pontoontodd

Interesting. So two layers with the bottom one perforated? I suppose room temperature water probably has about the same viscosity as hot engine oil. I'd be a bit worried about having adequate drainage to the bottom, I'd try it with baffles that are angled downward more steeply and/or don't stick in as far from the walls. I'd be surprised if a significant amount of oil goes through the perforations. Some quick googling indicates the oil pump can flow about 10gpm (40 liters per minute) at high RPM, similar to a garden hose. You want to make sure that can all get to the bottom of the pan. Have you thought about making or buying a crank scraper/windage tray? Definitely let us know how the test run goes!

The conversion axles are the best of the R160 rear axles. I don't think I'd ever broken any before the 6MT/R180 conversion, probably because the open R160 diff would go first. Before this weekend I think I've broken three of them and two of those were trying to launch the car. See slammo's post below but for the most part STI rear axles require STI knuckles which means bigger wheel bolt pattern and brakes. Plus with the front axles in rear we'll probably just each carry one spare front axle which means less cargo weight and volume. Not the best trip ever but I'm glad we went. That RR grade would be perfect in a mountain bike where you could just carry it over/through the occasional obstacle/stream, that whole section was pretty cool. Maybe a dirt bike. Diff stubs are already in the works. Speaking of which, if anyone has any R180 spider gears I could use one for checking spline fitment. Yeah really gotta get going on the knuckles.

Two of the rear R160/R180 conversion axles. Seems to be the last weak link in the black Outback's drivetrain. Left and right are slightly different lengths so luckily I had one of each and broke one of each. They've been disappointingly weak but on the plus side they're much easier to replace in the field than a trans or diff. Really have to get the billet knuckle program going so we can put front axles in the rear. Also had standard front and rear axles packed.

Now for the next dose of critters and carnage. We hit the Kentucky Adventure Tour just outside of Lexington and headed east/clockwise. https://kentuckyadventuretour.com/ At least part of it followed the Daniel Boone Backcountry Byway. https://www.ridethedbbb.org/ Fairly early on I thought we should check out one of the “hard” options. Almost immediately it went down a badly rutted out long steep grade. There was a wheel and tire assembly and Land Rover bumper along this grade, probably not a good sign. We thought we could probably get back up if we had to but figured it went through so one way or another we could get out. Portion of this was along an old railroad grade that someone spent a lot of effort building. Some of it was washed out making it barely wide enough for Subarus. Near the end of the day we got to a tunnel which went under the RR grade, drove down to that, through, and back up. Camped for the night along a stream. The next morning we continued down the grade until we got to a four way intersection. Our first attempt was the GPX route which went up a fairly steep long rocky grade. I broke a rear axle trying to make the climb in high range. B towed me up to the next level spot with my car having only front wheel drive (center diff locked). We swapped it out. First time we've ever broken a CV stub, all the other rear axles I've broken have been the bar shaft. On closer inspection it turned out the bar shaft also broke! Just after we finished we were checking out the next portion of the climb which had even bigger rocks and we watched some modified UTVs cruise up it easily. I think we could have done it but we decided to try one of the other options. Our next attempt was to continue on the RR grade. There were a few badly washed out sections, some just wide enough for a Subaru to drive over. Other sections were so badly washed out that there were bypasses. One in particular went down and across a small stream. B tried it but didn't have enough approach angle and got the front end stuck in rocks. I tried pulling him back up the muddy clay bank but his car started sliding sideways. Eventually we used the high lift on the back bumper, shoveled out from under the car, and put a ramp under the RR tire. Then I was able to pull him out. We both drove through the stream and continued on. Here you can see the (rail?) road base. Eventually we came to a bridge that didn't exist but the supports on either bank of the stream were impressive stone structures. There was a trail down to the stream but the bank was soft sand. I think we could have driven across it if we'd been able to get off to the side. I took my shoes and socks off and walked through. Put them back on and walked about a half mile down the grade. There was one narrow section but other than that it didn't look too bad. There was possibly a way down and across the stream and up out of the valley but I didn't walk it to see for sure. The grade eventually came to a narrow cut in the rock with an old locked gate at the far end. We decided to turn back around, this time I got stuck trying to drive up the soft bank on the far side of the one tiny stream. Winched to a nearby tree and continued back to the four way intersection. The last option crossed a river and required driving down the river a bit. B walked it, the water was a little over knee deep. I went first in the Outback with water coming over the front of the hood, probably the deepest water crossing I've ever done with it. Did get some inside but not a lot. Z drove the Forester across and we continued, eventually getting back to a main road. Long story short it took us about a day to cover maybe five miles. Z got stuck in a muddy section of trail in the Forester and right after we pulled him out a group of wild horses came down the trail. We stopped at a railroad trestle that was marked just off the route, there were a few trails there including one that went over the trestle. Sunday we did a lot of pavement driving. We were trying to hit the KY state high point and get close to Knoxville to pick up some wheels for travelvw. Most of the route seemed to be paved. We stopped at a park in VA to get out of the car and make PB&Js. Saw some red spotted newts mating in a small lake. We short cutted the easternmost part as it appeared to be paved on my map and this would get us to the Jackson NF. Unfortunately that was almost all paved too. We got to the high point of KY. Then we continued and eventually got to more unpaved sections. On a rutted out climb I dropped a tire in a big hole and when it came back down it broke the other rear axle. I was able to take an easier line up the hill in low with the center diff locked and made it up with just front wheel drive. B and I swapped out the axle and by then it was getting dark so we made dinner and set up the tents. This one broke the axle shaft but on closer inspection the outboard stub was cracked most of the way around. Monday morning I found a salamander and a big American(?) toad. Tried driving to Hensley Settlement even though that road was marked extreme on the GPX route. Got a ways up it and then stopped at a levelish spot. Just got rockier from there so we decided to turn around especially considering we were running out of time and had no more spare conversion axles. We drove up to Pinnacle Point in Cumberland Gap NHP. Overall a decent trip, way more pavement driving than we like. Plenty of recovery practice and low range use. If this was the part of the country you lived in, a Toyota or something would be a much better tool for the job. Low range in both cars was working great all weekend. Engine oil leak in the Outback even seemed to slow down significantly.

