I have an 00 Legacy outback 5spd with 110k. My transmission could be happier. It started showing symptoms of a center diff issue a few months ago (should have addressed it then) and has progressed to various other rumbling/wining/grinding in the past few days. It almost sounds like one of the bearings may be turning in the case. I'm planning on opening the case for science as soon as I get my car rolling again. Used manual trans are scarce in Alaska, but I was able to find one after a few days of looking. It came out of an 04 forester and carries most of the same gears with the exception of 5th. It should bolt up fine, but the main issue I'm having is that the forester half shafts have male splines with a sprung circlip. My outback of course has the female splined axles that pin onto stub shafts that are captured by the front diff in the trans. Given the slim chance that I'll find another comparable 5sp without throwing one on a barge to AK I'd really like to make this transmission work. Are there spring circlip stub shafts I can insert in this tranny to accept my current model's female axles? Can I use the new legacy axles with the male splines? The spline counts are the same and the difference in length makes sense with the lack of a stub, but I'd rather have a little reassurance before making any decisions.
