I found a video on youtube where someone pulled a driveshaft from a 1st gen impreza, but he pulled the ENTIRE exhaust system off first., then a bunch of shields,  then the driveshaft and carrier.  Is it necessary to pull the exhaust?  will it come off without dealing unbolting exhaust components?

Are you pulling the front half, back half or complete drive shaft?

 

Yes, it's the best access to drop the exhaust.  Sometime the exhaust connections are rusted up pretty tight so dropping the complete exhaust may be the best option.  O2 Sensor/s disconnected, 6 manifold nuts, support nut aft of the trans and then the rubber supports and drop the complete thing.

 

You have to get the exhaust down far enough to remove the tunnel heat shield so you can remove the mid bearing drive shaft bolts and unbolt the drive shaft.

don't know imprezas, do know legacys, no you do not have to drop there exhaust to drop drive line, 1 center carrierer bolt is a little tricky but doable its best to take a good looky see to make the decide....G

I thnk im pulling the full drive shaft.  ok this sounds like it is going to be a very  "Fun" weekend.

nah, it's not that bad.

 

1. i can't recall but i've seen quite a few different scenarios so it's hard to remember which is which vehicle, year, model, etc.  some pull right out without removing anything, some have plates, exhaust, and such in the way (some newer ones i think has the plate), and some barely fit but if you yank and push and pull you'll get the carrier bearing ears to pop through.  it can probably vary a lot by year, model, wagon, sedan, auto, manaul, FWD, AWD...etc.

 

2. if you have to drop the exhaust, like larry said it's annoying but not that bad if you just go for it.  have some water with dish soap mixed in and the exhaust hangars will slide right in and out of the rubber hangers.  then as he mentioned already it's just a couple bolts from the engine and the exhaust is on the ground.

I have an '02 Impreza WRX and it was the same... had to pull the exhaust to get to the driveshaft. But it wasn't that labor intensive. One of the 'cleaner' things I've ever done actually

Pop the rubber hangers on the back loose and let the muffler and mid pipe hang if you really need room. No need to drop the whole thing unless its just really rusty.

I've pulled the driveshaft out without dropping the exhaust twice. You do need to remove the center heat shield but that's six bolts, unplug the rear O2 sensor and slide the heat shield off to the side. You also need to remove the skid plate from the diff before you have access to the rear-most flange bolts. Those can be trouble so spray them with PB or your favorite penetrating oil before starting on the heat shield. You'll probably want a breaker bar with a 1/2" drive 14mm socket.