Another recent project. B has been skeptical of the LR strut tower on his blue Forester. He finally took out the interior to find this. Car is otherwise rust free. After cleanup with some wire wheels it actually didn't look too bad. Looks like that whole corner of the car was replaced at some point. Black on the inside and the VIN sticker doesn't match the rest of the car. Can see where it was cut, rewelded, and repainted at the rear pillar too. Used B's new high lift to spread/preload the towers a bit and did some welding. Added some strips at the bottom, seemed impossible to get a decent weld at that seam due to the thin layers, caulk, etc. Painted and reassembled everything. Also welded a bunch of other little cracks/gaps, most of them also from this old repair.

Couple recent fab projects. R was sick of the factory rear lateral link adjusters either self adjusting or rusting solid in place. Really don't like the idea of having the threaded bit right in the middle. We made up these from some right and left hand bolts, threaded rod, bungs, and 1.125" tubing. Brush painted them hoping that will hold up a little better than our normal rattle can painting. Doesn't look as good and started assembly before they were fully cured because we're that impatient. Used Whiteline bushings, have always just used Subaru in the past, they seem to last indefinitely. These are far easier to install though. Had to cut the old ones out. Replaced eccentric bolts with 14mm bolts and nuts, welded some spacers inside the stock rings to locate the bolts. Seems to work so far. Finally got tired of using this dilapidated wooden block for the floor jack for our lifted Subarus.

Video from our trip to Arkansas last April. Got video from a few more trips last year but no idea when I'll have time to edit them.

For what it's worth I've now read that all the wiring should be there, module is different between manual and automatic.

I am wondering how difficult it would be to add cruise control to a 1998 Impreza Outback Sport (5MT if it matters). Couldn't find this discussed anywhere. I have another Impreza that I think has all the parts I'd need to swap over - steering wheel, main button, module under hood, module under dash. So I guess my main question is, would a car without cruise have all the wiring and connectors in place?

Not sure about fifth gear but we definitely drove up a lot of hills at the off road park in fourth in low range. Definitely a huge improvement in capability, time will tell how many people buy them. We had the only car to finish the Vegas to Reno last year. The only other car entered was a relatively stock beetle that didn't finish. In the past beetles have finished but most people aren't crazy enough to try. 1600 buggies (stockish VW drivetrain and suspension) are even rarely entered, maybe one or two on average. The organizers are also pretty sure we have the only station wagon to ever finish and I'm guessing we have the only unibody car or Japanese car to ever finish.

