Okay, so after Blue's little adventure on the ice... http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/topic/166264-need-steering-parts-for-84-wagon/ I still have excessive positive camber on my drivers side front tire. So far I have replaced the radius/leading rod and its bracket, both rad rod rubber bushings, the control arm, the inner and out tie rods, the ball joint, the CV Axle, and i repaired the sway bar. 

 

My thoughts are either 

A. I bent my strut

B. I bent my frame

C. I bent/damaged my wheel hub

D. A combination of A - C.

 

None of the above items in A - C have any obvious bending or twisting to them... of course that doesnt mean that none of them are to blame. Anybody have any other thoughts as to what could be wrong before I go and replace my struts...

 

 

Probably not C.

 

I had an accident many years ago, and had the car repaired by a local shop.  It was before  I really did much car work.  It drove a little odd for a long time after, never could figure out why, until one day I decided to replace the struts, just due to age & miles.  It was fixed.  Turned out the strut on the damaged side was bent ever so slightly.  The car was a 76 wagon.  The struts and the hubs are pretty similar as far as overall design and how they go together.

Probably not C.

 

I had an accident many years ago, and had the car repaired by a local shop.  It was before  I really did much car work.  It drove a little odd for a long time after, never could figure out why, until one day I decided to replace the struts, just due to age & miles.  It was fixed.  Turned out the strut on the damaged side was bent ever so slightly.  The car was a 76 wagon.  The struts and the hubs are pretty similar as far as overall design and how they go together.

Cool. I was thinking this is probably the issue... any idea if a 85 GLs Struts are compatible? There is currently one here at the pick n pull in Spokane...

In general, they are similar. I can't say about specifics like dimensions. I went from the 76 and 78 style models to ea82 86 and up through loyales.

Struts commonly are damaged like this. That’s definiteky the starting point.

85 strut is not the same.

 

you need EA81 struts

85 strut is not the same.

 

you need EA81 struts

Dang.... looks like Im gonna go with rockauto then. Should I replace the strut mounts as well? Or do you think they will be fine? 

Edited March 29, 20188 yr by Sapper 157

https://www.amazon.com/Gabriel-G55726-select-Subaru-models/dp/B000E8X4V0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1522353414&sr=8-1&keywords=subaru+brat+strut

 

I'm running a new set of these on the my Wheeler

 

Hurry, 1 left.

Yeah RA has a few of those too... I’m thinking about going with a set of Monroe’s from RA just cause they’re really all I can afford.

if after a challenge - I am running EA82 struts, springs and their bearing style strut tops in my EA81 body. EA81 uses bush style strut tops and can get dry and stiff after many years. Bearing styles can too. "just" requires some thought to fit the three hole strut tops with some reinforcing washers for the new holes drilled in strut tower.

 

Running them in the EA81 4WD hubs, required emery paper reduction of the base that fits into the hub, by about 0.25mm. Done by hand. Much nicer ride in my beast Despite the struts and tops being over ten year old after market out of my GLTA

 

How healthy is your strut top ? Not torn to pieces?

Edited April 1, 20188 yr by jono

if after a challenge - I am running EA82 struts, springs and their bearing style strut tops in my EA81 body. EA81 uses bush style strut tops and can get dry and stiff after many years. Bearing styles can too. "just" requires some thought to fit the three hole strut tops with some reinforcing washers for the new holes drilled in strut tower.

 

Running them in the EA81 4WD hubs, required emery paper reduction of the base that fits into the hub, by about 0.25mm. Done by hand. Much nicer ride in my beast Despite the struts and tops being over ten year old after market out of my GLTA

 

How healthy is your strut top ? Not torn to pieces?

Thanks for the suggestion. My strut mounts look to be in good shape, (no cracks, tears, or splits) so I’m just gonna try replacing the struts with the new Monroe ones for now. But if that fails I might try your EA82 strut idea

Got the new struts today... They are definitely new-old-stock. They actually are pretty easy to compress by hand and they dont return to their top position very quickly. should I return them to RA and get those Gabriels instead?

 

EDIT: after looking over them, I have realized they are entirely the wrong part (for a 2WD instead of 4WD) so I will be returning them and getting the Gabriel’s. The cheap route is always a risky route I guess.

Edited April 6, 20188 yr by Sapper 157