Plenty of people run naked on this board. If it were a 97 interference engine that's a different story, but on a 95 it won't hurt anything if the belt gets snagged.

 

Glad to hear it was an easy fix. Cheap car FTW!

Edited August 2, 201312 yr by Fairtax4me

Thanks mate, I'll leave them off. Tonight after work I topped up the ATF that I lost when I fired it up yesterday with the radiator off, and checked the belt again for tension, but everything was good and I drove it for 20-odd miles without any issues. It's such a nice car to drive that my "10 minute drive" was closer to 30, but I also got to drive it in "bumper to bumper" peak hour traffic and it didn't overheat, so I'm guessing that mechancally it's pretty good. I'm taking my wife and mother in law for a drive in the country on Sunday, so (fingers crossed) it'll go well. Cheers, Terry.  

The crank bolt torque is 125 ft lbs, so of the manuals have the wrong value.

The crank bolt torque is 125 ft lbs, so of the manuals have the wrong value.

 

For the EA82s this is correct - for the 95 EJ22 - according to this 1995 Legacy/Outback FSM it is 79.6 ft lbs (+7.2/-3.6)

 

yes, it is fairly common for Chiltons or Hayes to have the wrong torque specs (as well as other info), but I would trust the FSM (factory service manual) figures...

 

and running coverless is generally not a problem - unless you get a lot of snow w/drifting and the roads dont get plowed often (except by your car)....

Edited August 2, 201312 yr by heartless

Stick with Larry's recommendation of 125 ft-lbs.  I've even seen it suggested as high as 140 ft-lbs.

 

Sorry heartless, but the consensus is that the FSM is way off on that one!

.

Edited August 2, 201312 yr by MilesFox

Thanks Guys, I took a trip to my local wrecking yard today and found an aircon belt tensioner. The part that connects the idler pulley to the threaded adjuster was plastic on mine, but the one I found at the wreckers was cast metal.

 

The only issue was that the threaded portion of the "axle" was 10mm as opposed to 8mm on mine, which meant that I had to set my adjuster bracket up on my mill and mill the axle slot out to 10mm, but once I did that, it was easy-peasy (especially with the belt covers off) to replace the aircon belt and tensioner assembly. 10 bucks well spent. Cheers, Terry.    

Good on ya' Terry.  You didn't let two silly little millimeters get in the way!  Enjoy your Subie!

G'Day everyone, well I took my Subie on it's 200 mile maiden voyage yesterday and apart from a scary overheating issue on the way home (I've been reading all the FAQ's and I'm pretty sure it's a "burping" issue that I'll need to sort out next weekend before I drive it again) and what I think is likely a noisy rear wheel bearing, it went really well!

 

Up until the overheating problem, (and ignoring the noisy wheel bearing) it was as nice (if not nicer) to drive as my new Ford Ranger company vehicle. A PO had installed a "Sports Exhaust" at some stage, so it has a really nice burble, although I think the pipe must be touching the chassis as there is a low speed vibration that is slightly distracting, rather than annoying, so I'll check it out when I do the burping and wheel bearing replacement this weekend.

 

Quick question, can I just buy new wheel bearings (mine is just the front wheel drive model, not AWD)or do I need to buy complete hub assemblies? I do have a bearing press in my garage. Are there any "tricks of the trade" that I need to know about? Thanks again everyone! Cheers, Terry.

If you have a lot of patience, then yes, you can install a new wheel bearing. I did it once, and swore I would never do it again. The last bad wheel bearing I had, I went to a wrecking yard, and found a good hub. IMO swapping in a hub is juist so much easier.

Depends if is a front or rear bearing that needs to be replaced. Pretty sure the rear bearing is a standard split conical roller type.

The front bearing, while still a conical roller, is a press in type and you will need a press or other wheel bearing service tool kit in order to replace it.

Thanks Guys, and I'm sorry, I should have specified that it's a rear wheel bearing that I think I need to replace. I'm leaning toward just buying a new hub assembly, I've seen some on the 'net for around $120 each, and it looks easy to install them, so that's where I'm headed, methinks. Cheers, Terry.

Looks like that's the only way to go. I thought the rear bearings on the FWD models were serviceable, but it appears they're pressed into the hub, then the whole hub assembly just slides onto the spindle.

Rockauto has them for about $50 US, (some even cheaper) but I'm not sure how much shipping would be.

50 bucks? Unbelieveable! But you're right, the shipping would kill the deal. I don't think I need to do the bearings right away, so I'll see what's on ebay here in Oz before I open my wallet. Cheers, Terry.