2.94 if my calculations are correct. Testing it on the bench and driving it seems to be about 3:1.

Slammo's front strut bodies. Got these welded along with a pair for my Impreza. Dropped them off at ID grind today. Front and back of the shirts we had made.

Finally turned over 300,000 miles in the 99 Outback. As B pointed out, it's really the 120,000 miles that we've put on it that are impressive. Took the low range out to inspect it recently. Considering it had a year of abuse on it, it wasn't in too bad shape. Definitely have some ideas for how to improve them in the future. Pile of parts for the other three we're trying to finish. We were able to get the low range installed back in the transmission without removing it. Not easy but good to know that's possible.

Trying to fix an oil leak on my 99 near/under the oil cooler. Tried putting JB weld on the outside and running the shop vac hooked up to an old oil filter with a hole cut in it. Unfortunately that didn't seemed to work, in the process of getting it all off and cleaned up and starting over now. Polyurethane for padding the engine to the skidplate, definitely needed for finishing the Vegas to Reno. Funny to me that it's permanently bent now. Finally got our tires back from Baja Pits, this is the one that we had to replace at mile 6 in the Vegas to Reno. This was the hatch gap when I first got the red Impreza home. Taking the taillights off, always surprises me how much the sealant stretches. We did push and pull the bumper and hatch opening back to about where it should be. Worst part of the red Impreza. B cleaned it up and we got the door aligned better but I still plan on replacing it.

Very open to suggestion on how to better post pictures.

Apparently I can't add any pictures because links have to be https now? I did finally get some shirts made from Vegas to Reno, if you want some I put them on ebay: https://www.ebay.com/itm/255364495038 https://www.ebay.com/itm/255364499402 https://www.ebay.com/itm/255364966643 Also have some other sizes and long sleeves if anyone wants them.

The weekend before Christmas I flew out to San Diego. T picked me up at the airport and we stopped by a speed shop that does a lot of Subarus. They had three of them and all of them were getting or had gotten engine work done. Then we went to T's house and had lunch and checked out the red Impreza. It was mostly as advertised until I opened the LR door and saw the giant patch of epoxy/fiberglass that had been added. We drove up to my brother's house. He had bought B a very nice white Forester. It only had 112k miles on it and was like new inside and out. Even our mom was impressed with how nice it was. It didn't have a hitch so B and I shipped out his hitch and my hitch ball, stabilizer bar, magnetic lights, etc. T had bought a Harbor Freight folding tow bar. My brother and I got the towing all set up. I drilled a few holes in the bottom of the Impreza bumper beam and my brother TIG welded the brackets on to it so we weren't just relying on the spot welds. The lights had worked the previous night but one wasn't working as we pulled away from the house. Turned out to just be a bulb so we got one from a parts store and swapped that out. Drove to R's on Saturday. On the way we saw a recliner in the middle of the interstate. In Arizona we hit one stretch of I10 for 10 or 20 miles where the car was wandering all over the lane even when I slowed down. We pulled over on the shoulder and everything seemed to be attached, kept driving to the next exit, cars still wandering around. We tightened the bolts for the tow bar tabs as they'd crushed the bumper beam some. Got back on the interstate with the same problem. My brother noticed when I was off to the side of the lane riding the stripe it seemed more stable, then we realized it was because the right lane was badly rutted. The rest of the way back we mostly forgot we were towing a car. Once it got dark we saw a large hay bale that had been run into/over countless times in the middle of the interstate and a guy towing a side by side in the second lane from the right at a snail's pace with a strap in Phoenix. We got to R's and worked on the WRX a little bit and then went to sleep. His shop is spacious, well lit, well insulated, and climate controlled. I brought my normal Subaru tool kit but he already had almost everything we needed. We swapped out the steering rack, both front CV axles (boot on one had just torn), one of the lower balljoints (couldn't loosen pinch bolt on the other one), shifter u-joint, oil cooler gasket, and catless uppipe. All of these parts have been on the car for 19 years and 230,000 miles. When R showed me the new shifter u-joint he got from the dealer he said “look, this one has bushings in it.” We had to do a little mini lathe work I think to make a rollpin install tool for the steering u-joint. Over half the man hours were in replacing the up pipe. We didn't break any bolts but a lot of sea foam deep creep and heat was used on many of them. Had to remove more of the exhaust than R expected to remove so we had to get some more gaskets. Those, an O2 socket, ball joints, and a few other things required about a half dozen parts store visits. Fortunately most of them were fairly close by. I still think it might have been easier to remove the engine despite R's skepticism. We wound up removing the U brace to swap out the rack following slammo's advice, that turned out to be pretty easy. Went for a late night test drive and everything seemed to work fine. I was quite worried that the rack or a CV axle would puke its guts out but figured at least most of what we'd done would be a good fix. R's first reaction was that it was quieter than before, we'd fixed some kind of exhaust leak with all the gaskets we'd replaced. He's super happy with the fixes, says it's like owning a new car. Monday morning we packed up, welded the tow tabs on the Impreza with R's flux core welder, and headed east. So we used a Bridgeport, TIG welder, mini lathe, and flux core welder all in the same weekend. Stayed the night at a cheap hotel in Vega, Texas. Kept driving the next day, had dinner with travelvw. Got home the next morning. Didn't use any oil the whole trip or have any problems once we got going. Thursday morning slammo was in town, we troubleshot the white Outback's brake lights. A couple bulbs were burned out but the main problem was the switch was mostly not working. We swapped out the bulbs and one of the housings that was cracked. I got a switch in town and put it back together and they seem to work now.

