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By now the average 99 is going to have needed a set of struts and tie rod ends and ball joints would be suspect as well as the bushings should be checked. If there is wear you can adjust it all you want and it will go right out again.

As a guy who helped do one of the first mechanic's videos and has currently written maybe twenty motorcycle manual sections the manual ain't always right. Trust me on this. You are right the bell housing bolts are the ones that squash the pump. Gary knows what he's talking about its just tough to explain sometimes when you are not doing it. Measure all you can stand. Just to be sure I've pulled them right off and inspected the seals and reinstalled. Picture this, I think the reason they are such a pain is that the spine you are trying to connect to is floating inside the torque converter wih very tight clearance;[p''''''''''''''''''''''''' \]] Sorry, cat just walked across the keyboard. You basically have to pick up that spline a few thousanths to catch it from where it sits on the bottom. So if you spin it you have a better chance of cathing it and sliding in.

Spinning the torque converter as you gently push back can help as can getting the tranny front vertical. I have yet to see anybody do that without leaking a bunch of oil though. As Gary says you will feel it mesh the teeth and slide back,

So a spacer that sets the gear clearance in the transfer case shattered. Pieces wnet into the bearing and the gear moved forward ruining both transfer gear sets. Transmission gears themselves are fine. they want to sell the entire transfer case for $500 which seems a bit expensive. More later.

Sure sounds like an air bubble to me. A guy called setight used to have a thing on bleeding the air so you might do a search. He used to put the front up. I fill it and do a moderately high speed run around the block and park it, let it cool and then refill. That usually gets the air out of the heater for me. I then check and refill several times over the next few days.

It started when I pulled into the garage here at work and selected reverse. The car lock up and did not move for a second as I let up on the clutch and then went bang and let go. After I drove it again it went thup thup thup anythime it moved. No noise you can hear in neutral. I popped the hood and saw that the axles had faioed boots. I figured a joint had failed and locked up. I replaced both axles and still had a noise, a bit less, but it's still there. When we had it up on the lift in gear you can hear the noise coming from the rear of the tranny with a stethascope. We won't really know what let go until it's apart. I kind of wonder if it had slightly worn internal linkage that let it select two gears at once at least partially. At first I thought it broke a spider or ring gear but the noise does not seem to be from the diff. It will be apart in a couple days as I'm going to drop it off at noon. I'm kind of curious as I have not seen this particular thing before, and I don't think it is common on Subarus. If I did not need the car I'd just wait until I found a tranny I was sure would fit but I need to rebuild my porch before winter and I'm now hauling boards on my motorcycle.

A local shop has offered to rebuild mine for $1200. Since the used trannies to fit my car directly have been coming in over a grand I think I'll go that way. The 98 has 140,000 miles on it and is questionable in quality. I had been thinking I could find a JDM one for $500 or so but that does not seem to be happening. At least if I have it done right it should last the remaining life of the car.

I bet its going to fiish up costing me $1500 before my Forester is back running again and I'd rather have that problem than yours. It's so depressing getting vandalized for nothing.

A lot of 2.5s, maybe the majority, have piston slap until they warm up. The more wear you get the more slap you get. As long as it goes away when warm Subaru says no problem.

Sorry, I should have said I have a manual five speed. I think this may be making me more senile.

Ed showed me a chart which seems to indicate the rear end ratio is the same but doesn't the 98 take less bolts to mount to the engine?

So it sounds like I have a broken spider gear too, or possibly the ring gear. When the tranny is running you can hear it pound. Currently shopping for used trannies and it sounds like around a grand here in CA as I want one with 50,000 miles or so. I could get an older one for less but i'd like to get the rest of the time I own the car out of it. If I had tons of time I could probably swap the gear set but the rest of the tranny is a bit musical too so I may as well bite the bullet. She has under 140,000 miles now and the engine burns a bit of oil so that will be the next thing that goes. The suspension is good, clutch and seals were done a few years ago. I do have an oil leak that may be cam seals and radiator and hoses are old. I'm not sure I have heard of many Subarus breaking spiders or ring gears, just lucky I guess.

Make sure you get the crank sensor wire on too.

The last time I dropped the ball joint it cost me $30. I mucked up the boot. By the way I have a spare good ball joint that just needs a boot if somebody needs one. If it turns out I have a defective axle it will come out easily now I think. I greased the beep out of them. If I had seen the note to use anti sieze before the job that would have been better since it stays for many years and resists rust.

I may get to try that soon. I have the Subaru over at a buddies with a lift so when he has time we can get it up in the air. The more I drive it the more I think the new axle I installed on the right is defective, I just have a slight thumping at about 40 mph and if I had a broken spider I think I'd have more than that. It also has stock rear axles and driveshaft so driveshaft might be a thought too. That axle did go in and seemed to be about the right length but next time I'll buy it from Subaru. More later.

