SubyNoobie

Here's a pic of the difference between a 95 Legacy LS strut and a 96 Legacy Outback strut... http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/photos/showphoto.php?photo=7534&size=big&sort=1&cat=500&page=1 As you can see, the new strut is longer. (That's the Outback strut) So the plate that the springs rest on is higher, therefore raising the car. I've only completed raising the front due to laziness.. I'll raise the rear later. My car looks very funny with the front raised and the back not...

Replace them yourself... $65-$75 each at rockauto.com Replace those stock struts with KYB gas shocks. Have 2-3 hours set aside for each strut, and have a friend. You'll need spring compressors as well from an auto parts store.

I'm going to attempt a small write-up as a rough draft for the front strut replacements on a Legacy.. My friend was going to be taking pictures while we were doing all of this, but we ended up forgetting to. 1. Jack up your target wheel. 2. Take off your wheel. 3. Take off your disc calipers using the two bolts. Should be 17 mm. 4. Support your calipers with something like a box until you're ready to disconnect the brake line and lose fluid all over the bloody place. 5. Take some white-out and mark along the bottom portion of the strut that mounts to the rest of the hub assembly. 5a. You probably will have a brake line running through a portion of the strut. You'll have to remove the brake line from the caliper at the caliper, then run the thing through the strut to get it out. Reverse this procedure with the new strut. You'll have to bleed the brake lines and calipers after you put it all back together RIGHT BEFORE you put the wheel back on. Don't attempt to do the bleeding before you put it back together like my moron self did. 6. Loosen the two bolts that hold the strut in place. DO NOT take them off yet. 7. Use your spring compressors to compress the spring on BOTH sides as far as they will compress. I must emphasise that you MUST do this step. Failure to do so may cause serious injury/damage. 8. After you're sure the spring compressors have fully compressed the springs, remove the two bolts holding the strut to the hub assembly. 9. Pop the hood, remove the strut by pulling it down and to the side. (Towards the back of the car is the easiest.) 10. If you haven't already, pop the protective rubber nipple off the top of the strut assembly to obtain access to the 17mm bolt. 12. Use an appropriate Allen-wrench or screwdriver to secure the strut (thingee) while using an offset 17" wrench to get the bloody thing off. 13. Take off all of the items from the strut assembly. There will be the plate on the top that rotates, a large slightly cone shaped washer, and the top that the spring pushes on. Also get the nice cushion for the spring too. 14. Take the spring off the old strut. 15. Marvel at the length difference between your old strut and your new strut, and then wonder HOW THE HELL you're going to get it on your car. 16. Put your new strut bellows and bumper on your new strut if the one on your old strut is messed up. (Likely, and even if it's not, do you REALLY want to do this whole thing again just to replace a $15 part?) Follow the instructions on the bellows carefully for the bumper. They are initially quite deceiving. 17. Push in on the new strut, and release the rod by taking off the little clip. No, it will not shoot out at you like I initially thought it would. Now, reverse the procedure, and put it all back on. Tips: You may have to move the spring compressors around and compress them further to get the new struts on. Push down on the hub assembly if necessary with your foot while shoving the new strut up into where it belongs. Have someone help you. You may want to use a screwdriver to fit into the two bottom bolt-holes to assist in aligning the strut and the hub assembly to where you can actually FIT the bolts in. Lastly, I know NOTHING of fixing the camber on the car after you've raised it up using this method. Any ideas/help from anybody? I'm sorry I don't have a bunch of photos, but I forgot. Also, this is for the front two struts of a 95 Subaru Legacy LS. I haven't done the back two. I'll do another one for that... Once I have both done, I guess I'll post a FULL write-up in it's own thread.

I will be creating a write up with photos of my raising my 95 Legacy with OBS struts. I did one strut a week ago to figure out what the hell I need to do, and now that I KNOW what to do, when I do the other 3, I'll take pix, and take notes to do the write up. If I'm lucky, I'll get the 2nd strut done this weekend, and then 3 and 4 done on this upcoming Monday. (No, I've not been driving it around with only one strut raised, although I may be forced to do it this Saturday in order to tow a CRX with some towing straps, seeing that my Legacy is the only car I have with enough power to tow a car.)

Subie94, I finally took some pix of the damaged oil pan... Here's one I JUST uploaded to the members photo gallery. http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/photos/showphoto.php?photo=7533&sort=1&cat=500&page=1 I'm not quite sure how to post thumbnails in my posts on here just yet, but at the least the link should be clickable.

Buy a book for working on your Subaru, and do it yourself. Rotors were around $40 each for my 95 Legacy, and pads were another $30 each. It's not too hard to do as long as you're careful. You don't want to mess up your brakes.. You need them.

