moped

It's probably jamming on one of the interlocks. The one I had trouble with was the one between the center rail (that runs to the shifter) and the right rail (2wd//4wd). I have instructions printed out at home, if nobody has sorted you out by the time I get home on Sunday or Monday, I'll dig them up and type in the key sequence for you. With the right order it all goes together pretty easily.

A couple things: Did you have the flywheel machined when you replaced the clutch? Have you made sure there's enough free-play in the clutch adjustment? I've got 5-7mm at the end of the release fork, and I think that's about right. If you don't have enough, the clutch won't fully engage (it'll be just like if you were riding the clutch with your foot).

The lower bushing is hard, white plastic (nylon?) and is held on by a hard rubber "donut". The upper pivot is 5 pieces: an inner rubber and outer hard, white plastic bushing on each side, and a metal sleeve that runs through the assembled bushings. For what it's worth, replacing all of the bushings did nothing to improve the shifting on my car. The problem was slop between the sleeve that runs over the rod on the transmission and the rod itself. There actually is wear in that rod from the slop. You can wiggle the outer sleeve assembly around the axis of the spring pin without the flashing shim in there. I'm going to make GD's suggested mod at some point, but I'll probably leave the shim in too.

The driver's side front CV joint is making noise. I did some looking, and it sounds like I can take care of that by replacing the axle alone. Is that worth doing, or should I have somebody do it who can remove the bearing races from the steering knuckle and replace those as well? Thanks! Eric

Oooh, I like that tapping the hole fix. I'll put that on the list after getting the exhaust leak taken care of and the driver's side front axle replaced. The exhaust leak really annoys me though. When I got the Y-pipe from the yard, they had just cut it behind the coupler with a torch or sawzall. The muffler shop I took it to to have the back end built just welded on to the short piece of pipe aft of the coupler instead of chopping it off and replacing it. This wouldn't have been a problem, except that I had to split the coupler to drop the Y-pipe to drop the transmission. Unsurprisingly, it did not seal cleanly when I put it back on with all the rust and crap on it.

In related news, I finally have my 4 speed dual-range back together enough to worry about the shifter linkage. What a pain in the butt that was. Anyway, I decided to try to tighten up the shift linkage as long as I had the transmission out of the car. Instead of any of the stuff involving splitting the shift sleeve listed here: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=49954 I tried something a little quicker and dirtier. I had some aluminum flashing material sitting in my basement and I cut myself a shim to fit between the sleeve and the rod that runs into the transmission. Remove the sleeve, cut a strip of flashing about 8mm wide, wrap it around the shifter rod, and cut it to length. Wrap it around a small socket to get a nice smooth curve in it, fit it over the rod, and then carefully slide the sleeve onto the rod and over the shim. Replace the spring pins. The difference is pretty noticeable, even with the transmission out of the car. The best part about the aluminum flashing material is that you can pound it to your required thickness between two hammer heads. It probably won't last as long as a fix with splitting the sleeve and tightening it with a bolt, but it's a heck of a lot easier if winter is fast approaching and you're getting tired of riding your bike to the office. This weekend's project: put the transmission back in the car and take it for a test drive. Woohoo!

You know, if you're careful you just might be able to replace those seals without a teardown (provided it's a manual, I have no idea about the automatic). If your seals are as old and brittle as mine, you might be able to get them out without pulling the transmission apart by sinking a couple of wood screws into the seal, and grabbing with pliers. And if it doesn't work, you're no worse off than if you'd started by pulling the tranny apart.

I've used up my quota of swearing for the night, but the input shaft seal is in and the case halves are back together. I hate the following, in no particular order: Snap rings Snap ring pliers RTV sealant Whoever designed the 4wd HI/LO shifter mechanism I suspect I'll be doing the stub-axle seals in the very near future, but on the plus side, I think I'll be able to do that without tearing down the entire transmission. These two thoughts are related - one of them popped out as I was re-mating the case halves, meaning they're both old and brittle, and easy to install and remove.

It would probably be helpful to everybody if you let us know if this was a manual or automatic. I've got my dual-range 4MT apart right now. If you want some pictures, let me know and I'll see what I can do.