I might do that myself next time. Good idea John.

Interesting. I once used a cigarette lighter for a kill switch. You had to push it in to start. Be careful though. When you are my age you can forget this stuff. People used to steal your trailer hitch insert when you were sailing here. I crawled up under and drilled two hole and inserted screws. Then I bondoed and painted them. A few years later I was going to sell the Jeep and got all sweaty with the sledge hammer before I remembered the screws. I left the dang thing in there as it was too much trouble to get it off. I also tricked myself on the same Jeep by coming back tired and forgetting the kill switch I had mounted in a tin can a watch came in and painted flat under the dash. luckily I remembered that before flattening the battery, just.... Also it is hard to get your hood open if you put a padlock on the latch. Trust me on this.

My solution was to turn the new axle nut around and use the thin end as a puller. I hit the edges with a screwdriver to turn it like you would to start a frozen nut or something you don't have a wrench for. Luckily it was long enough on the thin part to get a good grip on a couple of threads. I could have welded an old axle nut to it to turn it easily but then I'd be short a nut. If I did this every day that's what I would have done to make the next one easier. Mac seems to have a tool for this and so does Subaru, if you are a pro it would be worth the money. I also found it easier when working alone to get the axles in by marking the two big strut bolts that adjust and pulling those large bolts free. Only the top one is an adjuster and it has marks so you don't need realignment. Just mark the point you use. I've done it a couple other waysin the past with help to pull the strut back while I removed an axle. Far easier job with help. before I tried to put the new axle in I removed all rust and lubed both axle and hub. This was still a press fit. Things learned. 1Get a professional puller and the axle removal would be fairly easy. 2 I bought one rebuilt axle from Subaru and it went right in. 3 For half the price ($100) I got a brand new axle from Kragen. The new one had no beveled hole for the pin and was about half as tight as the old one makeing it take twice as long to install. Next time I'll pay the extra hundred bucks and get both axles from Subaru. I'll also buy a spare axle nut and weld an old one to the top to make pulling it in easy if I need to. I only had to do this on the new axle but Sbuaru says sometimes it is necessary on Endwrench and I got to prove it.

So today I ran into the fact that my new axle had no chamfer on the pin hole. After ispectin closely I found my chamfer side runs through the middle of the spline and the other side runs through two splines. I carefully marked it and positioned it up and that part is done. Today's big problem seems to be that I can't get the new axle all the way through the hub. I cleaned it and lubed it but I don't have any threads showing at all. Subaru says use thier tool and adapter to pull it in which I'm a bit short of. I'll go to lunch and see if things improve later.

I've not had a problem with the nuts with a half inch Craftsman breaker bar and I use my roller jack handle over it. You guys had prepared me for that being tight. On the rusty one from Maine we drove it over to the tire shop and had them take the nuts off with thier 3/4 air wrench. I know you are not supposed to do that because the vibration might damage a wheel bearing. I hope I get away with all the sledge hammering on my hubs. If I have a wheel bearing fail soon I'll only have myself to blame.

just a stock 99 Forester axle. I just got it but I have deformed the puller somewhat. With wife on the brake, five foot bar, six lb sledge and penetrating oil it finally pulled through. The only ones I have done before were on a rusty Maine Legacy we had to fix before the return trip to Maine. That one pulled right out with my sledge hammer and a block of wood. My Forester sure did not need the axle nuts at all, that was one serious press fit. I thought the puller would break first when it started deforming, I could see the threaded rod twisting like a torsion bar and even though I greased the end where puller met axle it still removed chips from both. It would have been best to do this with a real shop puller not a $57 Chinese job. Now I have to get the puller off which may not be that easy since it has deformed and ruined my three lug nuts. Then I hope the new axle slips in like the other side did or I'll have to figure out a tool to pull it in. I do see why somebody said a while ago that they broke a puller doing this, although some seem to be easy.

Actually no problem with the nut. The axle just won't come out of the hub. I am using a Chinese made hub puller that is really not quite up to professional standards. I'm trying to find a real one of the type that has a sort of hammer head on each end of the turning mechanism and the combination of shock and the screw pressure breaks one loose. The local rental shop did not have one and the probable alternative will be to take the hub and axle off and get it pressed out.

Man is my driver's side axle ever tight. I just had my wife stepping on the brake and a four foot bar on the breaker bar for the hub and drum puller. Pieces of steel are being wound off the end of the axle and puller. Maybe a thousand lbs on it and wacking with the six lb sledge and still no budgeing.

I'm sure if it is automatic you have removed the bolts from the torque converter?

I agree with Emily. As long as the electricals and the gear ratio are the same that tranny should fit.