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morgantruce

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  • Location
    Wayupahollerin
  • Vehicles
    '88 GL, '00 Forester

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  1. I think it's safe to assume that Subaru is not making clocks--even though I referred to the mythical Subaru Clock Division. But that is no reason to congratulate a company that has a 20 year history of outsourcing a notoriously poor assembly. At what point to they take notice... and maybe switch suppliers?
  2. Try to imagine yourself 20 years into the future... You have worked your way up in the world, and now manage your own business. Things are going great---your wife is a sex-godess, your children are smart and well-mannered, and you're making tons of money. Today you need to hire a new employee. The new prospect is standing in front of your desk. You look over his resume and notice that he spent the past 12 years working for the Subaru Clock Division. Do you: Hire him on the spot? Give him a pat on the back, and tell him that your competitor is looking for someone with his backround? or do you reach under the desk and fumble for that big lever that controls the trap door situated in front of the desk (right below where the prospect is standing) that leads to a long, sweeping chute---that dumps him into the city sewer system along with unspeakable filth and super-sized alligators? -------- The trap door opens... and you hear a long scream that fades away for several seconds... followed by a big splash... and then a lot of desperate thrashing and nasty gurgling sounds. Another Subaru Clock Division worker has earned what is due him. .
  3. You know... until this thread came along, it never dawned on me that there might be a connection between the malfunctioning clock on my newly acquired Forester... and the fact that it's just another Subaru--in a long line of Subarus that have clocks that display the correct time only twice each day. Even though Subaru has made steady progress in supplying clocks that use the latest whiz-bang technology, they have yet to come up with a single model that keeps ticking longer than the first scheduled oil change. Let's look at the bright side: when you buy a Subaru, you can be reasonably certain that the engine is going to give trouble-free service for well over 200,000 miles. So, when you're on your 7th trip around the earth in your aging Subaru... take a look up at the heavens thru your sunroof and say, "Hallelujah! Thank God that the managers at Fuji Heavy Industries assigned all their top-notch assembly workers to the engine factory---and assigned all the worst workers (the dropouts, malcontents, drug users, and those with sub-sub-normal IQs) to the notorious Subaru Clock Division." In my opinion, Subaru management has their priorities set correctly.
  4. . I suggest covering the hole with a small brass plaque which is engraved with: In Honor of the employees in the Clock-Making Division of Fuji Heavy Industries. TEMPUS FUGIT... but how much we will never know.
  5. Let's be honest here... the real dilema is that this really great car is owned by a beautiful ladyfriend. You must come to terms with the fact that if you fix the ailing car, she might use it to drive off down the road and you'll never see her--or the car--again. Perhaps it would be best to fix the car---but not so well that she would feel confident enough to take a long trip in... I've had quite a collection of '88 GLs---all of them have had cooling problems of one sort or another. Without visual signs of a loss of coolant, I would look to replacing the thermostat. Twice I have checked out a suspect thermostat in a saucepan of water on the stove---watching a (dairy!) thermometer for the moment when the thingy begins to open and when it was full-open. In BOTH tests, even though it seemed the devices were working OK, replacing them with new thermostats solved the higher-than-normal heat problems I was having. Another time I had a bad fan clutch. Yet another time I had a partially clogged radiator. "Borrowing" these parts from my well-picked-over junk car was a most economical solution. ----- Once you fix this car, I think you owe it to all who have responded to this thread to post a picture of of the car---preferably with the smiling, beautiful girlfriend standing right alongside the car. Actually, it would be just fine if you left the car out of the picture...
  6. Phizinza-- It's quite unfair that you dangle all those great Aussy 4X4s in front of us Yanks. I'm still suffering great jealousy over the fact that you down under guys can still get your hands on brand new Honda Trail 90s (I think you call them Posties...) Talk about LOW RANGE--- I used to haul 100-pound sacks of feed down our hill on the back of the one I had. For a little bike that could do only 40 mph on a straight road, I managed to put 20,000 miles on the odometer before retiring mine.
  7. Really? It must be that bone-dry, arid weather the Pacific Northwest is so noted for... I was out your way (Eugene, actually) once about 20 years ago. I seem to remember seeing quite a few cars that had green moss growing on them. Maybe that's why you can's see the rust... that moss just covers over all the holes.
  8. I have only fair mechanical skills. I've done my share of front axel replacements... and even a rear end-ectomy, but I draw the line at the kind of modifictions the last two posts hint at. ---- I remember back in the very early '90s stopping in at a Subaru dealer and test driving one of the (then) brand new Loyales which were supposed to replace the GL models. I took the car to the top of a small hill, put it in 1st gear, and let it go down without touching the brakes. I recall thinking to myself, "This damn thing feels like a soap box derby car---very little engine braking!" Subaru was on its way from a car that was useful to people who lived among mountains and off road situations---to a car that's OK for slippery pavement. For a long while, we got by by using TWO cars---one car just for our hill, and then switching to a front-wheel drive P.O.S. GM car for getting the rest of the way to work. It sure was a lot of fun switching from one car to another during snow storms... And then there was the problem of trying to do even routine maintenance on a car that can not be driven to your house. I have looked (half-heartedly) at Suzuki/Trackers but could not ever get past reminding myself of the twin-cylinder Suzuki motorcycle I had back in the early '70s... the bike that I (and several good motorcycle mechanics) could never get to run on both cylinders. It would be my karma to get the only Suzuki/Tracker in the world that always ran on half of its alloted cylinders!
