 1" steel pipe. (I destroyed the pipe) 4 ft pry bar. Even rigged up a slide hammer to hold onto it. Nothing. And yes I did remember to pull the pin out. Is there maybe one more thing I could try that I'm missing? I really don't want to spend the $$ on new parts. (by having to cut it off or something) That would cut into my wheeling gas $$. And defeat the purpose of getting it apart so I can drive longer distances to the trails. I have one of those air chisels. I could put a blunt bit in it and see if the fast hammering breaks it free....

But that thing is frozen on good. I have shredded a rear tire worse than I thought with the steel belts hanging out. (upon taking it off to get at the axle better I noticed it) Open diff is going back in. The trouble is not worth the traction. I don't have the time or money for it. :-\ Supposed to hit TSF with a bunch of guys sunday and I can't be having this thing giving me grief. I'll have fun on the wimpy trails.

I know. My right, and easy to remove one at the trails, is frozen on the axle stub at the wheel. (I'm gonna go beat on it some more tonight, it's been soaking in the PB Blaster) The left one comes off on both ends but to take it in and out in the field requires dropping the diff on my car. So I need to get the right one free. And leave the left one in. Now all I need to do is find a deep torx socket for changing out diff stubs if I break one. Can't find the socket for sale anywhere around me. :-\

Ya know I have not found a price yet for my size. All the sites list 15" and 16" sizes. (about $100 a pop for those ones, cheaper than swampers and in my size) But Cooper does say they make them in my size. I have to just go to the shop I got the original info from when I was getting a tire fixed and ask them. Proly have it thier computer. Not super hardcore tires, but I'm sure way more tough than the cheapo car tires I'm running. A couple links. I don't know if the first one will work right though. The second one goes to the spec page for the tires, no pics though. They have the generic 4 row block tread. They are the "Discoverer Radial LT" http://www.coopertire.com/Flash/index.aspx http://www.coopertire.com/html/products/specs.aspx?page=discoverer_lt&LanguageId=1&tiretype=S&sorttype=T

Not yet, feeling lazy tonight. I'll have it out by the weekend. Hittin' TSF early sunday with a bunch of Jeeps. And that would be kind of pushing it locked all the way there. But the problem is not with the wear with the very little (comparatively) pavement time it sees. It's that now I have the ability to go places that are alot harder on the tires and such. I was out at the gravel pits last night past Estacada up 4610. I went up to the upper pit and proceded to climb just about all of it. Even the big ones in the back. But afterwards my tires were just cut all up. I just bought these, can't afford another set right now. :-\ Although they did say that the road hazard warranty covers off road too...... It was fun though. Just have to keep the nasty rock hillclimbs to a minimum. My wallet says "give up the welded rear, you can't afford the results." But I just don't think I can do that after beholding the power. Now That I found out Cooper makes an All-Terrain tire in 195/75/14 (my size). I'll just have to fill up the change jar and get a set. They are not the toughest off road tires out there, but way better than the $35 specials I have now.

Only problem I've found with my new welded diff is the fact that after two test runs. I've shredded my rear tires goin for those climbs I could never do before. Actually trying to find some glue to put tread blocks back on fully. (got some half cut off floppers.) Traction is awesome though. But I can only afford one set of cheap tires every couple years so the open diff may have to go back on to keep me sedated on the trails. :-\ Guess I'd rather hit up easy trails often, than spend all my gas $$ on stuff to keep the Roo working for more hardcore stuff. Wheeling of any kind is my escape.

Well I can get the left one out. It's all anti-seized up! But it needs about another 3/4 inch in order to remove it with the diff in the car. I got the right one off the diff. (had to because I just bought an already welded diff and replaced the whole thing) But it won't come off at the wheel end. I'm sure all the Blaster I sprayed in the spring pin hole after driving it out, will work it's way around and it'll come free next time I try.

Oh yeah. But the trouble is I can't get either out at the moment. (I know the right one is supposed to be the easier one)

Good idea. Just alittle off the end .

That's what I was thinking. They are just under 26". Not like the big mudders that most peeps have on when breaking things.

Seems fine on the road as long as I stay away from sharp turns. Can always feel it wanting to pull the car straight.

Yeah I've hammered and hammered. Like I said, comes off the diff just fine. but not at the wheel side. I'm sure it willl break free eventually.

