It's rumored that there's a way to replace the speedo gear in a Legacy (in my case it would be a '98 OBW Automatic) without dropping the trans. I've searched the forums but can't find any details. Can someone direct me to a thread or fill me in?

I don't know about the autos but the manuals there's no way.

 

I'm sure you can get the sensor out but the gear is another story.

 

http://www.main.experiencetherave.com/subaru_manual_scans/

Theres a FSM for 97 legacy in there. Same trans.

I did this.

get car front on high jackstands

Pull the pasenger axle

drain diff from gear oil

remove the bolt to hold retainer cup

count number of turns to remove retainer

pull bearing sometimes you will need specail puller otehr times it will come off

remove drive gear off the diff

look up into the diff for the driven gear

pull off cir-clip for driven gear

remove driven gear

replace driven gear

install circlip

install new speedo drive gear

install bearing

install new oring you need to get new oring for this job

 

thread on the retainer cap counting same exact number turns prior to removal

install retainer bolt

install axle

fill gear oil diff

cross finger you got the lash retainer on right

drive car.

I mssed some steps surely

This job was done successfully by myself on my old TW94 wagon.

Shops will say you need remove trans, not needed trust me i am a expert at this crapola.

 

brent

ps the cost of the new gear driven is about 9.60

the new drive gear is about 17.48,and the oring seal is about 1.84

labor if you dont do it yourself LOTS

 

If i was to do this job i would charge about 200 labor cost to me.

MOST Mechanics are not capable of this repair, and it is so easy easy cake.

Edited December 5, 201015 yr by bheinen74

This sounds too easy to be true-- but studying pics and diagrams it looks like it's entirely possible. The variables I can't account for without actually digging into it are:

 

1. How hard the diff side bearing to get off.

2. How much space is there to reach up and access the driven wheel. Could I get my fat hand in there and reach it with my fingers? If it was the DRIVE wheel, it looks like it's quite easy to get to.

3. Getting the circlip off (and then back on) the shaft to change the driven wheel without having a bunch of little parts fall down into the differential. i hate circlips when I CAN get to them easily.

4. Getting the bearing back on and the side plate positioned correctly-- the service manual says something about # of turns to pre-load it.

just follow my instructions.

You will need to replace the speedo drive gear and the speedo driven gear as a set. cheapo parts kindof

get a new o=ring seal for the cap.

 

The small gear is a little tricky to maneuver in there, it is a small place to work in but I was able to get it, think i ended up using long reach needle nose for the circlip install, while holding the gear into place with a screwdriver tip.

a few times i dropped the circlip down into the housing before i finally got it.

 

You will likely need to make some sort of bearing puller to get it started.