sean87 Posted June 20, 2012 Share Posted June 20, 2012 Ive gone through thread after thread about using outback or forester struts and springs and ended up with a big headache . Can any one tell me what i should go with outback or forester, what year i should use, and what mounts to use or anything else i need . This is for my 95 legacy outback awd wagon all help will be highly appreciated Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted June 20, 2012 Share Posted June 20, 2012 you said yours is an Outback wagon so i don't think installing Outback struts on an Outback will lift it? do you mean your 95 is a Legacy wagon? or do you have a 96 Outback wagon? if you have a regular wagon then just install outback struts on it and you're done. good idea to replace the axle boots if they have any age at all, they tend to break easily with the extra angle induced by the lift. used struts aren't likely to last long either, this would be a good time for new struts too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porcupine73 Posted June 20, 2012 Share Posted June 20, 2012 '95 Outback and Legacy I believe had the same ride height, I think Outback was just a trim level in '95. You can run Outback ('96-'98 should work) struts and springs. If you then go with larger tires, you should get several inches of lift. Here is my '96 Legacy with Outback struts and Outback king springs lift springs and larger tires: Note: If running larger tires, and the existing front calipers are single pots (like on this red '96 Legacy brighton), highly suggest upgrading the front brakes, because the single pots are just barely adequate to begin with, and with larger tires they really will struggle. Left is white '94 stock height Legacy, which is about how the red '96 on the right was before the 'lift': Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sean87 Posted June 20, 2012 Author Share Posted June 20, 2012 ya its a 95 legacy wagon (outback trim). will the outback struts and springs go right on or will i need to modify the mounts at all or have an alignment and for some reason part stores dont show that outbacks exist in 95-2000 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sean87 Posted June 20, 2012 Author Share Posted June 20, 2012 dose anyone the part numbers for 97 outback struts and springs even the subaru web site dosnt show outback till 2000 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porcupine73 Posted June 20, 2012 Share Posted June 20, 2012 Not sure what site you were looking at, subarupartsforyou.com is a good one for genuine part # searches. Struts normally you are going to go with KYB GR-2, sets of 4 are readily available in the low $200 range on eBay and elsewhere. If you get USDM Outback springs, the upper spring seat size will be correct. If you get from another market, sometimes those had the Impreza/Forester size upper spring seats which were smaller. You can still use the larger Legacy/Outback upper spring seats, although it is not optimal. Depending on what you are looking to do, sometimes people just pick up the whole strut assemblies from a junk yard. Though at this point in time those are going to be 15+ years old so the struts will have definitely seen better days. You will need a camber check/adjust afterward. I also needed a number of fastcam bolts to get the camber back into spec, mostly on the rear. Toe is not really affected that I noticed. On the rear some people like to get the Outback trailing arm because it is a little longer and makes the wheel centered in the wheel well, though I didn't know that at the time and just skipped that step. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sean87 Posted June 21, 2012 Author Share Posted June 21, 2012 Thank you i finally understand everything hopefully will be doing it soon. Then paint it in bed liner throw some lights on it and will be good to go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sean87 Posted June 21, 2012 Author Share Posted June 21, 2012 Trying to find KYB GR-2 for 97 outback from ebay but they are all for legacy outbacks i went to subarupartsforyou.com and for 97 outback and the struts on their say they are for the legacy outback too. so are the older legacy and outbacks struts the same thing. i would like to use new parts just having hard time finding any for 96, 97, 98 or 99 outback Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdventureSubaru Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 They should be the same between first and second generation. You might need to swap the rear tophats if they were the same as an impreza, but it's a simple process. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porcupine73 Posted June 22, 2012 Share Posted June 22, 2012 If you get if for '96, 97, or 98 Legacy Outback that is fine, that is what we conventionally call the 'Outback'. If it says just Legacy those would be the shorter ones. On KYB's site, if you download their parts catalog, that is the best way to verify the proper part #'s. Watch out however for 1999, some of those may have gotten the rear multilink suspension, and that will not work on yours. 2000 to not sure what year Outback will not work, those are multilink rear. I believe the fastcam bolts were 14mm that I got, those fit though a bit tight through the mounting holes in the bearing housings. There is an excellent thread on dirtyimpreza about how to use them properly. Sometimes the ABS sensor wire doesn't have a corresponding mounting point on the KYB aftermarket struts; usually people just zip tie it in place then. On the rears you can use a dremel or similar tool to notch out the brake line mount points on the struts so as to not have to disconnect the lines. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sean87 Posted June 22, 2012 Author Share Posted June 22, 2012 Thank you, that that explains it all now. My head was about to explode trying to find those parts. I cant wait never thought i would love having a four banger wagon. theirs just something about subaru. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T'subaru Posted June 24, 2012 Share Posted June 24, 2012 part numbers here http://showmetheparts.com/kyb/ I found the best prices and free shipping with these 2 suppliers http://www.justsuspension.com/ http://www.ajusa.com/browse/brand/KYB?tid=google-kyb&gclid=CLazue7HuKcCFQdMgwodygZX_g Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sean87 Posted June 28, 2012 Author Share Posted June 28, 2012 Thank you that helps a lot now need to hunt down some springs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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