October 22, 200421 yr Ok, fess up, WHO has broken one of the EAxx transmissions, and how did it break and under what circumstances? Information gathering I am....
October 22, 200421 yr 240Hp H6 / 30x12 swampers / non-Tcase / Nuked reverse trying to get back out of a VERY deep mud hole.
October 22, 200421 yr Author 240Hp H6 / 30x12 swampers / non-Tcase / Nuked reverse trying to get back out of a VERY deep mud hole. engaging reverse with the clutch...or already had full power going to it and then it nuked?
October 22, 200421 yr We blew one ice racing this year. It was a 1987 Full Time tranny (single range) in an XT. Came out of a corner at WOT, went to shift into 3rd and got a hand full of neutral. We did end up only being able to select 2nd gear. Ended up breaking a shifer fork. This car is highly modded, full catless exhaust, intake, runs on race fuel and makes 22 PSI of boost. A friend of mine blew 2 trannies in his 1992 Loyale. He was non-turboed. Both times he blew shifter forks. he is VERY hard on trannies though. I'll let you now how the one in my rally car holds up.. it's a 1985 RX with Dual-Range. And yes..you may think that Ice Racing is easy on trannies.. hell it is ice. Well the car we blew the tranny in is a stud car. We run 150+ studs per tire. They are basically like ATV studs, but protrude from the tread 7MM. We have more grip on Ice with these tires than you could even wish for on Gravel with Gravel tires. The grip is truely insane
October 22, 200421 yr Author so both times it was the shifter forks when shifting...but no gear nuke'age?
October 22, 200421 yr so both times it was the shifter forks when shifting...but no gear nuke'age? not yet. no.
October 22, 200421 yr Sorry to bust your bubble, but I have seen various gear breakage. First a little background. For about 4 years I worked at a local Subaru shop and one of my jobs was to scrap out broken transmissions and engines. To best of my memory I probably tore down over 50 subie trannies. The most common broken gear was the pinion gear that drives the front diff and they would often take the ring gear with them. The most common cause for this is down shifting, especially with EA71 trannies but I've seen it with EA81 and EA82 trannies as well. I've also seen a few stripped gears elsewhere in them as well. The worst I ever saw was actually from the front diff of a 3AT automatic. The pinion gear got so how that it literally turned to a semi liquid state. Chunks of the pinion were fused to the ring gear and what was left of the pinion looked more like an ice cream cone then a gear.
October 22, 200421 yr i agree, down shifting....the guy i got my brat from loved to down shift hard and ended up taking out third gear....he also liked to drink and drive alot though:drunk:
October 22, 200421 yr Still, no where near the failure rate of the WRX trans. I have a feeling that if the WRX was 4wd and not AWD it would not be a much of a problem.
October 22, 200421 yr Author I have a feeling that if the WRX was 4wd and not AWD it would not be a much of a problem. how? too much stress over putting power to 4 corners?
October 22, 200421 yr The WRX trannies are not failing because of high-power engines... They're because people don't know how to drive. A lot of people are disrupting the synchros because they rest their hands on the gearshift! A Subaru tech told me that... Plus redline launches and slamming gears around don't help...
October 22, 200421 yr 91 loyale spfi 290,000 when we got it. Gave it to my oldest son for his 18th birthday. Two days later (after getting back from a visit to a different town) he is complaining of noise in the trans. Tore it out and down and found the pinion was missing a few teeth. Swears up and down that there was not liquid stupidity involved just some 4 wheeling up some pretty steed stuff and then at the top the front wheels came off the ground. Made the noise right after it landed. Hush
October 22, 200421 yr disrupting the synchros because they rest their hands on the gearshift would the same thing happen on ea81 boxes? As i often leave my hand there between 1st and 2nd.
October 22, 200421 yr Author The WRX trannies are not failing because of high-power engines... They're because people don't know how to drive. A lot of people are disrupting the synchros because they rest their hands on the gearshift! A Subaru tech told me that... Plus redline launches and slamming gears around don't help... Ive heard a different theory about it...something about how the trans were put together and the quality of the gear set....but you didnt hear that...and there have been failures, and all the ppl were doing was driving it normally (IE not flogging or launching or redling shifting) and they certinly knew how to drive the cars 'correctly'....
