swapped 98 forester struts/springs onto a 95 Legacy - actually, had a shop do it...

 

being told that there is a feeling of "binding" when they moved the car to the alignment bay... (same car that has a bad u-joint in the driveshaft) They think it is because of the different angle on the axles...

 

Have not actually driven it myself yet - plan to swing by there tomorrow after work to give it a test run for myself

 

but in the mean time - has anyone else that has done this swap had any major issues with axles binding? or anything else, for that matter?

or could it be the u-joint that they are feeling?

 

Or perhaps a bit of torque bind? it was not mentioned if the binding was felt while driving straight or turning - again, I will be test driving it myself tomorrow evening.

Not a mechanic but I was always told that the cars parts were interchangeable left to right.

We swapped a mix and match of steering rack with outback struts onto the trashwagon, causing a toe in with the alignment. The alignment shop fixed that. Being the struts were taller, the tie rods had to be adjusted out to make up the length.

 

If they have not thought of this, it would be obvious on the rack. In our case, it was obvious to look at, but only noticed after driving. But it was more obvious having 215/70 tires, maybe not as much with stock tires.

Edited October 31, 201312 yr by MilesFox

Well - it turns out the junk yard tranny is a pile of useless junk!    

 

They put the car on the alignment rack, got it aligned, and went to take it for a test drive to make sure everything was ok...

 

mechanic said it did good for a couple of miles and then suddenly downshifted very hard on it's own, nearly throwing him thru the windshield. not real sure what happened after that except that they had to bring it back to the shop on the tow truck (flatbed type) it will not go into ANY gear at this point - forward or back

 

MilesFox - you have a message!