So the saga continues with the whining noise on acceleration after 30 mph coming somewhere from my transmission, so I got up underneath the car again today and shot a video, and I think I found the culprit. I'm a novice mechanic, so I'm not really sure with a lot of applications what's normal and what's not normal. I gave my axles a good shake today, and I don't think what I found with my car is normal.

 

Some Subarus I have found in the local junkyards don't have any axle play, especially like what's in this video below. The video doesn't show it, but on one side, the gear looking/ toothed load setting adjuster ( or whatever) where the axle plugs into, moves a little when I have the car jacked up and I am turning the front wheels while they are off the ground.

My question is, can any of this be fixed without removing the transmission and how long may I get away with this?

 

https://youtu.be/wjw5mhqNBzE

Edited August 21, 20169 yr by Lverano

Is that first axle you showed an aftermarket (non-Subaru) one?

Is that first axle you showed an aftermarket (non-Subaru) one?

Not sure, I'm not the first owner. So much crud I can't tell. How about the play on both sides though?

I would think the play is not normal--but I'm no tranny/axle expert.  Maybe one of our gurus will take a look and chime in.

 

Reason I asked about the axles is that sometimes aftermarket ones can be problematic.

I would think the play is not normal--but I'm no tranny/axle expert. Maybe one of our gurus will take a look and chime in.

 

Reason I asked about the axles is that sometimes aftermarket ones can be problematic.

I agree, ANY aftermarket axles are junk. That first does not look like a Subaru axle. The rubber on the boot looks old and cracked. I might replace it with a junkyard Subaru one just for the heck of it.

Edited August 22, 20169 yr by Lverano

A neat trick some folks do--pull a pair of Subaru OEM axles from a junkyard and clean, re-grease, re-boot and install them.  Then clean/re-grease/re-boot the old axle(s) and put them on the shelf for future use.

That doesn't look immediately alarming - some lateral play i think is normal. 

That doesn't look immediately alarming - some lateral play i think is normal.

I've been searching high and low on YouTube and Google for any information about a bad axle making the noise I'm hearing in my original differential noise video. You might call that hoping for a miracle . The closest thing I found was a video by Eric the car guy replacing axles on his 97 Subaru Legacy , but all that really corrected was some hesitation, which I don't have...

Then I found another interesting video by Eric the car guy where he attempts but fails to correct anything when he adjusts the preload on the same car, and I'm definitely not crazy enough to try that ..not even really sure if that has anything with my problem

Edited August 22, 20169 yr by Lverano