1994 Legacy Ti AWD wagon ( alpine sport)

 

What I mean to ask is can I use the next generation 95-99 wagon suspension ? Or does it have to be 90-94 only ?

 

Thanks

Fronts yes. All 90-99 leg/out front struts swap.

 

Not sure about rears.

I installed FWD rear legacy struts in a 1996 AWD legacy sedan and they were fine. About a year or two ago KYB FWD rear struts were dirt cheap on Amazon or something so I used those.

 

You looking for bolt on assemblies? Or are you willing to swap coil/top mounts?

 

Yours has air suspension?

Edited April 27, 20178 yr by grossgary

1st generation Legacy did have the air-suspension option. Only have seen one in person. Fairly rare option. 

Surely, w/1740 posts you've read this! :-)

 

Yep on the fronts; Nope on the rears as they used a different top mount bolt pattern  '95+.  Swap the rear top hats to yours - make sure  the spring matches as some years are tapered. You can also use up thru 2008 Forester struts - w/the same caveats in top hats. 2003-2008 give the most lift, IIRC.

 

I'd also surmise there's a few (dozen?) posts on swapping out the air suspension opt./standard (?) also avl. on the LS/LSi, etc. models, per Cars101.com.

 

GL,

TD

Edited April 28, 20178 yr by wtdash

Nope never read it.

Don't want lift.

Using phone only currently , tough to find what people think exists here. Not saying those posts aren't there but searching as I can I'm not finding them.

Cars is a 94 Legacy , most air ride posts I saw were XT.

So as I'm reading GD's post again I'm wondering about those rears. Seems like you're telling me I can use the tops from the air ride units. Yes ?

 

But I'm trying to avoid extra work so I'm seeking out drop in units complete.

 

I'll try to check cars101 meanwhile.

Yes, I just confirmed in the catalog, the rear upper mount is the same with air or coil suspension.

 

 

The only application that would be a complete bolt-in would be for a '90-'94 AWD Legacy. If you swap the rear upper mount, you can definitely use '90-'99 Legacy.

Thanks ! Bummer is the lack of anything pre-95 around here. 95-99's getting scarce as well.

You can also replace one at a time or just front or just rears.

 

Replace fronts and simply disconnect rear once they're aired up and leave them.

 

Or jumper appropriate height sensor wires for removed air struts to mimic height sensor "In range" status so you have coil over installed but it acts like good air struts are in place indefinitely.

 

Do your front and rears still hold air?

Thanks Gary. I just found out these last hours that a guy I work with has a donor Legacy AWD wagon same generation that is sitting just waiting for someone like me to pick from it.

 

Normally I would experiment and try any one of what was presented , but I'm just going for the straight swap.

 

Back in the ancient days I recall people using the compressor for an air hose for filling tires.

Can that happen with this system as well?

 

Normally I would experiment and try any one of what was presented , but I'm just going for the straight swap.

 

Back in the ancient days I recall people using the compressor for an air hose for filling tires.

Can that happen with this system as well?

 

Yep, air systems are best just to move away from. 

 

I wouldn't consider the pumps worth converting, they're ancient, weak, and the 5 intergrated air lines (1 for each strut and 1 for the tank) aren't ideal.  the pump and the tank line are "open" to all of those strut lines - so the rears would need capped and you need to hope all the solenoids and orings in the system don't leak on all 4 air lines.  or work around that.  not terribly hard but far from a clean install. 

 

then you'd have to tap into the tank for a hose. 

and determine how you're going to make the compressor turn on and off - install a switch or switch-like function somewhere. 

 

but yeah if you've got time to burn and don't care if it works - it would be fun to try and eek out some functionality out of it and see how it does. 

 

or install an aftermarket pump to replace the stock one. 

Time to burn ...... lol

 

Ok it was just a thought , lol

Cheers !

i thought you'd find that amusing. Lol

It's there for when you do finally have time to burn. Lol.

Reach that moment in life and I'll find I'm suddenly 80 years old.