Redhat

I'll try it. Thanks

Okay, after a good look, all I see is a little oil coming out of the steering rack. The reservoir is still full. With the wheels off the ground and turning the steering wheel back and forth I think I can get it to clunk.. not exactly sure if it's the same as when driving over the lawn. Could part of the rack be clunking? Yanking and pulling on everything from under the car, all looked tight.

Tomorrow I'll get after it again. Something is definitely clunking. I'm assuming it's best to check what's left to check with front wheels off the ground. Thanks for the help.

For some reason I spaced that... would I check with wheels under load or off the ground?

Only when driving over the lawn or similar rough terrain. Both sides,.. sounds like it's coming from the struts but after inspection.. can't find where. CV's are good, ball joints good.. control arm from steering good.. tops of struts (the three bolts under the hood) all good, no rust. What else can go 'clunk'..? It's both sides and sounds like it's about a foot inside of the tires. Clunk.. clunk clunk as I'm driving slowly over the lawn. '96 legacy wagon. Thanks for any help.

I had the same restart problem on mine after I did the same. Pulleys, belt, water pump, cam and crank seals... I also pulled the oil pump and locktited the screws on the backer plate. That's a good idea.. and easy. I was using the wrong mark on the crank gear. As mentioned, it's not the arrow... it's the hash mark on the plate behind the crank gear. Once I realigned, it started right up. Thank god it's a non-interference motor.

10-4 on all that. I just didn't want to have to tear it all apart again. The old o ring seems to be holding fine and the dust boots are good. I'm going to keep an eye an the seals and order the kits for in case. Thanks for your help. I did a test drive and came back with smoking wheels but I think it's just everything seating in and burning off junk. Took the wheels off and everything looked A okay. No leaking break fluid.

Thank you. If after cleaning up and reinstalling the old boots and o ring everything looked in good shape and didn't leak, would you go through the trouble of reinstalling new rubber? Thought I'd ask. I'll be getting a new kit but can I leave it for now?

These are original single piston front calipers on a 96 legacy Brighton wagon. It's late 95 production year. Every set I get seems to be wrong. Import experts even had their warehouse guy look in the package. What I have is three thumb sized dust boots for the slides (all a little different), the square shouldered o ring and the piston dust boot. What they're sending, and everywhere else I checked (rock auto etc) is two thumb sized dust boots (identical), the right o ring and a piston dust boot that is different from original and looks like it wont work. In the meantime I just cleaned everything up, (the old boots were dirty but not ripped) and reinstalled. I almost think I can leave it at that but thought I'd try to find the right kits for in case. Hoping someone has run across the differences in front calipers and can advise. Thanks

Thanks GD. Will do it from the inner knuckle the next time I need to replace both boots. Makes sense.

Thank you all. I just finished up in time to cook supper. I took the shaft with the outer boot cut off to my local shop and he put it in a vise, turned the outer knuckle to the side to get good purchase on the inner 'star', threw a rag over it and gave one good whack with a two pounder and off it came. There was a little spring clip in a groove (as first mentioned but I didn't quite understand) that held the outer knuckle on and was easily replaced with the new one included in the boot kit. (I didn't know what it was until I saw it after the knuckle came off. After that, it was a piece of cake. The ball joint even came off easy so I'm back in the game. Thanks for your time and direction.

Thanks to both you guys. I'll take your advise and replace the inner boot too. But I still don't see any clips or what's holding the knuckle from coming apart. On the outer, which I've got all cleaned up, I see the inner 'star' that holds the six bearings and I've beat on that a bit with a block of wood and hammer.. somethings holding it in.. and needs to be removed first.. but what,, and where? I don't see any inner c clips etc. It's a green hub (original oem) axle.

After a bit of searching and reading, I didn't find a detail of how to get the old boot off and the new boot on. I have the axle on the bench and for whatever reason can't figure out how to get the axle apart to get the new boot on. It's a 96 legacy brighten AWD. Appreciate any help.. and all the best to everyone for this great forum.

10-4. Sorry to make you explain it ten times. Will be back with report.