*hacks up a lung* I don't doubt the quality of the bumper, I'll have to save up for a bit though. Considering I bought my 95 Legacy for $2k, it's harder to justify. If I were to get a new 2005 Outback, I could easily justify it. Awesome bumpers though.

Mudrat, I also second the question of how much do these bumpers cost? I've got a '95 Legacy LS, and it needs some nice bumpers such as those with skid-plates as well. I have a bud who can get a front bumper made for me, but getting him to do something like that is like pulling teeth. (Painful, and you delay it forever because you're not looking forward to the bill.) The only thing that scares me is the shipping from the west coast area to Arkansas.

I paid $2k US for my 95 Legacy with 160,000 miles on it. 2.2L LS, Automatic tranny. I don't really have much on advice regarding the tranny, as I've never owned an automatic before this one. I bought the car back in April, and now it has 166,700 miles on it. Go with your gut feeling though. If you have to justify it in your mond, and you hesitated this much, then I wouldn't get it. There will always be another Suby out there, patience is just needed to wait around for it.

I plan on taking some before and after shots of the car, and then some step-by-step photos of my replacement of the struts for the benefit of the Rubasu community. My first time attempting to replace struts, so hopefully I'll do it right. Haha. Added a picture of the two struts.. New and old. 1.25" difference between the two. Witness yourself exactly HOW struts raise your car. haha http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/photos/showphoto.php?photo=7534&sort=1&cat=500&page=1

The dent is a little bigger than a golf ball, but it's opposite of the drain plug, so I don't think I've damaged it. I was lucky. I've got some galvanized steel that I think I'm going to bolt onto strategic locations under my Legacy after I complete lifting the front of the vehicle this upcoming Monday. The back will have to wait a week or two.

I need to do some armoring to my Legacy. I put a large dent in the bottom of my oil pan last weekend. (From a rock, I believe.) You know, it's amazing how durable these cars are. I can't count on my car being lifted saving my car, because all that is going to do is encourage me to do crazier things the more I have my Rubasu lifted.

Has anyone made any progress on lifting their Legacies with the outback struts? I have my front struts in, and my bellows. I'm planning on putting them on next Monday. I'll order my back ones tonight, and hopefully they MIGHT come in on time to put them on too. If not, oh well.

Oh, after talking to my big bro... He tells me struts don't come with bellows... OOPS, so those are an additional $14/ea for the new Outback struts I ordered. *sigh* It also means another 1 week delay as I wait for them to come in. Oh well, I'm going camping this weekend, with a little bit of offroading, and won't really have time to do suspension upgrades. I guess I'll just have to change the oil instead. lol.

Wheelwells and fenders? Nothing a hammer can't fix. *grin*

Good info, I was looking at changing my ATF soon, and this will prove helpful. I purchased a 95 Legacy with 160k miles on it, and I've been slowly been replacing neglected parts, such as rotors, brake pads, etc. Yesterday I replaced my spark plug/ignition wires, and it made a WORLD of difference, as my car was hesitating/missing while idling and while trying to get up and go. Now, it runs much better. I've never owned a car where the temperature guage went above 1/2, and last time I was going up a lot of hills to go camping, it went up to 3/4, so my next weekend project is replacing the thermostat, flushing and de-scaling/de-rusting the cooling system, and then filling it up with some good stuff. After that, I plan on tackling the ATF, and my primary 02 sensor.. A million things.. Luckily, small. I cringe at the day that I break a rear axle or such while offroading.

Due mainly to monetary concearns, I've ordered the front Left and front Right Outback struts to put on my 95 Legacy LS. :-\ However, I'm hopeful that it will work. Does anyone know of any potential problems of raising the front and not the rear? I plan on raising the rear about 30 days after the front, given the frequency of paychecks and such. Soo, I guess I'm on a mission to find Outback springs as well. I look at it this way.. If I gain 2" additional clearance between my struts and my wheel well top, I can add an additiona 4" in tire height. (2" above the center of the wheel, and 2" below the center of the wheel) which should give me an additional 6" of ground clearance. Does that make sense? ************, I should've taken more math classes. haha I need to hurry up and sell my Civic HX so I can get some cashola.. Know anybody who wants a 2000 Civic HX with 89,450 miles and gets 44MPG? $6,500.. Cold air intake, S.S. exhaust header, overdrive pulleys, strut tower bar, etc... Black, 5spd.. Little Rock, AR area. Oh well.. Anyhow. I'll post before/after pix including measurements of the ground clearance for any/all interested. Let's document this stuff. SubyNoobie

I plan on doing this same modification to my Legacy, so any updates from subie94 would be appreciated. I think I'll order the struts this weekend, but I've been having a difficult time so far getting ahold of OB springs, even from local junkyards. Sadly, Subaru's aren't as popular down here in Arkansas as they are up north. :/