i recently purchased an 85 GL hatch and i found this in the engine bay. how bad for the axel is this? im rather inexperienced in working on subarus unfortunately.

Not worth re-booting at that stage.  The joint is toast.

 

Time for a new axle assembly.

how hard is it to find new axels?

Just a trip to your local NAPA Auto, I just replaced the passenger side axle on mine and it was ~$60 with a $30 core. Also, is it clicking? if not, its not toast and very much worth re-booting.

that i havent been able to find out yet. that cluth is bad so i havent even driven it yet. when it comes to finding the correct axel, where in the vin number are parts dealers refering to? for the gl i see a vin: 4 and a vin: 5 selection for parts and both numbers are in the vin

 

oh, and i accidentally put 83 instead of 85 for the topic title

Edited February 4, 201412 yr by zmarrott

Vin 4 for the part supplier. And stick with the Model year of '84 to insure you get correct parts. The EA82's came out in '85 and the parts get crossed up at most places.

thanks. that makes it soo much easier to find parts