Great picture!! am I right in saying, the screwdriver goes through the aluminum bell housing and into a slot in the flex plate..? I wasn't clear about the bolt and contour you mentioned. Should you have to push the screwdriver in real far? When I put torque on the crank bolt, will it rotate the screwdriver up or down in the hole and start bending stuff.. cracking the bell housing.. sorry for all the questions.. just want to do it right the first time. I imagine it would be good to hold the screwdriver parallel while tightening the crank bolt.

10-4.. will do. What is the screwdriver locking into.. flywheel teeth..? etc... am I going to hurt anything by cranking on the screwdriver connection?

OK.. I see what you mean.. can you get at these holes from the top of the motor.. or do you have to get underneath..

Oops.. now that I reread your post about the bell housing holes, I realize my mistake. The bell housing is on the back of the motor and covers the fly wheel.. as I understand.. so I should be able to get in their between the fire wall and find a few holes.. one on either side half way up.. and stick a screwdriver or bolt in.. do I have to turn the crank to get it to match up with something.. two person job.. am I going to hurt something by cranking on this connection.. does this make a bit more sense.. thanks

"to hold the crank, there is hole in the bell housing on each side half way down, that will fit a bolt or a screw driver. " Okay, just for me to be clear.. the harmonic balancer I'm looking at has four holes plus one that's not part of the four pattern. I should be able to stick a screwdriver or bolt through one of these holes and rotate the crank till the bolt finds a corresponding hole on the engine (actually it's the oil pump that's on the back side of the HB) this will stop the HB/ crank from turning so I can tighten her up ..am I getting this right.. thanks again

Well.. I made a makeshift spanner wrench with plate steel and two bolts on 3in centers that I got to fit into the harmonic balancer and cranking with a 16in breaker bar, I managed to pull pretty hard and did move the bolt one good squeak before bending the jig to pieces. I wonder how much torque is generated with a 16in bar pulling maybe 70-80 lbs. It did require removing the fan but overall wasn't too much trouble and I would do it again if you guys think I need to.. but I'd have to figure out a better jig.

"80 ft lbs is not enough. you need 125 minimum." Thanks John. I'm going to see what I can do in the morning. Try to make one of Dave's spanner wrenches. Will post an update.

Thanks Dave, I got the pics. The tool looks well made... maybe 3/16in plate with pins welded.. Is the square for a 1/2in drive? A neighbor has a torque wrench I can use so I'll see how much I can get on it. What about this.. I was thinking.. just put a bunch of blue locktite on it and crank to whatever I can get. Would the heat of the motor make the locktite irrelevant..? I'm going to see what I've got to weld up this tool. I know what you mean by having to customize. Thanks again.

I'll back the crank bolt off tomorrow and apply blue locktight and torque to 80lbs or more if I can get it. I guess I'll have to figure out how to keep the HB from turning. Do the cam pulleys also need this treatment? I just put them on with several good cranks from a 16 in breaker bar while holding the crank bolt with another breaker bar to keep everything from turning. I'm also interested in what the homemade tool looked like that was used to keep the HB from turning. The engine is not out of the car so there's no clearance for an impact gun. Thanks again.

Hi Dave, I didn't think to check what brand of belt came with the kit. It was thicker.. meaning from flat side to toothed side then the one from AZone and had a red band of material laminated between flat and toothed side. I never ended up finding the puller but with a pair of tin snips and the clip off a 30 ft tape measure ended up making a nifty little spring steel joby which I rotated the hook behind the seal and with a little pulling, they came right out. After I puller the pin on the tensioner and the T belt was tight, I put a 16in breaker bar on the crank bolt and hit it a bunch of times with a rubber mallet. Seemed to get it pretty tight. Do you think it's good enough..?

Just completed and wanted to report. I did my first cam and crank seal replace, tightened the backing plate screws on the oil pump and changed idler pulleys and T belt. ImportExperts sent me what I needed. I noticed the T belt they sent looked of better quality than the last one AutoZone sold me as their OE belt. All went smooth and now I'm back on the road so thanks again for the very useful info. I guess now I'm out of excuses for not shoveling snow off the roof.