1995 Legacy.   Discovered a torn outer CV axle boot.  This morning pulled the axle and replaced both boots. Went to get a cup of coffee and noticed the car won't hold on a grade in PARK. Plus a heard a noise when moving the shifter into PARK. On the short drive home the engine rpms shot up twice.  Classic symptom of a stripped hub.  This isn't my first time replacing boots. Wish I had a dollar for every time so don't believe I screwed up the axle. But seems very odd the hub splines would fail immediately after repairing the boots.  Tomorrow or the next day will pull it all apart again.  Just weird.

 

 

Edit:  If I determine the hub splines failed, will be in the market for a good hub/knuckle. 

 

LF axle if that makes a difference.  

Edited December 20, 20178 yr by john in KY

maybe a stub axle popped out?

I have seen axles not fully engaged into the transmission/rear diff.

 

Never seen an EJ hub stripped.

I'll have to check that.  Could not being fully seated cause the no PARK problem?  Been thinking about the problem and so far the only thing I can envision is the axle is "slipping" at one of the ends. Either at the hub or the differential. 

If both front wheels aren't solidly connected via the axles, yeah, park won't hold.

Face palm time.  Went to Utube for some how-to videos and keyed on "removing the roll pin".  What? I just pulled the axle free. Doh.  So the stubby shaft came out with the axle. I'll pull everything in the morning and hopefully get everything right again. Thinking I may have reinstalled the inner cage or whatever it is called, the part the holds the bearings, backwards. Thinking this because I don't recall the inner joint sliding on the shaft. In my defense, just did the same job on the 08 a few weeks ago and it didn't have a roll pin, or I least think that now. thinking I better check it also tomorrow.  Isn't old age wonderful?  Just returned from a nursing home down the road where I feed 4 feral cats. Got there, cats waiting and guess who left the cat food on the carport? 

They ditched the roll pin axles in 05ish.

If you pulled the stub out of the trans did it still have the circlip on the end? Sometimes they pop off and the stub won't stay in the trans.

Don't take anything apart, just get it in the air and get under there and see if that axle is seated in the transmission.

 

If it's not, my preferred method is to pop the ball joint out of the control arm, and swing the whole knuckle assembly in until the joint bottoms out and you can sort of use it like a slide hammer to pop it back in.

Don't take anything apart, just get it in the air and get under there and see if that axle is seated in the transmission.

 

If it's not, my preferred method is to pop the ball joint out of the control arm, and swing the whole knuckle assembly in until the joint bottoms out and you can sort of use it like a slide hammer to pop it back in.

 

+1 don't take it all apart.  I get them seated without any disassembly by tapping around the perimeter of the CV cup with a piece of 2x4 and hammer after making sure it's as far as you can go by hand and making sure it's aligned properly.

 

and like he said - never seen/heard of EJ hubs stripping either and the cutoff for legacy/outback is 2005+ for not having pins/stubs. 

Want to thank everyone that responded. Got a late start today. Just pulled the axle.  The stubby shaft was fully seated. Problem is the inboard joint.  Axle could be turned but the joint remained stationary.  Pulled it apart and ????  All looked good. Based on a video I found, I installed that cage with the 6 ball bearings backwards. Flipped it around and will reinstall tomorrow if the rain holds off. Getting proficient at pulling CV axles. Didn't take more than 15 minutes this time and that includes punching out the roll pin. 

 

Again, thanks for all the advice.