Did a ton of searching, and haven't quite found what I need.

 

I am helping a friend swap the 4.11 rear diff in a automatic Impreza. Got the new diff already, and gear oil ready.

 

Any advice, or pointers before I crap open the garage?

You might continue searching but I believe the automatic transmissions require a 4.444 ratio for the rear diff. I could tell you what you'd need for a 5MT, but I'm not familiar with the auto tranny.

the 4.44s were in the 2.5L engines in the legacys at least, not sure about the 2.5L engines in the imprezas (if there were any 96 - 99).

 

the 95 impreza auto has a 4.11 diff.

Are you sure it needs a new rear differential? Subaru rear differential failures are extremely rare, I wouldn't believe someone coming to me until I saw it. If it has binding, that is a common issue and is often mistakenly attributed to the rear diff - so make sure you're not doing a job you don't need to do.

 

I've see the rear nuts rusted to the point they are impossible to remove. In those cases it's nice to have a torch and burn the bushings out so you can remove the diff.....but then you got no bushing to reinstall the new one into - so not sure if that's replaceable or not. otherwise rear diffs are rather simple. 2 nuts in the rear, one up above, 4 12mm nuts for the drivehsaft and the axles and out it comes.

Gary,

Those rear bushings are replaceable, but they are a huge pain in the rump roast to get out. The way to do them is with an air chisel, that's the only way I've found that works. And most of the time I need to knock all the rubber out so you just have the metal outer shell stuck in there. Then use a bit that will slice a line through the hole thing, and crinkle it in on itself.

some one posted years ago, (and i don't know if it is true) not to spray the nuts on those 2 studs. with luck the studs will thread out of the housing making it easier to drop the diff. it sounds good, but i don't know, never done it.

Almost everytime I have one stud come out, and the other one stays in to make things more fun.