gmtrekker

That's exaclty right a97obw. I bought the axle for my '98 Forester from autopartswarehouse.com - which can be viewed here: http://replacement.autopartswarehouse.com/parts/autopartswarehouse/viewImage.jsp?image=img.autopartswarehouse.com/live/K4000106332ACE.JPG You can see the brass-colored baffle plates (that's what the FSM calls them) at each end of the axle. The quality of the axle seems top-notch, though time will tell. If the box didn't say remanufactured, one would think this axle was new. I'll be calling customer service on Monday to see what they say about the missing baffle plates. Is it really worth the effort to pull the axle out just to replace those baffle plates?

It wasn't until I had the replacement axle installed and the car off the jackstands when I noticed the OEM axle I pulled looked slightly different. What I realized is that the remanufactured axle did not have either baffle plate. The baffle plates protect the seals for the wheel bearings and axle shafts. Now I'm sitting here wondering if my axle and wheel bearings are going to fail prematurely without those baffle plates. Has anybody out there replaced an axle without those baffle plates?

Has anybody found an aftermarket pitch stopper for a '98 Forester? My dealer quoted me $57 lousy bucks!

Has anybody found an aftermarket pitch stopper for a '98 Forester? My dealer quoted me $57 lousy bucks!