Any suggestions on where I can get complete reman'd struts for this car. Looking high and low and have only found the cartrigdge and since I need springs, seats, boots etc, I figured it would just be easier to get a complete strut. I just can't seem to find it anywhere.

 

I've never seen a quick strut for these cars you'll have to buy everything separate for all new parts.

I have stock struts from a 1999 Legacy L wagon, but I would bet shipping would probably be ridiculous.   You'd want to replace the strut themselves, but they are complete.

Okay - Rock auto here I come. I was thinking I could get away without having to pull the strut apart, but I just borrowed a spring compressor and I'm going to have at it. The soob ('95 legacy w/186k) I'm going to be doing this on still has it's original struts. I'm gearing up to have all the parts on hand (seats, bellows, etc) and waffling on springs. Any reason folks can think of that I would need to replace the springs as well? What about the strut mounts?

This will not be hard.  Just swap out all of the hardware from the original strut.   Re-use everything but the strut itself.  No problems.  Just take your time with the strut compressor....not sure what kind you have...but use the kind that is designed for Macpherson struts...it works much better and has safety pins to help keep it from slipping off.  The rentals are free from places like Autozone, O'reilly's, etc.   I seem to be switching out struts so much, I just kept it the last time I rented it and let them charge my credit card for it.

Edited July 10, 201312 yr by oregoncoast

I'm not concerned about  the difficulty of it (or lack thereof :-) but rather what folks have found with a close to 200k soob with
regards to the other parts of the strut needing to be replaced. Typically is it only the strut or have folks found that seats, mounts, etc also tend to wear out in that time? Optimally, I pull the strut off, inspect it, then decide what parts are needed. Unfortunately I don't have the luxury of that and want to
have all parts on hand that I may need - and then just return what I don't. So, I'm trying to get an idea of what parts - other than the strut - I should be
considering. Possibly, nothing else :-)

 

It is very common to reuse the springs & tophats - dont usually need to replace those items unless something is broken, and that would (should) be pretty obvious when you take them out of the car.

 

You can jack it up, take the wheels off and inspect the springs for any obvious damage, but chances are they are fine. Make sure you swap over the rubber sping seat cushions as well.

 

You will probably want to take the car in for an alignment when you are done - you can get it pretty close by marking the positions of the 2 lower bolts (at the hub) - one is cammed (upper, i think) and controls camber setting - but for proper tire wear, I would have it done right.

 

One last thing to note - do not overtighten the tophat bolts when reinstalling - they dont need much torque (around 14-15 ft/lbs) and will break if overtorqued.

 

here is a suspension diagram for a 95 Legacy.

The task itself really isn't difficult.  Word of advice though, on the fronts your upper knuckle connecting bolt is the camber adjustment.  Mark its position before loosening it so that you can get your camber adjustment back in check, and only turn on the nut while holing the bolt head with a wrench, you can damage the eccentric if you go ripping on the bolt trying to remove it.