idosubaru

i often refer to the entire assembly as a hub and they are often offered as such, junk yards will supply them as "hubs". terminology aside the original poster knows what he needs. those pictures posted are of a AWD EJ series, his FWD will be a little different in the rear.

me too, it's always "new" ones that do it. in the 15 or so soobs i've owned and others i've worked on in the past decade, a subaru cracked boot CV axle is more reliable than a generic store bought. been there done that, never again. all mine from here on out stay cracked or get MWE replacements.

i doubt you'll find anything by your senses. i think a lightly dragging caliper can reduce mileage without any other side affects. on the ones i've encountered the pads didn't even show any sign of abnormal wear nor did the rotors need turning. but the new pads and grease helped. it was always an after-thought, the next couple tanks would be better gas mileage.

you'll want to keep an eye on it. one or even a couple tanks worth may not show accurately what you're getting. if it's only been a week, then it's likely only been a tank or two right? that's not enough to verify what mileage you're really getting. your next tank could easily be fine...or suck even worse! towing shouldn't affect anything. the only thing i can think of is if you used your brakes alot maybe your calipers are dragging some. i've had vehicles get substantially better mileage after just installing new pads. my guess is greasing the slides helps the caliper keep the pads off the rotors better. at 138,000 miles greasing the slides on the calipers may not be a bad idea. could have just been coincidental or the extra heat from towing could have caused it to come sooner than had you not been towing. that's a very light load, i think this is mostly coincidental. i would bet your low mileage would have come had you never towed....might have been delayed a little longer, but probably would have come anyway.

the first and second gear issue is really an entirely different topic and it's been discussed before. the bottom line is that 1st and 2nd perform nothing like this duty C modification, so no matter the reasons they do not compare in function.

there's at least three on the xt6.net board as well. one in NZ, one in WV and myself....and i think derrick as well, but i'm not sure. no problems and we had this done well before anyone on usmb attempted it, although i think one person did it, but either way, well before it was documented and publicized here.

it's very simple. if you can wire a switch, you can wire an indicator light. i installed an LED and wired it on the same circuit, that's all. ground on one side, power on the other. make sure the switch that you buy has room for two circuits, that's all. wire the "duty solenoid" on one circuit, then the light on the other. that way when you turn it "On", it's completing both circuits...one for the solenoid, the other for the light. a radio shack or sound system place would likely be able to help you with it if you're having trouble picturing it.

i didn't want to turn this into another thread like all the rest, but since i'm being accused of lying.......i have yet to see a person mention any actual failures. i did a search for "duty solenoid" and the second thread that pops up (after this one), is the popular thread, that i was speaking of, with much exposure that i asked multiple times for one person that had issues and not one person responded with a non-mistake related issue: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=65716&page=6&highlight=duty+solenoid the people that are most concerned with proving how terrible this modification is are the ones that have never done it. i'm all about getting both sides of the information out there, so long as it's accurate. there are a number of people at xt6.net that have done it as well...no failure yet, even on 20 year old auto trans with who knows how many miles, previous owners, lack of ATF changes, and sets of tires on them.

if you had any transmission issues, i'd have the fluid changed. there's no telling when it was done last anyway.

my vote is for wheel bearings. did you try turning the wheel/hub by hand and seeing how much play or noise/roughness is in the hub?

around here EJ22's are so easy to come by for next to nothing that you might be better off starting over with a known good engine. but you do have enough experience to go in there and do what needs to be done. keep your eye out for a wrecked, damaged or bad transmission soob with the motor you want in it. they can usually be had for little $. i have a Legacy Sedan in MD waiting for free if i can go pick the freaking thing up.

tighten the belt?

used hubs are an option as well, the failure rates of bearings on your vehicle are low enough that a used hub would be an option if you could find one low mileage and cheap. used hubs can be found for $25. rear EJ hubs are vague in my mind, but they shouldn't be hard at all to replace and you definitely won't need any special tools. if rust is an issue at all, hit all the bolts you can see with PB Blaster or Liquid Wrench (WD40 is not an acceptable alternative to those two). do that as many times as you can the days prior to the work and you should be golden. particular the one really long bolt that goes front to back at the base of the hub, i've had them rusted in pretty good to the point of shearing off.

that's awesome, good to know if it ever comes to that. i was going to replace mine years ago when i had the transmission out as "preventative maintenance" so to speak. some well advised soob experts i know (from the boards) mentioned how important the tightening was to "setting the gear backlash"..or something to that affect. so i didn't do it. still have the brand new seals. good to know you did it without issue.

might want to consider doing the EJ25 swap first. doing the aftermarket ECU install on the EA82 and then doing the swap sounds like an extra unneeded step. then you avoid the risk of buying the ECU and never getting to the EJ25 thing.

