Just a quick question: will the front and rear struts from the older ea82 wagons with the adjustable perch/'pre-load' bolt into the newer wagons that (for some silly reason) Subaru decided to stop putting them in? Looking for a cheap way to add a little lift alá raiding the p'n'p until I can afford an SJR 4" kit. Got to thinking about it after somebody parked their wagon near mine and they had the rear jacked up on the third notch.

They will bolt into any EA82 style car. Whether it's the 85-86 they came in, or the Loyales up to 94, they bolt into any of them.

like he said they'll bolt into any EA82 vehicle, i have rear adjustable EA82's installed in my XT6 as well.

I even had the EA82 adjustable front struts on my Brat with top hats an all. Just had to re-drill for the top hats, but they fit fine, and even added a slight amount of lift by themselves.

Is there any thread that leads to a bit of an explanation about how to actually utilize the ability to raise and lower the ride height? I read about it in my chiltons but it was like chinese to me....

 

I'd like to lower mine in the front and raise it in the back..

The fronts are easy. On the strut, just below the spring, there are two nuts. Wrench them around a few turns, keeping track to make them even.

 

On the back, they can be tricky cause you're dealing with rust and the spring pressure. On the bottom of the shock is a collar with notches that will rotate if you can relieve some of the spring pressure on it. Might wanna squirt some penetrating oil around it first. I never did get mine freed up. Might have to completely remove the top nut from the damn thing to get the pressure off the spring. Tried using some coil spring compressors, but these springs are too small to grab on to properly.

 

Why do you wanna lower the front and raise the back? Is it sagging that much? Most EA82s are much lower in front than back as it is.

Mine had been previously adjusted and the front is up high, which was cool at one point, the whole car sat up real high, but now my rear shocks are absolutely shot and the rear is sagging, so now it always feels like i'm driving up a hill =P Thank you for the advice, I'm going to hit the back with PB blast right now lol

i used generic bolt/screw type coil spring compressors to loosen the pressure and adjust as needed while off the vehicle. they're under so much pressure i can't imagine getting them to budge otherwise, but i do recall reading about folks suggesting it's possible.