Scoobywagon

Did you re-torque the axle nut when you did that passenger side axle?

I was wondering why you kept trying to get me to go in there!

Replacing an Axle does not imply the replacement of any wheel bearing. However, one has to do much of the same dismantling for either task. In other words, if you are going to replace the axle, you have to remove the outer end of the axle from the steering knuckle. The steering knuckle contains the wheel bearings and the axle rides in the wheel bearings. On the other hand, if you have to replace a dead wheel bearing, you have to remove the axle first. THerefore, if you are going to replace an axle, it is well worth your time to also replace any questionable wheel bearings, since you have to be in there anyway. If it will help, I'll take some pictures to post up to show you what we're talking about. It sounds like your mechanic is not going to touch your engine. And while I'm commenting.... Dead axles and wheel bearings can make an already underpowered car seem absolutely gutless. THis is because they are no longer doing the job they are designed to do, i.e. allow the smooth transfer of power to the wheel from the transmission. Once your CV joints and Double Offset Joints (parts of your axle) start going out, the transfer of power is no longer smooth and the joints start to eat themselves. This consumes power from the engine, as does a wheel bearing that has started to die. I'll bet that after you get your wheel bearings and axles replaced, the car will feel much better to you.

I'm looking for a pair of pictures. I need a pic of an XT/XT-T/XT-6 and a pic of a GL Wagon, both from full on the side. Anyone got something like that? Thanks!

Glad your Soob didn't let you down when it counted. Gotta watch the fist fighting, though. HOpe the next week goes better than this one seems to have.

I don't know of any particular website that goes into any detail on wiring Aux lights, but I can tell you this. You want to keep everything as isolated as possible. I would use a separate circuit for each set of lights. Additionally, I'm not terribly fond of running large amounts of current through my cabin if I don't have to, so I would use a relay farm that goes under the hood. IN this way, I could run a single, fused power line form the battery to my relays (also under the hood), then a line from the ground pin on the relay to the appropriate switch on the dash and another line from the dash switch to ground. This way, the switch only sources ground for the relay and that allows the use of smaller dash switches. Once you've got everything more or less where you want it, you'll want to either loom or tape all your wires. Not only does it help give a cleaner appearance, it also protects your wiring against chafing and binding. You also want to make sure that you select a wire guage appropriate to the current draw of your lights. While there's no such thing as wire that's "too big", remember, big wire is more expensive. On the other hand, if you use wire that's too small, you have a fire hazard. Headlights are generally rated at about 55watts (4.6 amps on a 12v system) and most manufacturers use 14ga wire. I've even seen some use 16ga. 14ga should be fine for most lights in about the 55watt range, but the longer the run from the battery, the larger (in general) you'll want your power wire to be. Now, these are lights, not amps or computers, so they really won't care too much about voltage drop across a long run of wire. BUt realistically, you bought those lights for their performance characteristics so it doesn't make sense to sacrifice that performance over wire size unless you have to. So when you are buying your wire, take into account the general route you intend to take to get the power to the light. If these are roof mounted 55watt lights and you want to mount a set on the rear of your wagon, you might want to use a good 12ga wire.If you're just bumper mounting them, 16ga might do ya right. Maybe 14ga if your just mounting them on the front of the roof. Unless you are some kind of purist, it really doesn't make a perceivable difference. So get you you can that will do the job. My preference in this matter is the silicon jacketed stuff you get from autozone. Its single stranded and available in the common colors. Its generally cheaper than buying paired wired and when you twist the two strands together they have a noise cancelling effect (if that matters to you), the two wires then tend to protect each other, and it makes the wire that much easier to work with. Ok, well, that was a bit long. Ask away if you have something more specific.

Well, of course, you can always mail order the foam and cloth you'll need. However, there's a LOT of work involved in what you want to do. An easier, and perhaps less expensive route, might be to go to your local wrecking yard and get a nicer set of seats. Honda Preludes, Volkswagen GTi's, Saturn SC2's, some Honda Civic's, and Toyota Celicas have nice seats in them. Bet you could score a set for a reasonable price out of a wrecking yard, seeing as the ricer kids all want Sparcos and whatnot. From there it would be a (relatively) straightforward task of changing the slider rails on the bottom.

Maybe they are just getting hard to find where you are, but they are still in production. Try Wix part number 46016. Parts Plus carries them, sometimes autozone does, too, but they seem to prefer Purolator, Fram and Bosche.

Its gonna be the wheels, as the trailer's center of gravity will be directly over them.

Thats a tough load of questions to answer. It depends on the overall condition of the vehicle and the condition of it various parts. Failure will always occur at the weakest point. At WCSS, ShadyIrishmen took a flying leap off a large pile of gravel. He collapsed a strut, broke and axle and bent (slightly) his right front strut tower. On the other hand, I've accidentally dropped mine into some culverts with no ill effects. So the answer to your question is a resounding "It Depends". Whether or not your sube will survive a given incident depends on what you're doing, how fast you're trying to do it and what kind of condition your car is in. Oh yeah...and how good your luck is.

I've got wagon wheels coming out of various places.....want one? How's $15 sound?

For stains, I use the power cleaning attachment for my carpet steamer. For odors, I use eithe Febreze or Nature's Miracle, depending on what the odor is.

I think northwet and I may have a special place for it. PM sent.