Thanks. For now I'm just finishing three more of the STI 6MT low ranges and two of them will have homes. It has been working great but I do want to take it out and look over it before we put them in a few other cars. Maybe with a little more testing and a few on the shelf I will need some help getting the word out. We've been discussing making center diff low ranges for other Subaru transmissions. The most marketable one might actually be for the CVTs but since I'm a terrible businessman, I keep thinking about what I can make for my friends so they have a decent low range. From that perspective the 5MT is the next transmission to fix. There is room in the case for the low range itself but not much room for shift shafts/levers. It seems like the only way might be to use the old 5MT cases with the inspection cover on top, which would make converting most of the 5MTs more complicated and expensive. We also discussed doing the split case 6MT but it's actually not used in as many cars as I'd thought. If you're talking about these guys: They are eastern red backed salamanders, definitely the most common type of salamander around here. They do have little legs. Fun fact, they have no lungs or gills and breathe through their skin. A few weeks ago we pulled B's dual range trans out of his Forester because it's been stuck in high range since our last trip. We took it apart and the high range synchro was melted to the input shaft again. B decided we should just try removing it. I'd thought about doing this before but always figured it'd make it a lot harder to shift. We sealed up the trans and put it back in and replaced an inner tie rod. B said it's been shifting and driving about the same as with the synchro. Maybe it will stay in his car for a few years now. It would be really nice to have proper low range transmissions in a few more of our cars though. Especially after riding in and following slammo's Lexus I really appreciate the low center of gravity of the Subarus.

Since we got back my brother bought a rust free white 2002 Forester for B with low miles (just over 100k) in southern CA. T bought me a red 98 Impreza Outback sport near San Diego. I plan to drive it up to my brother's house in a few weeks and then we plan to tow it back to IL with the Forester. The Impreza is meant as a replacement for my 99 Outback which is quite beat. It didn't give us any real issues on this trip but the body/chassis has taken a lot of abuse and I'm nervous about the wiring. Plus little things like not being able to drive it over 20 or 30mph with the windows down or the exhaust fumes get to you, HVAC controls not working properly, etc. My short term plan with the Impreza is to piece together some "obsolete" long travel struts and swap in a 6MT/R180 with the low range so I don't have two cars torn apart for months. Then depending on the timing and my ambition I plan to swap in an EZ36 with a standalone this winter or next. Other than that keep it fairly simple, skidplates and fabricated bumpers but no cage. Might replace spare tire well with fuel cell down the road but just carry a jerry can in the meantime for extra fuel capacity.

