stevetone

Thank you everyone for your help. I will grind smooth and continue. BTW, a Pitman Puller did a nice job on getting the bushings out of the control arms. I had rigged up a pipe and bolt solution on the first bushing, but ended up snapping the bolt. The Pitman was much easier. steve

That sounds like a good approach. You are much wiser than me...

It was a Chicago rental car in its previous life. They use a little salt on the roads there in the winter...You should see the outside of the brake drum! (Of course, Wisconsin, where I live, is not any better.) So smoothing it out a bit will not reduce the width enough to cause a problem? The other side I did a better job, so no touch-up would be needed there. Thanks everyone for your help! Hope to get to the actual project, replacing the bearing, sometime soon

Well, after wrestling with the lateral link bolt, aka "BAB," for 2 days, i went to Plan B--the reciprocating saw. All went well, taking only 15 minutes to make 2 cuts into the Grade 8 bolt. I had expected a much harder time of it, as I used some cheap blades I had laying around. *Only* went through 4 of them! Anyway, after feeling really good about that, I looked at the knuckle and noticed that I carved into it 1/16 - 1/8" or so. Photo attached. So my question is: If I grind that smooth, can I reuse the knuckle? Or am I just asking for trouble in alignment? So far, this *wheel bearing job* is more about battling rust than the actual bearing. I haven't even got to that part yet... steve 2003 Forester X

I wanted to report my experience with aftermarket axles since there is the occasional controversy regarding the use of non-Subaru axles. I just replaced both front axles with AutoZone Duralast Golds, part number 9330N. They were only about $60 each, which I thought was a reasonable amount to spend on my "ancient" Subaru. These are brand new axles, not remanufactered. Now I am a "hack" at best, but it took me less than 2 hours of real work to get the first side in. Much less on the second set. I disconnected the lower ball joint castle nut and the anti-sway link to get the hub to move enough to extract the axle. Used lots of PB Blaster before hand, as my 1995 Legacy LSi has seen over 162,000 miles of Midwest winters. But in the end, my new big-a breaker bar from Harbor Freight was no match for them, and everything went without too much drama. The only real difficulty I had was getting one of the roll pins to go in all the way. Mushroomed the end trying, then got wise and inserted it from the other side. Piece of cake. I am happy to report that after installation I have experienced no vibrations, and the front end feels much smoother than before. And, the dreaded "click" is gone. (Although, in the process I noticed that my steering rack boots were also torn, so yet another project on the list). BTW, I have two Subaru "cores" if anyone wants them for free. One is pretty trashed with a mangled joint, but the other is OK I think (however, I did not do a close inspection). Given the preference of some to use genuine Subaru axles and reboot, thought it might be useful to offer them if you can use them. I am in Wisconsin.

Our '95 just starting showing rust last year, after 16 years of winter road salt abuse. I'm pretty bummed about it, as it has performed nearly flawlessly over that time period. Our '03 Forester X shows no body rust, but the undercarriage is another story...

review what nipper said. my money's on his diagnosis

I think I saw pictures of your rig--was it a Stop sign? Where can I get an old sign, legally?

Son of a gun! On my first drive after removing the plastic belly pan I noticed a strange lack of rattling noise from the undercarriage. :-\ Could it have been the plastic belly tray all this time making such a racket? There still is a faint rattle from the exhaust heat shields, but perhaps I can secure that portion and be done with it.

Well, I took off the silly belly pan of my Forester for good, despite the dire warnings of half of USMB and other, less-worthy forums. Although I would love to put on a Primitive or Subtle skid plate, if they weren't $200+. Next project: exhaust shield rattles. Yes, I've read countless posts on this, and tried a half-dozen clamps, nails, screw, etc. After removal, any reason not to spend $25 and wrap the pipes with exhaust wrap? I am thinking that should calm any concerns about heat retention and the cats, floorboard hot spots, etc. steve

Thanks for the advice, eulogious. That sounds like a plan. steve

Thanks 3Pin, that's relatively close to me and worth a shot. What's not to like about Subaru Heaven...

Since I looks like may have to go with my alternative plan of installing a new(er) OEM power antenna, anyone have one laying around that they would like to sell? I'm in South Central Wisconsin (Stoughton).

In retrospect, it would have been much wiser to pull the plug and just keep it extended. But it was just going to be a 15 minute mast replacement...

Yeah, my fallback plan is a new(er) OEM power unit, but I want to explore all my options first. I definitely want to avoid any additional holes. Don't want to give rust monster any more footholds than it already has.