what do you mean by "blow an axle"? if it's just the boot, ignore it. i've put 50,000 miles on a broken boot, clicking axle. the original soob axles are tough, i drive them all the time for many miles broken. they're more reliable than new ones you buy at the store. the absolutely only functional reasons to replace them are to avoid grease splatter and if your state has annoying inspection requirements. other than that, if finances are an issue there's no reason to replace them. now if it actually blew to pieces, then my guess it was replaced with a store bought axle, it's not that uncommon for new ones to explode, i've had it happen before and others have as well. the 20 year old original soob axles never fail...well they do, but ignoring the off-road guys it's very rare.

having been the victim of new axles exploding weeks after installing, i wouldn't recommend them for someone who plans on keeping the car awhile. do a search and you'll fine a number of instances of new axles failing. i don't recall the manufacturer of the one i had though. i would leave the broken boot axle on there before replacing it with a "new" one unless it's a Subaru axle or MWE in colorado. i've put 50,000 miles on broken boot, clicking, stock, 20 year old soob axles before and they never break. search the forums here and you'll see a number of new axles failing.

wow, that's the first i've ever heard of that. some knowledgeable subaru folks have told me not to mess with those seals unless absolutely necessary. the torque on that collar sets the loading on the bearings and can cause major issues. i would read up and do a search on this a little bit, not that i don't believe mike, but i've heard this is something you want to make sure you're doing correctly. those collars can be very tight to break loose. if i were doing it, i'd be sure to mark and carefully count how many turns it takes to get off and try to install it back in the same position....same number of turns and back to the position where i marked it...and then based on what others say, maybe another 45 degrees for good measure. i'd keep an eye on the fluid level, if it's just seeping out and not loosing anything i wouldn't worry about it. could it just be seepage over 20 years or do you think you're actually loosing a significant amount of fluid?

on the XT6 there's a ground wire going from the coil to the front drivers side of the engine. i don't know how an 86 EA82 is set up but i'd imagine there's a similar single wire ground wire going somewhere from the coil....is that connected? this isn't that whacked out carb/ECU weird combo engine is it?

i just edited my last post, check my more detailed revisions if you were constantly monitoring this thread.

no spark where? at the plugs or out of the ignition coil? first step is to determine that. if there's spark from the coil but not at the plugs then your problem is with the distributor cap, rotor, ignition wires or spark plugs. if there's no spark out of the coil then there are a number of possibilities that have increasing levels of difficult to figure out. first i'd swap in another coil and/or FET resistor (the little thingy attached to the coil bracket that bolts and grounds to the strut tower underneath the coil). this FET needs to be grounded well, make sure the bolt is in place and no funny business with the metal there..paint or rust issues?any other recent issues or work done? or the car was fine and then bam...no spark? what engine/vehicle? carb, FI....etc?

wow, a quart every 50 miles, that's insane. if it's leaking that bad it seems like a leak down test should show easily where it's going. i second the question about how you know about the cylinder wall scratching. how many miles, any recent work or overheating? any prior head gasket issues?

in this case the market will not dictate what you can sell the car for. luck and timing will, there's no way we can help you decide how much it's worth. to get top dollar you would need to find someone local or the unlikely far away person that REALLY wants one and can't find it, that wants to fix this car up and make it what they want. most people that are capable of doing that kind of work also know they can find one for a couple hundred or less...or free and fix it. but in the rare even that you find someone who knows and wants a justy, you might get top dollar. more than likely that will take awhile to come across someone like that. this forum is a good place to start - place an ad with pictures in the for sale section. the good thing is that there is considerable subaru interest on this board, the bad thing is that skilled soob people can typically pick up cars for nowhere near top-dollar, which is what anyone desires when selling a car.

never seen that one before. interesting. do you know the brand of the water pump? if it was leaking out of the metal pipe where the o-ring is, that is replaceable without removing anything....all that timing belt, water pump removal is unnecessary to replace that o-ring. now, i'm a huge fan of having a new water pump though, so i totally understand installing a new one when you feel like. cheap and easy.

bell housing access hole under intake on top, passengers side. like they said, you want to make sure the torque converter is fully seated before bolting the engine in place. it's very tricky because the last 1/4 - 1/8" are where it hangs up, so visually it looks like it's in...but it's still got a tad to go. lots of posts on this, but gradually pull out and push in with very tiny movements until you feel/hear it click into place. the FSM is nice here, it shows a diagram with measurements. if the bellhousing/torque converter bolt holes aren't all coming together...do not use the engine to trans bolts to pull it in the rest of the way, you'll trash the transmission. i disagree that you'll get 30 miles like the other poster mentioned, you'd be very lucky to get the car moving once the oil pump is damaged.