So I gave in. There's something not stock about how my Soob comes up this trail. Now if I could only get the right rear axle out. I can get the left one out (but I have to drop the diff to do so) I can get the right off the diff if I loosen the rear diff mounting bolts and jack the car up. Then I still have to pry on it. I thought there was more room than that. But the right one is frozen onto the axle stub good. Came off the diff just fine but I used about a 1/2 can of PB blaster and lots of pulling banging prying. I would use heat, but I don't have cyninders or hose to go with my torch set. I drenched it down, and am just gonna baby it on the street. After all, the only pavement it sees is what I need to drive on to get to the dirt. Only a play toy now. I'll give it a few days to soak and try getting the axle out again.

I'm not real familiar with right around Astoria. I would think there could be some close wheeling. But down further is TSF. Quite a few trails there. Its a little ways up HWY 6 from Tillamook. You can lookup "Browns Camp" to see location and detrmine if it's even an option. (Browns camp is one of the staging areas)

Biggest thing will be the beam pattern. Most factory HID setups have a very sharp cutoff at the top. Keeps too much stray light from finding oncoming eyeballs. Your factory headlamp reflectors may not provide that. Be nice if you could find someone who would let you "try" thiers in your car. (proly be near impossible) Or someone who has already done it with an identical car. (or at least a soob with the same lights) Another thing you could look into is some of the HID driving and fog lights on the market. Quite a few companies are making them now. And the whole package is designed around the bulb. And if you find the company sites they may even have a photo of the beam pattern. Good luck!

The sedan is just awesome. Bet it looks cool rollin' down the trails. Can't wait to see some pics of Zap's coupe doin it's thing as well. I like my wagon, but everybody does them, cool to see some of the exceptions.

Well I broke it good. Please see last post. So I'm gonna throw this out there. I'm going up with a bunch of 4x4 club guys I know. Usually meet at the Shell on Hwy 6 about 8:30am. Head for the trails about 9. Gonna be everything from stockish XJ's. To flexy rock rigs that show up on trailers. Proly all stay together and just have those of us in the group that can't climb shear rock cliffs bypass the nasty stuff. Even the guys in this group with the hardcore rigs enjoy hitting the easy trails, so all rigs can have fun. And they enjoyed seeing the Roo do it's thing last time, so I figure why not have a little bit bigger Subaru showing. Who knows maybe there will be more trail welding with two car batteries and a couple sets of jumper cables again. (A guy broke his suspension linkage mounting off last time and wanted to continue wheeling) If all goes as planned I'll be there. All the snow is gone on the trails. And the rocks and stumps are sticking out nicely. Should be good times.

I don't but will get them next time I go out. Should have my GPS replaced by then. It's in about the middle of the trail though.

Had a blast. I showed earlier than the rest so I did a lap before finding them on the CB. Then we all did some wheeling together. But on my lap I hit up: University Firepower. (just reopend this weekend!) Awesome climb on that trail. Long and somewhat steep. All the Powerline trails. (except Little Rubicon) Hogsback a few times. The snow is all gone! Cedar Tree. I love that trail. Over three miles long and twisty and hilly and rocky. Got the manual steering cardio workout. And some blisters on the hands. First time that happened. Hood Riser. An easy but always fun run. And some general messing around on whatever place to play came along. Forgot my camera but I got some pics and vid with my phone. 1st gen Brat hill climb. Going under the tree on Cedar tree. Up near the top of Hogsback. A trail that we didn't go down. But I thought it looked cool.

I'm up! Gettin' motivated. Didn't plan on hanging out with "Jack" and "Jim" last night but like a moron I did. I'll pay for that the first few hours out.

Sounds good to me. I may be tempted to hit up the dunes at some point soon as well. I just got a flag and such mounted on the Soob today at lunch. Quick release of course, can't have it hanging up on everything on the trails.

I saw pics on the 4x4 board I'm on that were taken under the tree. It's on the Cedar Tree trail. (of course! hehe) Was all snowy but as of last weekend I guess it's clear. And open. The area was off limits when I was up there. (active logging) See ya saturday on the trails!

Cool. I'll be at a b-day party after 8 or so. Not following the party to the club though so I can actually wake up before 3 in the afternoon saturday. Get some wheelin' done!

Always kinda wondered about how this would work on a GL. Some of the guys I wheel with have "Dual Fuel" setups on thier Jeeps. They can switch between gasoline or propane with a switch on the dash. Pretty neat setup.