I might be replacing my rear diff soon After driving on the highway for 10 or so miles the rear tires reluctantly move while I turn a tight corner, And chirp when I turn a circle, I should have not ignored it for so long.

 

Anyways Is there anything in particular I need to look out for or is it going to be a pretty straight forward job , take tires off, take axles out take diff out put back together? And is there a good place to get one the dealer wants 800 bucks for one or 2000 to do the work themselves.....ouch!

Should we assume its a 98 outback sport?

 

If so you should be able to get one at the junkyard.

Yes the year, model, and AT or MT would be helpful info to know. Because what you describe sounds more like torque bind, which has nothing to do with the rear differential. If you happen to have a limited slip rear diff, it might be bound up and cause issues.

Yeah - sounds like torque bind to me. Flush the tranny and see where it gets you.

 

Also - turn the ignition on and off and on again within 5 seconds or so and it will flash any TCU codes you may have stored.

 

GD

sorry

 

 

98 out back sport manual tranny

 

I can't think of a single reason for torque bind. All tires are the same size all other parts seem to be in working order....

The viscous coupler on the center differential, the one inside the transfer housing of the transmission, fails just like what you are experiencing. It will work fine when cold, then as the tranny heats up, the coupler starts binding. If the car was ever towed with 2 wheels down, or if it was stuck and you sat there spinning wheels for a long time, the center diff can get baked.

 

It's not a hard job to swap out the center diff.

sorry

 

 

98 out back sport manual tranny

 

I can't think of a single reason for torque bind. All tires are the same size all other parts seem to be in working order....

 

Thanks for the update. Lots of times the owner can't think of a reason for torque bind, but yet, there it is. Measure your tires, they need to be within 1/4" circumference and yes you are supposed to measure them to check. If it was run on a flat tire too long, towed improperly, got a flat and had just one or two tires replaced, etc., could all have done it. Maybe not by you, but by a previous owner, unless you've owned the thing since day 1.

I might be replacing my rear diff soon After driving on the highway for 10 or so miles the rear tires reluctantly move while I turn a tight corner, And chirp when I turn a circle, I should have not ignored it for so long.

 

Anyways Is there anything in particular I need to look out for or is it going to be a pretty straight forward job , take tires off, take axles out take diff out put back together? And is there a good place to get one the dealer wants 800 bucks for one or 2000 to do the work themselves.....ouch!

Center diff is ~$550 plus tax from 1stsubaruparts.com (call Jason in parts at Mike Scarf Subaru..Auburn...and ask for the internet pricing 1-866-528-5282). Replacement takes an experienced mechanic about 3 hours or less (if I remember correctly). That 2000 quote is exceptionally high. I know there was one poster who bought the center diff himself and then did the job in his driveway (search for it). I chickened out when my Forester had this issue and had an experienced mechanic do mine (I can recommend him highly; drop me a PM and I'll pass along his information if you like).

 

You might find one at the wrecking yard, but the PAP yards don't normally get cars newer than '97 (Subaru changed the center diff design in '98...all 5MT models have the same center diff from '98 to '03 I believe). I spent 3 months living with the torque bind looking for a used one and never found one and finally bit the bullet and bought it through Jason. If you're planning on keeping your Outback for a while, I'd go with the new part. My Forester had 125K on it when it failed and I hope to keep it past 200K.

Center diff is REALLY easy to change on a manual - pull the extension housing cover, slip it out, and slip the new one in. Reseal the cover and drive on.

 

GD

Center diff is REALLY easy to change on a manual - pull the extension housing cover, slip it out, and slip the new one in. Reseal the cover and drive on.

 

GD

Just make sure you find and re-use all the existing shim washers.

Just make sure you find and re-use all the existing shim washers.

 

Yeah - some experience with mechanical systems is good to know things like that - bearing/cup fittment, shimming, etc. But it's really simple and you only need very basic hand tools to accomplish it.

 

They also don't fail very often so a good used one would be an appropriate comprimise in terms of price. If this were a common failure I could see buying the new one - but frankly I've paid much less than $550 for entire cars and in fact I just bought a good used 110k tranny for a '97 OBW for $375 (and then sold the old tranny which had many good parts for $100) with a 90 day warantee from a dismantler yard..... so that seems cost prohibitive unless you pull the diff from a junk yard car for $25. If I can replace the entire tranny for ~$275 (or less - I've paid less before)...... well you see my point I'm sure.

 

GD

Yeah - some experience with mechanical systems is good to know things like that - bearing/cup fittment, shimming, etc. But it's really simple and you only need very basic hand tools to accomplish it.

 

They also don't fail very often so a good used one would be an appropriate comprimise in terms of price. If this were a common failure I could see buying the new one - but frankly I've paid much less than $550 for entire cars and in fact I just bought a good used 110k tranny for a '97 OBW for $375 (and then sold the old tranny which had many good parts for $100) with a 90 day warantee from a dismantler yard..... so that seems cost prohibitive unless you pull the diff from a junk yard car for $25. If I can replace the entire tranny for ~$275 (or less - I've paid less before)...... well you see my point I'm sure.

 

GD

GD.....good points all. But it's easy to lose a thin shim washer in the residual gearoil (been there, done that).

 

As to the cost of used, you're certainly having better luck than I had when going through this. Two used trannys and a dis-assembled tranny in a box (with a destroyed 3rd gear, so I thought the center diff would be okay) and I used up around $400 and about 3 months of looking without getting a working center diff. At that point, I opted for getting a new one.

As to the cost of used, you're certainly having better luck than I had when going through this. Two used trannys and a dis-assembled tranny in a box (with a destroyed 3rd gear, so I thought the center diff would be okay) and I used up around $400 and about 3 months of looking without getting a working center diff. At that point, I opted for getting a new one.

 

www.car-part.com is a neat resource. That's how I found this latest transmission for the OBW ('99 but the '97 tranny bolted right up) I'm selling. Works nice and came with a warantee and 110k on it for $375. Shifts like butter and drives like new.

 

GD