I dropped the full 2 inches. Once your pulling it all out to do it at all it's about the same work. I didnt want to experiment with 1 inch and find out it wasnt enough. It was pretty easy, only took a few hours, and most of that was due to the carrier noise and 4wd lever

You think you can get some pictures?

Yah but not till this weekend. They wont show you much, I am not going to take it apart but ill get what I can

Yah but not till this weekend. They wont show you much, I am not going to take it apart but ill get what I can

I'm mainly interested in the shifter mods you had to do, I haven't read much about those for just the 2 inch drop.

I just torch heated the shaft just past the S bend and bent it at a steeper upward angle, then after it cooled heated a spot a few inches along the shaft and bent it back down. No measurement to speak of, just winged it. Had to ditch the plastic sleeve though you could shorten it

Perpendicular to the axle is strange.

 

I'm with Gloyale in that something other than the lift to be causing this.

 

If it was the lift it wouldn't be only one side, it wouldn't happen so quickly and unlikely to be perpendicular. The chances of it being lift related and all three of those things happening...statistically laughable. Who else with a lift is having those things happen....? No one?

 

That said - dropping it may alleviate or mitigate the issue, whatever it is, but I think you'll get that same result if you find the actual issue first.

 

Seems unlikely but could the wheel or stub shaft have too much play? I'd be prying on the knuckle and trans and looking for movement.

Edited July 20, 20178 yr by idosubaru

And dude what a mess - breaking in 50 miles multiple times would be so frustrating. You're keeping a good attitude about it! Well done!

Perpendicular to the axle is strange.

 

I'm with Gloyale in that something other than the lift to be causing this.

 

If it was the lift it wouldn't be only one side, it wouldn't happen so quickly and unlikely to be perpendicular. The chances of it being lift related and all three of those things happening...statistically laughable. Who else with a lift is having those things happen....? No one?

 

That said - dropping it may alleviate or mitigate the issue, whatever it is, but I think you'll get that same result if you find the actual issue first.

 

Seems unlikely but could the wheel or stub shaft have too much play? I'd be prying on the knuckle and trans and looking for movement.

Last night I washed the grease off under the hood and after that I left the hood up and revved the engine and it did not look like too much play, it did lift away from the passenger side but not bad

And dude what a mess - breaking in 50 miles multiple times would be so frustrating. You're keeping a good attitude about it! Well done!

Lol I'm trying I love my car and don't wanna get too angry at it, just want it fixed.

I got 1000000 miles out of a 2 piece silicone repair boot on my imprezza that took more time for the glue to dry than to install it might be worth a try you can get them at most auto parts stores and dont have to pull the axle might even get away with warentying it after that

So I think I'm gonna order the silicone boots on thursday, along with use some of my sheet metal to make a heat shield. I noticed I have nothing and since the only difference between left and right I'd thst the right has a cat. So as someone suggested I'm going to just put some sheet metal in as a heat shield. Also I drove about 45 miles from my old house to my new house and didn't get the usual overwhelming smoke and smell of axle grease, now I haven't confirmed it, but I think that boot may have survive the trip. I did however put a brand new axle in minutes befor I made the drive. So I think the heat, along with a bad batch of axles, along with the crappy boots period are all adding up to my issue. Hopefully with the silicones and the heat shields I'll be able to go on a weekend camp trip planned early August and not lose an axle!

Be sure to put 2 step bends in that heat shield so air can circulate between it & the cat converter. Like a lazy Z shape.

I attached mine to the cross member with 2 machine screws at the rear edge above the cat.

Edited July 26, 20178 yr by czny

Be sure to put 2 step bends in that heat shield so air can circulate between it & the cat converter. Like a lazy Z shape.

I attached mine to the cross member with 2 machine screws at the rear edge above the cat.

You think you can snap a quick pic?

You think you can snap a quick pic?

 

 

2 10-32 screws hold shield on from bottom of cross member. Shield is just galvanized sheet metal.