Progress! I called Boston Industrial today to check on my socket, and they informed me that the factory had misinformed them of when it would be shipped, and so they were expecting it in today. Bugger. Time to try the fallback plan. I stopped by the awesome hardware store this morning to check on a 35mm combination wrench, but was SOL. They carry SAE up to 2", but no large metric. Autozone didn't have one, and neither did Home Despot (there's a shocker). Instead, I opted to go with a large adjustable, which I'd borrowed from a guy at my office. At Home Despot, I picked up a set of carriage bolts in case I needed to attach a lever arm to my old (toasted) clutch disk. I also picked up a spare 3/8" socket, which fits over the hammer end of the punch I've been using. With a short 3/8" drive extension, this yielded a long enough punch that I was able to punch out the crimps on the pinion shaft nut. With the crimps punched back out, I slipped the clutch disk over the input shaft, put the adjustable wrench over the nut, and gave the flywheel a turn (with the transmission in gear, obviously). Lo and behold, the nut broke free. I pulled the transfer case off, took off the bolts that hold the bearing carrier for the pinion shaft, and split the case. With a little more fiddling and disassembly, I've got the input shaft off, and dammit if I can't get the snapring out with my snapring pliers. I've got a set of internal snapring pliers, but I need a way beefier set to get that stupid seal block off. Another day, another trip to the hardware store or the auto parts store.... Incidentally, how should I go about flushing the transmission after I reassemble it. My basement isn't the cleanest place to work, and I'm a little concerned about contamination. Can I just fill it up with lighter oil (like 10w30) drive it for 10 miles to work any contaminants out, drain and refill with gear oil, or does somebody have a better idea? Thanks, Eric

SPEC supposedly makes a full range of high-performance clutches for the older subarus. That said, when I was looking into a new clutch kit for my Brat (thought I'd glazed it, had a gear oil leak instead), I didn't see a lot of positive buzz for SPEC in general. No subaru specific complaints, but I never did get around to calling about a kit for my car because I opted to just get a new disk instead.

I got the tailshaft extension off yesterday after breaking the gasket seal with a stout putty knife and a Big Hammer. I found the RTV ultra grey at Autozone, but I couldn't find any of the Loctite stuff there, so I'll hit the NAPA near my office tomorrow. I can at least now *see* the nut that I need to get off though, which is progress. I didn't see your other reply until yesterday, so no, I haven't verified that the socket will actually fit. The current alternate plan if it doesn't is to get a 35mm box-end wrench, slip it down inside the transfer case and over the nut and turn from the input shaft. Conveniently, I have an oil-soaked clutch disk I can put a couple of holes into and attach a long lever arm. Will I need to do anything special when I put the nut back on? It has 4-way crimps onto the shaft to keep it from un-screwing. Obviously, I'll need to pound them out before I unscrew it. Will I need a new nut, or can I pound a couple of crimps back in and hope for the best?

Well, I'm still waiting for my 35mm thin-wall socket, so this might be a bit premature. Assuming I successfully get the tranny apart and back together, what flavor or RTV should I be using? Also, how many tubes? It occurs to me that the one tube I have is probably not going to be enough, and as long as I'm going to the parts store, I may as well solicit recommendations. Also, GD, thanks for the heads up (http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=103740). I've got the 4wd linkage apart, so hopefully the tailshaft extension will come off without any trouble. Apart from breaking the seal, that is. I bought a stiffer putty knife that I have yet to try. Anyhow, the socket was a special order for Boston Industrial. I believe they got it on Tuesday and sent it to me by Priority Mail, so I've got my fingers crossed that it'll come today and I can start working. Otherwise, I'm going to have to do it in the evenings.

Well, in lieu of buying a $17 socket at Autozone and having to find a lathe to turn it into a thin-wall, I found and ordered this: this. In about 30 minutes of googling, that's the only 35mm deepwell that I found that wasn't: 1) part of an expensive set of large thinwalls, or 2) #5 spline drive. I know I can get a 1" driver at my local awesome hardware store , #5 spline, I'm not so sure about. Seriously, they rock pretty hard. I'll let you guys know if it works once I get it. In the meantime, I'll have a couple of evenings to get that tailhousing off.

Well balls to Subaru for making it a different size than the 36mm socket that holds the wheel bearing nuts on (which I already own). I guess it's a trip to Autozone for me. How thin-walled are we talking here? Can you give me an OD measurement? Thanks, ~Eric