So I needed a new steering knuckle for my '99 Forester.  Thinking that anything from the 90's that had ABS with the tone-ring on the hub would work, I picked one off of a '95 legacy today at the pull yard.  It fits in the car, in fact it's in there now, but two things are different:

 

1st is the ABS sensor is smaller in diameter than the Forester.  Luckily, I had clipped the wires for the sensor at the yard so I have it and I'll just solder it into place.

 

2nd, is that the eccentric bolt for the camber seems to have been larger on the '95.  Thinking the hardware was the same I didn't bother taking the camber bolt from the yard.  My bolt fits, but you can't really move the knuckle around with it.  You can spin 360 degrees on the bolt and only encounter light resistance that doesn't change the camber at all.

 

The eccentric measures at 16.3mm and the bolt shoulder is 13.88 (so 14mm thread)  I'm sure the threads are probably the same on both bolts, but does anyone happen to have a bolt from an late 90's Legacy they could measure?  The difference couldn't be much, maybe the hole on this thing is just wanged out a little?

 

Anyone else encounter this?

ah crack. that's weird.

 

go back and grab a bolt to check/see/use?

Seems odd they would be different.

Maybe one is an aftermarket replacement?

Hmm... The patina on the knuckle that I pulled from the car seems legit for the age/mileage so I'm sure that it's original.  I actually did consider taking the bolts with me, but they were in worse shape than the ones I had at home so, again thinking they were the same, I didn't take them with me.  I think I'll go back to the yard and pay the two bucks to retrieve the bolt, I'd really like to see that knuckle swivel around like all the other Sub knuckles I've dealt with have.

The camber bolt is fine. They never changed the design in 30 years so with that being said...

 

When I do alignments, the weight of the vehicle is on the ground so its trying to stuff the top of the knuckle in toward the strut. Because of this, of puts the weight onto the lobe of the cam bolt. They will even have a bit of looseness to them so with both the bolts loose, the knuckle should have some slop within the bolt holes. All perfectly normal. Just make sure the knuckle slides easy in the strut. I've had several with rust issues and have had to smack the top of the tires with a deadblow hammer to get it to move.