You guys can call me crazy, but.. I really dont think this is supposed to happen!

i've had that happen on my ice racer twice. not nice. The ones in my rally car can't be far behind.

 

 

I'm going to make some sort of fix for that....but it'll be something which will make it much more stiff

Since I have no social life whatsoever, I usually go trail riding since I live in the national forest and all. Well, what was interesting is there was an airshow this weekend at the airport. The airport is surrounded on three sides by the forest, with various trails running around the perimeter fence. So, since I'm a cheap punk, I hopped the boobaroo with my HT and took to the perimeter trails. Went to my usual spot at the end of one of the runways.. which just so happened to be the primary strip for the show. Yadda yadda.. kickbutt show. Going to leave, theres a frame twisting flexy spot thats always the highlight of the trail. Just so happened that this time, I took it a little too slow, and endured a bit of tire spin as the weight transferred. You know the kind.. "spinspinGRABspinGRABGRABspinspinGRAB" kinda thing. As the Brat was almost out of the wash, thats when I heard the kaPow! Once I got back on level ground, I saw the wheel cocked all funked up and the strut popped free as in the third attachment above.

 

I wasnt about to abandon the Brat in the woods, so I eased it the rest of the way out the trail, and ran it the 3 miles up the truck route to my buddy's shop where I played musical trucks yesterday. Grabbed my Bronco, snapped the pics, and here I am. Subaru makes one tough as nails ride.

 

Here's where I'm confused. It looks as if the center section of the strut has pulled itself out of the upper mounting plate. I havent studied the struts enough to know how serious this is. All I know is bolt em up and ride. How serious of damage is this? Will the whole bloody strut have to be replaced, or does it really just sit there in the upper plate, kept in place by spring tension? Can I get away with jacking, compressing and sticking the upper half back into the mounting plate?

 

Hehe.. I have no idea as I have never seen anything break like this before. What are my options here?

go ahead and pull the whole strut assembly out and take a look at it. Usually, the metal rod coming out of the strut goes into a piece that is embedded in the rubber in the top hat of the strut (the piece that is currently still attached to where it should be). Sometimes, the rubber will end up breaking due to large amounts of stress. Since you like to wheel the ever living crap out of the Brat, it's probably been heading south for awhile and today was the end of its limit. All you'll probably have to do is replace the top hat with a used one since they can be had for nothing usually

Don't all old Subarus have wacky positive front camber?

go ahead and pull the whole strut assembly out and take a look at it. Usually, the metal rod coming out of the strut goes into a piece that is embedded in the rubber in the top hat of the strut (the piece that is currently still attached to where it should be). Sometimes, the rubber will end up breaking due to large amounts of stress. All you'll probably have to do is replace the top hat with a used one since they can be had for nothing usually.

So its just a broken "part" and not a total strut failure? Outstanding. In the condition that its currently in, missing the top part and all, will that spring have a desire to sproing off the strut and kill me when I unload that corner?

 

Also, since used parts dont exist down here (beyond rare), that means a complete strut replacement doesnt it. Any cheap/easy fixes?

 

Since you like to wheel the ever living crap out of the Brat, it's probably been heading south for awhile and today was the end of its limit.

I guess I have gotten pretty dang agressive with the Brat. I will admit I feel a lot more comfortable wheeling in it than I ever did in my Bronco. Its 10x more capable, so I tend to get on it 10x as hard. Hehe... GitRdone!

since you'll have to compress the spring anyway to reassemble the strut with a new top, you should probably compress it before you do anything else. that's what I'd do anyway. but i also happen to think that i look fantastic with all of my teeth

 

i would also change the other side's top as well...

the top hat is small enough that you can locate one nationally for cheap and have it shipped to you from any yard in the US. i would definitely be very careful around that spring and try to compress it before unloading that wheel in anyway. autozone will loan you a spring compressor for free, have to pay a fee and then you get that back when you return their tool.

I'm going to be parting out an '84 4wd wagon to make the '81 wagon thats here at my house 4wd. If need be, I can send you both top hats for shipping:D

I put new ones on mine, and it made a world of difference. they were pricey, like about $60 each. I've seen two types. one with regular thrust bearings, and ones with tiny roller bearings which were really smooth...

 

I have some used ones just sitting in my garage... yours for shipping.

 

you will need to compress the springs to get the top plate (what's left of it) off, and put on the new ones.....

Today, I played musical trailers and got the Brat back home. I saw no point in taking up a space at the shop for a week or so while replacement parts travel to Florida. After I got it off the trailer and turned around gto face the right direction in the yard, I immediately went to pulling it apart so I can see exactly what it is yall say broke. I see, and understand now.

 

Took me less than 5 minutes to get done, and now I see exactly what I need to do to fix this mess.

 

To aid others, I've attached several pics.

 

Strut removal is easy. Two bolts, and two nuts is all thats required. The two nuts are on the strut tower, and the two bolts are on the bottom of the strut. One faces the inside, and the other would be facing front on the strut housing (see forth attachment.. look at the red arrows). The one facing inside is 13mm, one facing front is 14mm.

 

Undo the top mounts, and bottom mounts, then you can twist the strut back and forth to free it from its lower mounting space. Lift it out and you're done.

I had that happen on my Hatchback the last time out. Combination of old age and abuse. A ratchet tie down strap held it together real well for the trip home. I forget who's idea the ratchet strap was but it worked sweet as a bandaid.

Mine did that while I was flying down a rough dirt road. I think it was cause I jumped it at about 70 the day before.