Drove north and stopped at a little grocery store in a small town. Started on the BDR which was gravel roads for quite a while but eventually got into the Lincoln NF which had all kinds of side trails and campsites. Some of those were pretty cool, a lot of embedded rock like AZ. The forest and mountains reminded us some of Wyoming and northern AZ. We drove along a ridge/bluff when we first got in that was sort of like the Mogollon rim, not as dramatic but still cool. More big grasshoppers, I had forgotten about the mouse sized ones we'd seen near Texana. Much of the BDR was just dirt and gravel roads but one section in particular was a rough rocky steep climb. Friday night we looked for a lower elevation campsite as it had gotten fairly cold the night before. Stopped at an observatory which was pretty cool. Drove down the BDR towards Alamagordo and camped in a clearing down off the highway. There were quite a few springs along and near the BDR. B's Forester's front suspension was making a lot of noise so we swapped out the rear control arm bushing since it's a pretty quick fix. The next morning we did more of the BDR. We stopped at a Mexican restaurant at a reservation and ate lunch. Eventually we got back to a highway and figured we needed to start heading home on highways to get back at a reasonable time. B had to air up his tire we'd plugged the sidewall on fairly regularly and I had to keep putting oil in my engine due to a leak but other than that the drive home was fairly uneventful. Definitely left us all wanting to do more of the NM BDR. One thing I was definitely impressed by was the overlanding/sleeping setup of slammo's Lexus. I've thought about doing that to an Outback for years but it's always seemed like there wouldn't be enough room to sleep and would make it hard to haul large amounts of cargo around in when not trail riding. We have to rebuild the Subaru dual range again, at least replace the synchro(s). Would be ideal if we just set up all the cars with the 6MT low range but that's not as simple or cheap of a swap. Have to finish the 6MT low range for slammo and will complete a couple more at the same time. Also we should do more shock tuning, it would be nice to be able to hammer out whoops better and ride more smoothly over the embedded rocks common in AZ and NM, even if it means bottoming out on the big jumps which we rarely see. Have to finish long travels for slammo and travelbyota too.