October 22, 200421 yr My gargae man ( specializes in soobs) told me he has fixed a few wrx trannys but it was like this. 1. failed due to drag racing (1st gear gone) 2. failed due to "lighting up all 4" (2nd gear gone) 3. failed due to "flat shifting"** (3rd gear gone) **For those who don't know or maybe I used a different term: flat shifting is held to the floor (throttle) and stab the clutch and yank a gear all while still on the floor. He built up the syncros (don't know how) and the tranny seems to take it much better now (problem 2 and 3 were the same person/ tranny) Alright Will.... what did you do to the car.... your posts seem guilty of something Matt
October 22, 200421 yr While pulling a Yacht with my Hatch, I decided to race the guy beside me.... I tried to shift too fast and nuked my syncro between 1st and 2nd. Now I have to shift slow and it pops out in 1st when I lug it Glenn 82 SubaruHummer 01 Forester Oh ya!......I won....but I guess I also lost.
October 22, 200421 yr Author Alright Will.... what did you do to the car.... your posts seem guilty of something Matt Nothing....yet! Seriously...i have just been giving this RX tranny hell, and I am wondering what it will take for it to break....its not like I am abusing it tho...I wait for the syncros to catch up, and I use the clutch, and rev match on down shift.... The XT FT4WD one i had inthere before that i gave ALOT of hell to it...and it put up with a good bit of autocross launches (HARD) and shifting....the RX box went thru 24hr race...and its still the same as before that...so... I really wonder what power level it will break, or after how many autocrosses on wide sticky R's its going to nuke on me... On the other hand...i had this XT turbo 2WD trans in back in the 2wd days...i gave it 3x more hell....flat foot into 2nd alot...clutch drops in 1st and 2nd...REALLY abusive shifting...pulling a mustang out of a ditch (i was on pavement) and all sorts of other crap....and it just kept going like nothing had happend...
October 22, 200421 yr I thought nuke'ed the RX's today, I went to shift from 1st-2nd (in low) my hand hit the hi-low stick and something felt like it went, so I let out on the clutch and nothing, I try third notta. I shift it back in high (or normerl as I'm going to start calling it now) and it did fine, tried low agian all was good. I bumped the shift in between norm-low. I felt stupid................................. but U have to say with that hypoy C gear oil in it now (instead of the oil/water mix I drained out) it shifts SOOO much better, can't wait till I get some redline for it
October 22, 200421 yr I'm on my second trans. I've done some stupid ****... 4 wheel dry pavement burnouts, launching in 4low drag racing, etc... Although, it wasn't a gear failure, the shift rod "froze up" Couldn't get it to move in and out.
October 22, 200421 yr My tranny's about ready to give it up, though it is an auto, so i don't think it has much bearing on the question being asked. But, it's a 4eat, late shifts, long shifts, no shifts, minor slipage etc...
October 22, 200421 yr 85 5spd d/r normal driving, milesfox diagnosed it as speedo cable :cool: arrive at destination, noise when clutch engaged in neutral or gear drive around, 2nd synchro = grind go mudding, shift from 1 to 3 lo, to compensate for lack of 2, made it the farthest that got stuck, clutch set on "bake" abandon cars, go to prom awhile later, my car shows up, missing a few nonessential parts, thanks MilesFox 84 4spd d/r accerating on interstate, 3rd gear, 4 grand, go to shift to 4th, grind......................... shove it back in 3rd, and drive it home can't move out of 3rd no matter what put 85 trans from above in to replace 84 trans, still going good, except for that 2 synchro
October 22, 200421 yr Got clutch replaced at shop(due to lack of time to do it myself). Shop said they replaced the gear oil. Leaked out somewhere (or they lied, most likely to save their as$es). ran on no oil for at least 3 days. day 3 the gears seized and i couldnt shift into gear once in neutral. sucks on major intersections. attempting to throw in reverse resulted in a beautiful grinding symphony. to tell the truth, i dont know if its damaged or not. i gotta shove a new batch of oil down its throat to see if itll ride. if not, .... DDOCFSM. FUBAR. dam it all to hell. \ (Desert Destroyer On Cinderblocks For Six Months) maybe ill even find enough initiative then to pop in a d/r. oh boy. more money loss.
October 23, 200421 yr I gave my rx tranny HELL.. 6K launches in 4lo on pavement with the center diff locked.. lil car would light up all four and leave anything sitting at a stop light.. lots of drift in the rain with the diff locked, diff locked on dry pavement too.. way too many 6k launches to mention.. Then i broke a front axle.. so I pulled em both out, locked the center diff and went RWD.. that was the best mod ever for on road performance, i like to call it the "understeer delete mod" Well, the difflock coupler teeth stripped out after a while. I was also quite mean to the car, sliding sideways nuking both rear tires eveywhere i went, breaking 2nd loose, and barking 3rd. It wouldnt hold anymore, so i pulled the tranny, took off the xfer case and welded the center diff, reinstalled and its all good. 170k and still hangin in there.. tough as f*ck if you ask me p.s. ive seen alot of the FWD auto trannys fail, mostly due to the fact that people dont check the diff oil.. you know, the 2nd dip stick
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