  9. I am looking for a 4x4 vehicle that has just TWO features: (1) a very low first gear--obtained either by a "low range" transmission or a "crawler" gear. This vehicle must be able to come down our VERY steep, long hill... in all kinds of weather... and do it VERY SLOWLY! (2) gets "fairly good" gas mileage---because after we 4-wheel it up our long steep hill, it needs to travel 30 miles to get to work. -------------- OK, OK!!! Don't everybody start jumping up and down and start suggesting an 80's vintage Subaru GL with a dual range transmission---- I've had FOUR of 'em! They are absolutely the greatest cars ever created in my opinion. I lost three of them to rust... and now the fourth one is rapidly heading for the same awful end (boo hoo!!) I recently bought a 2000 Forester---nice car, but... I have to ride the brakes all the way down our long, steep hill---and I have little doubt that this will not work out well when that hill gets covered with ice and snow (wasn't a problem for my old GLs...) So I ask... what vehicles are out there that have available LOW gearing and get decent mileage? I am even considering (shudder) something that doesn't say "Subaru" on it. I used to have a Nissan pickup with low range that did the trick pretty good... At this point I could go for ANY kind of vehicle---car, wagon, pickup, etc. I would give my left ball if Subaru re-introduced the old GL---but this time made it completely out of stainless steel... dream on!
  10. Thank you. I think I will try to carefully remove the rubber coverings and give the whole emergency brake lever a good cleaning and greasing. If that fails, I have a used caliper available on my "junk car"---it's just amazing how many parts I've pulled off of that junker to keep two others on the road. The rubbers are 18 years old now--and probably a bit brittle. Before messing with them, I will soak them with glycerine. On a Mercedes board, someone recommended buying a $3 bottle of glycerine from a drug store, diluting it with water and using it on rubber parts like weather seals to keep them supple. Druggist: "Hey bud... you want some suppositories to go with that glycerine?" I've been using that glycerine solution on door seals for a couple years. It really revitalizes hardened rubber. I would never use it on things like tires and water hoses though. I've never lost a Subaru to mechanical problems... it's always advanced rust that puts an end to them.
  11. Thank you. I was hoping I would be able to repair what I have.
  12. For the second time, I've experienced the smell of hot brakes while driving my 1988 GL wagon. I get out, reach behind the front passenger wheel and physically pull the emergency brake lever towards the rear---and all is well. At home I removed the wheel and emergency brake cable. Then I squirted some aerosol white lithium grease under the thin rubber coverings that surround the brake lever---and worked the lever back and forth until it seemed loose enough to pull back on the cable when the emergency brake handle is released. Two months later---same thing happens again! I'm a bit reluctant to remove the rubber coverings---fearing that I'd tear them up. I figure the inside needs a real good cleaning----and I'd like to actually have a look at the spring that is supposed to retract that lever on the rear of the caliper. I live in a very mountainous area and MUST have the use of the emergency brake. Any thoughts?
  13. Ahh... that's what I wanted to hear -- especially from someone who did it a few times. Heck, If I were looking for fun, I'd have used that 8-pound sledge to do a number on the whole car. The icing on the cake: just as I gunned the other car to pull on that rope, I thought to myself, "This is probably not going to......." Hey, I live on a small farm. I've used my Soobs to pull some really outrageous things... no use firing up the tractor just to pull some small stumps. Right? Years ago I used to own a Jeep J10 full sized pickup. I had it stuck deep in muddy ruts and gave up on it and went to bed. The next morning all the mud was frozen. I tried to get out again and twisted the Jeep axle right in two --- like it was a piece of spaghetti. Never budged! So I got my Subaru and a chain and pulled it right out. "Jeep. It'll Go Anywhere!" Uh, huh. .
  14. I'm talking about a car that seems like it spent it's early life splashing merrily thru heavy salt brine. The last time I pulled (the other) rear axle, the inboard end came out easily enough from the differential. The outboard end took me TWO WEEKS of tapping, pounding, propane, two cans of PB Blaster, and untold grief to get those ^&$*)* rusty splines apart. I thought I was going to have to junk the car (I really should have...) until one morning I went out there and the thing let loose in my hands! That is why I am asking if I can change the outer boot without removing the axle from the car. ------- One trick I have picked up along the way is to remove the spring roll pin from the end of the axle with a punch. Then plug one end of the hole slightly (I used a tiny dab of Liquid Nails). Then rotate the shaft so the holes are 6 and 12 o'clock. Then fill up the top hole with PB Blaster and tap away. The vibration seems to get the solvent distributed in and around all the splines --- much better than just squirting some into open holes. ------- OK, OK.... Now I'll fess up about how that boot got torn... I was removing the whole axle and rear suspension arm from my junker car to put into a daily driver that had a bad wheel bearing. Things were going pretty good... I got the brake line apart, and got those big bolts out of the control arm. Everything was loose---except the inboard axle splines from the differential. I was getting pretty frustrated... and being the a**hole that I am... I backed up another car to the rear side of the axle I was trying to pull... and attached a rope around the bearing housing. I pulled a little. Then I gunned it. Of course the junker car was pulled sideways right off the jackstands (and 3 other backup piles of stuff under there... I'm scared plenty of getting squished by a car.) That's when the boot got torn (and when I SHOULD have fixed it) but I was in a rush to get the mother into my other car. As you can see, I'm the sort of fellow that gives shade tree mechanics a bad name.... :cool: .
  15. Thanks for the opinions guys, but my question was: Can the rear outer boot be changed with the axle still in the car? ...or does at least the inner end need to be be pulled out of the differential?
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