So I was looking for a cheap car to use for hauling my RC planes, over 6 foot wingspan, and one that could be towed behind my "Classic" 1973 Winnebago.

A man who works at the local auto parts place, who was a Boy Scout in my Troop when I was the Scoutmaster, told me to look at a Subaru since they seem to last. Well one thing led to another and I found a 1993 Wagon "for parts". Now I had never driven a Subaru before, but liked what others have said about them, and there were a couple of them in a wrecking yard close by.

 

So the car was not running and after talking to the college girl who owned it I figured out the crank bolt came loose. When I went to look at it the Woodruff key was still sort of stuck in the crank and the pulley with the A/C and alt belts were in a box inside the car. The license plates were expired and so a price of $300 was agreed on. I called AAA and had it delivered to my house.

 

Right now I have fixed it up and driven it around 400 miles. I like it, even my wife gives it an OK. The rest of this story will probably go on my blog http://the-handier-man.blogspot.com/ or on the Legacy area of this board.

 

I do have to thank those who have already given me the knowledge to fix my car up this far.

Sorry for the long story..........Les

stupid Chiltons and Haynes, they both say to torque the pulley bolt to 72-76ft pound.

 

Subaru manual says torque it to 125-132 ft pound.

 

Make sure you use the right manual on this for torque. That is why it came loose before, cause some idiot didn't research and of course, he went by haynes or something which killed this car..

And it is so easy to put a screw driver into the teeth on the flywheel and tighten it down. I did recheck the crank bolt after a few hundred miles and still tight. The JB weld and lock tight should hold up as long as the timing belt does.

I figure the belt was changed recently and thats why the bolt was loose.

one that could be towed behind my "Classic" 1973 Winnebago.

 

 

Congrats! Those first gen Legacies can be absolutely wonderful vehicles. You might want to read up on proper towing procedures (it is AWD, right?) before you start pulling it around.

Congrats! Those first gen Legacies can be absolutely wonderful vehicles. You might want to read up on proper towing procedures (it is AWD, right?) before you start pulling it around.

 

Yes this is AWD and 5MT. One place I look for info on towing is http://www.remcotowing.com/vehicles Is there more info someplace on towing? I read the RV forums and they say to just put it in neutral and flat tow.

There are brackets available for sale to put a tow bar on this car, but I will probably build my own.

Anyone have or use a tow bar for their first gen Legacy?

yes, just flat tow all 4 down.

 

i use the same tow bar to tow anything from an ea81, ea82, xt, 1st and 2nd gen legacy. I have the valley model available at u-haul, and it so happens the pins that go to the bumper mount shackles actually just fit in the subaru's tow loops.

 

yu may want to fashion something more permanent for a mount if using this model.

 

I wanted to fab a bar that would bolt or clamp down to the tow loops, and this bar would have the shackles for the towbar.

 

Subarus tow pretty well

Sorry Les--didn't mean to question your knowledge or ability. But I get paranoid when people talk about towing their AWD vehicles!

 

Seems all 4 on the ground is just fine with manual tranny. Happy travels.

Sorry Les--didn't mean to question your knowledge or ability. But I get paranoid when people talk about towing their AWD vehicles!

 

Seems all 4 on the ground is just fine with manual tranny. Happy travels.

 

Oh I question my knowledge and ability regularly, so please jump in if there is something I am doing wrong.

 

Last night I took my purge solenoid apart and cleaned it out, code 35. Some say this part is not repairable. Don't know if I am cheap or like a challenge, but so far so good.

stupid Chiltons and Haynes, they both say to torque the pulley bolt to 72-76ft pound.

 

Subaru manual says torque it to 125-132 ft pound.

 

Make sure you use the right manual on this for torque. That is why it came loose before, cause some idiot didn't research and of course, he went by haynes or something which killed this car..

 

 

All data shows 69-78ft lb. and we've never had a problem...

The MT can be flat towed in neutral, just keep all the wheels on the ground.

 

Crank pulley bolt I always go to around 130 ft-lb. No way do I want that thing loosening up on me. I know some manuals listed a lower torque. They might have listed a lower torque thinking that the crank bolt being coated with engine oil before installation would give the proper tightening, but there seems to be plenty of stories where it loosened up on people.

I called carr subaru to verify the torque on the crank pulley bolt 120ft lb.

I called carr subaru to verify the torque on the crank pulley bolt 120ft lb.

 

Thanks for checking on that, but I already got that memo. Mine is nice and tight now, in fact I just rechecked it after 400 miles or so just to be sure.

yes, just flat tow all 4 down.

 

i use the same tow bar to tow anything from an ea81, ea82, xt, 1st and 2nd gen legacy. I have the valley model available at u-haul, and it so happens the pins that go to the bumper mount shackles actually just fit in the subaru's tow loops.

 

yu may want to fashion something more permanent for a mount if using this model.

 

I wanted to fab a bar that would bolt or clamp down to the tow loops, and this bar would have the shackles for the towbar.

 

Subarus tow pretty well

 

I just looked under the front end today and saw the loops you were talking about. That might be a good place to hook onto. Thanks for the info.