B and Z and I left my house a few weeks ago for a week long off road trip in my black Outback and B's Forester. Got most of the way to Little Sahara and camped at a lake in KS. It got very windy that night be we survived. We got to Little Sahara Sunday morning. Saw a bunch of golf carts being towed going the opposite way. It was Veteran's day Friday so we're guessing a lot of people had already been there Friday and Saturday, it wasn't too crowded Sunday morning. Everything including the golf carts had paddles on the rear and ribs on the front, and it was mostly golf carts with a few dune buggies. We aired down and installed our tallest flags. Entrance road is quite whooped out, we couldn't run it with any speed. I was leading the way most of the time and working my way around the perimeter or close to it thinking there might be some trails off into the woods but we didn't find any. The whole perimeter was a mess of trails through brush but very sandy, the interior was large dunes but not quite like Silver Lake or the Big Dune. At one point I did a lap of a bowl and realized I couldn't keep my momentum up enough and couldn't get out. I put it in low and locked the center diff and by backing up the opposite wall I was eventually able to power my way out in second. I got stuck another time trying to take a soft side trail but was able to back down and sideways back onto the main trail. Got stuck another time trying to climb a small soft hill. While I was stuck sideways halfway up the hill a couple guys came over the other side and fortunately for us immediately stopped but caused the following one to rearend the leading one. Don't think that did too much damage. Z hooked the strap on to the side of my front bumper and B pulled a little too hard and broke the side of the bumper but did get me mostly pointed in the right direction. Z ripped the piece off the rest of the way and we put it in the car. We were able to climb some of the highest dunes after a couple tries, it was a bit tricky to not carry too much speed over the top but have enough momentum to crest the top. While at the top of one of them we saw some cool looking dirt roads going into the hills to the west. After we'd been around the park once (took a couple hours) we decided we should leave – we'd kinda seen the whole place and if we stayed longer we're probably just wind up breaking something, getting really stuck, or hit a golf cart cresting a dune the opposite direction. Went back out to the parking lot, aired down, and made sandwiches. B couldn't get the Forester in high range (Subaru dual range trans), it just kept grinding like the synchros were shot. I had him shut off the engine. Then we slowly rolled the car back and forth while I put a big prybar on the low range shifter from the engine compartment. Eventually got it in high range where it stayed the rest of the trip. We had to drive around the block but we got to the trails to the west into the hills. They were oil tank access roads and also went by a few ponds. Some went to the tops of hills with pretty good views and the roads in general were pretty fun, a little rough but not too bad. We eventually ran out of those and tried to figure out another area with trails on the way to Big Bend. A ways south of there we hit some side roads. Eventually came to a gate so we went through, closed the gate, and continued. Not far from there we could no longer follow the road that was on my map. Turned back around to find about thirty cows on the other side of the gate. They associate motorized vehicles with food and water. There were some small jumps near the gate so I hit those a couple times to kill a little time but the cattle weren't going anywhere. Fortunately there was a cattle guard at the gate so I opened it and started waving them back. B was able to get in but then got kind of boxed in by cattle. Z eventually got the Outback in and I closed the gate. I was eventually able to wave a path through the cattle for them to drive through/around and I ran after them over the next cattle guard. Looked like the area around Copper Breaks had a lot of dirt roads so we went down there and camped out for the night. In the morning we started driving down some of the side roads looking for dirt roads but they were all gated/private. We basically drove straight to BBSP from there. Met slammo just as it was getting dark and followed him up the roughest trails we'd do all week to our campsite in the dark. Took one trail that was on the main state park map but kept dead ending in and along a wash so we took the long way around he'd taken before. There was an old dilapidated windmill at the site and a new picnic table. The next morning we trail rode the long way down to the only open ranger station. Cool desert mountain views, all the trails are what we'd consider Jeep trails, fairly narrow and rough. Took part of the main gravel road to the ranger station. They did have showers, bathrooms, water, and ice, all of which some of us got in on. We took the long way south to another campsite on a saddle. Took a hike down into a valley and hiked back up in the dark and set up camp. Saw several decrepit windmills, at least one with dead windmill, IC engine tossed aside, and solar powered water pump in their place, three generations of water pumping technology. We hiked to a waterfall one morning, it wasn't visible from where we were at through the vegetation. We did more trail riding the next day including a fairly overgrown trail that had some deep ditches crossing it that were a little challenging. It's funny to me that the Lexus certainly made it through/over everything but was often fairly tippy or scary to watch or ride in. My Outback crawled with similar ability but was much more stable. B's Forester had to go through with more speed due to a lack of low range but was also very stable and level. So the one place I had thought the Lexus would have a big advantage I think it was actually worse. Plus with the auto, slammo and I both thought it was not as smooth and controllable as the Outback. The road to a couple mines we wanted to see was closed so we hiked in to them on some of the smoothest roads we'd seen the whole time we were there. The mines were disappointing but we did see some cool grasshoppers. On the way back B and Z and I hiked down a wash for a change of scenery. Slammo took us to Solitario bar which is an unoccupied collection of treasures on an island of private land inside the park. We drove up to a state park that was fairly close to the start of the New Mexico Backcountry Discovery Route (NM BDR). We hadn't bought gas in three days, slammo and B both added some to their cars while we were in BBSP but I didn't have to add any to the black Outback. In BBSP we saw javelinas, a tarantula, and mule deer including a big buck. We also saw antelope and elk and more mule deer on the trip.

I agree with all of that except the auto trans fluid change. I've heard many horror stories about people changing auto trans fluid in cars and trucks that haven't had it changed in tens of thousands of miles and the transmission dies shortly thereafter. Have even heard this from people who rebuild them for a living. Hypothesis being it breaks loose all the varnish and sludge and clogs things up. Just my 2c on that.

Interesting. I was thinking more for the lower/closer ratios than durability but again I know almost nothing about the automatics. The 4EAT is bad enough, I can't imagine something worse.

2" lift shouldn't be too hard on your CVs and shouldn't affect power delivery or transmission life. If you're going to drive the car 99% on the highway and occasionally take it on trails like this, just go 1.5". If 99% trail riding I would go 2.5". 215/75/15 is the biggest tire you'll be able to fit without some crazy spacers or wheels, they shouldn't rub too much with 1.5"+ lift. Supposedly the 08ish Forester struts have a little more clearance, pretty sure the 2000-2004 Outback front struts have more clearance, but still 215/75/15 is about as big as you can go. As you mentioned your approach and departure angles will be much worse than a Jeep. At a minimum remove the plastic bumper covers or the trails will eventually remove them for you. AGX struts are a little better than standard replacement struts and aren't too expensive. Beyond that they get expensive but ride and hold up better. Lift springs would be worth looking into, that would be a better way to lift it than spacers as it will get you higher off the bump stops at ride height. Having done it, I would say it's not worth swapping to an H6 for mild trail riding. If you really want an H6 and obviously don't mind having an auto, I'd just buy an H6 Outback. With the five speed auto would be even better. The biggest advantage that Jeep will have over your Subaru is gearing. I haven't seen this trail you're talking about so I don't know how steep it gets, but any long steep grade will probably be impossible in your Subaru (this is all relative, we've certainly climbed some things without low range a lot of people would consider long and steep). I haven't driven many of the automatic cars off pavement but mine is terrible, certainly no better than a five speed manual, you still need momentum to get up short steep hills. It does work better in 1 or 2 than D. I wouldn't worry so much about ground clearance numbers. Worst case you scrape the bottom a few times, or a lot of times, it's steel and it's a 22 year old car, just make sure the oil pan and gas tank have good protection.