Here's what I'd do, at least for troubleshooting purposes. Make a new ground cable to run from one of the starter bolts to the battery. Build another one to go from the engine block to the battery and a third to go from Body to battery. This should ensure that you've got solid ground everywhere. NExt, take your battery to your local parts store and have them test it. Assuming it tests out ok, make sure that the positive cable is good. If you aren't sure, make a new one. This will ensure that your wires are all good and if that's the case...the starter becomes suspect. Based on what you wrote about the ground wire getting hot, I suspect that the main ground from engine block to battery is fried. None of my EA81 cars have a ground wire from the starter to the spare tire carrier, so I'm assuming that's an add-on. Either way, the starter is dealing with enough current that it is well worth your while to keep its ground lead as short as possible.

Hi there and welcome to the board. Your 83 wagon has an EA-81 engine. It is a 1.8L OHV engine. The 85, on the other hand, has an EA-82 engine. It is a 1.8L OHC engine. As such, it is SIGNIFICANTLY wider than your current engine. You may have to do some sqeezing, but it should bolt up without a problem. Then the question arises: Is your 85 injected or carbed? Obvoiusly, injection entails a lot more parts swapping than another carbed engine. For the most direct fit, find a wagon built between 81 and 84, a hatchback built between 81 and 88(I think?) or a Brat built between 82 and 88.

Whatever could you mean????

$80 is a fair start on an MSD or Mallory Ignition.

Umm...about 45 minutes from the WCSS site.

I bulit an Excel spreadsheet that has the formulas in it. Interested? In the short term, your stock size is 23.2" (185/70R13). Your new size is 26", so your speedo is reading slow. When you are indicating 50, you are actually doing ~56. Its a percentage expressed by (old tire diameter)/(new tire diameter). In this case 23.2/26=1.1206. Multiply by your current diff ratio and you get a ratio that brings your speedo back into line. 1.1206*3.7=4.15. If you want to use a really good set of calculators, go to www.4lo.com . They've got the best.

Send me a pic of what you want and I'll check the yards here, too.

Northwet and I will be there tomorrow and (I think) Saturday. I have an appt in Fife @3pm, but I'll be there before and after, probably with my truck.

If you want 14" wheels with 6 lugs, you'll need to find a Mazda B-series pickup, 2 or 4WD. They're common as dirt. Want me to look for you? I need to spend some quality time with the local wrecking yards, anyway.

I've run clicking axles till they blew up also. While that took quite a while (almost a year, bit less than 50,000 miles), my car is 4wd, which means when the axle went, I just pulled the lever and kept on running. That's not an option for you, being a 2wd car. So what I'd do, were it me, is I'd run it as is until you get paid, then go down to Napa (or Schuck's or Autozone or Parts PLus, or whoever else) and get a lifetime warranty shaft. As far as actually doing the swap goes, it really isn't hard, but takes time. I can do mine in about 45 mins each (fronts). Here's what you need. 1) Sturdy floor jack 2) Sturdy jack stands 3) 1/2" drive breaker bar 4) 1/2" drive 19mm socket 5) 1/2" drive 36mm socket 6) needle nose pliers 7) flat head screwdriver 8) 1/2" drive 14mm socket or 14mm wrench 9) 1/2" drive 17mm socket or 17mm wrench 10) 10mm wrench 11) Hammer 12) small drift punch Ok...Step 1: Jack the car up and support it on the jack stands. DO NOT EVEN THINK ABOUT TRYING THIS WITHOUT ENSURING THE CAR IS SECURELY SUPPORTED! Step 2: use the breaker bar and 19mm socket to remove the lug nuts and wheel/tire. Step 3: use the pliers to remove the cotter pin in the axle and castle nut Step 4: use the breaker bar and 36mm socket to remove the axle nut. Step 5: use the 14mm wrench to remove the bolt(s) holding the brake caliper to the bracket. USe a coat hanger or piece of string to hold the caliper out of the way without hanging it by its hose. step 6: use the 17mm wrench to remove the bolts holding the bracket to the steering knuckle. step 7: use the 10mm wrench to remove the bolts holding the dust plate to the steering knuckle. step 8: crawl under the car and locate the roll pin in the Double Offset Joint of the axle you want to remove. One end will be flush, the other will have a divot. Rotate the axle to locate the divoted end. step 9: use the hammer and small drift punch to drive the roll pin out of its hole taking care not to drive it ALL the way out. They're hard to find once the go SPROING. step 10: turn the steering wheel all the way to the lock in one direction. step 11: use the hammer to drive the axle stub out of the wheel bearing as far as you can. Take care not to hit the wheel bearing. Once the axle stub has been removed from the wheel bearing, the DOJ will slide off of the stub of the tranny and the axle is out of the car. step 12: slide the DOJ of your new axle onto the stub of the tranny, ensuring to line up the holes in the DOJ cup with those in the tranny stub. The easiest way to do this is to ensure that the divoted side of the new DOJ cup is in the same position as the old one. step 13: insert the end of the axle stub into the wheel bearing. Use the hammer to tap the steering knuckle while you press the axle into the bearing. Once you've got enough thread through the bearing, it may be easier to use a large fender washer and the castle nut to pull the new axle through the bearing. Perform steps 1-8 in reverse order to reassemble. I'm fairly certain that's pretty much everything, but I did all that out of my head, so, YMMV, etc. Assume about $70 each for axles pluse core and tax. You shouldn't need a mahcine shop unless you are replacing wheel bearings at the same time. Wheel bearing are pressed in and out, so you either need a machine shop or a press for those. Be advised, though, that the axles fit VERY snugly through the bearings, so its going to turn into a wrestling match to get the axles in and out of them.

I have a meeting saturday morning, 11-noon. But if Pat's there, I'm there.

Wow, I think I was in it right up until the guys from alaska came in. I'm looking at right about 35 miles each way.