Rendezvoused at Z's new house at 7AM Friday morning last weekend for a trip to the UP. Someone noticed his car had a blown CV boot so we swapped out his axle with B's spare in Z's garage. Drove north out of Menominee, haven't done that in a long time. Went by some other trails and snowmobile trails and got to the Felch grade. After driving it in my car for a while I rode with Z. His car is definitely harsher but bottomed out at least a few times on the trip, not sure if that was sidewalls or suspension bottoming though. Definitely needs more tuning. Got up to Rapid River and hit the super whoops. Cars didn't seem to handle them too well or maybe the whoops are getting taller (sort of look like it). Fall colors were prime in some areas. We headed east and wound up at the same spot we'd gotten the white Outback stuck on our last trip. B noticed a different line through the swamp that looked easier so A tried that in my car. Got stuck of course, Z pulled him out with the strap. A tried it again farther to the right but wound up in the same ruts and got stuck again. Z started to get him out with the strap after a few hits but was digging his own ruts. I almost told him to stop because he was going to get stuck but his car seemed to still be driving fine and he didn't seem concerned. Then of course he got stuck. No standing trees within winching distance. Later on I noticed a large fallen tree we probably could have winched to. Z and B worked on jacking up the Forester with the bottle jack and shoving wood under things. A and I used the electric jack on the Outback and various wood and were slowly raising it. Eventually we got the recovery ramps under a couple of Forester tires and drove it out. Tried winching the Outback to the Forester but it just slid the Forester. Ran a strap from the front of the Forester to a tree and then the winch was able to pull the Outback out (after jacking and getting wood/recovery ramps under the tires). Z said he could hear the Forester's body creaking. We were probably stuck for a couple hours, a longer strap(s) and/or a high lift would have helped a lot but we only had two cars so we didn't have all our usual recovery equipment. Saw a porcupine crossing the road. We eventually got up to a campsite we'd found before on a little lake but it was occupied by a van. Found a different one at the top of a hill by the lake and camped there. That area had a ton of trails so the trail riding Saturday morning was good. Found a pile of random toys along a river and made PB&Js there. We tried going to the south end of the old bridge we'd found earlier this year to reevaluate fixing it. I think it was there we went through a super nasty looking mud bog that was actually fairly easy, just a few inches of slime on hard packed sand. Bridge could certainly be rebuilt, maybe even with the materials on hand, but it would take a lot of effort and fasteners we didn't have. Drove around the block (10-15 miles) to get to the campsite between two lakes. Nice night, no bugs all weekend really, lows in the 50s. We had a little campfire after dinner and some guys drove in with their UTV and just turned around and left without saying anything. Sunday morning we went up and hit the jumps just north of the campsite but they're blind so we didn't want to do that too much. Tried going east, there were some mudholes and bypasses around fallen logs but we made it a few miles until the trail ended at a turn. Couldn't figure out where the road used to go so we turned around. Moved some logs out of the way on the way back. While we were doing this an old timer showed up on an ATV. He warned us there were some mudholes the way he'd come and we said we knew, that's where we came from. Then I realized he thought we'd come the other way so I asked him if the road actually went through. He said that's what he was trying to find out, it used to be a road 60 years ago. On a couple of my maps it went all the way through. A couple of other ones didn't show most of what we'd driven but did show it going farther east. Typical UP navigating. Got stuck in a couple other deceptively soft swamps but got out with the strap in one and the electric jacks and ramps in another. No real issues all weekend, good temps, no bugs, not much rain.