eggroller Posted December 1, 2005 Share Posted December 1, 2005 I believe the front differential took a crap. I got 20ft from the parking spot this morning and lost all power to the front wheel as soon as I started turning slightly. It felt like someone pulled the car out of gear. It was sudden and there were some gears clashing when trying to apply power. Put it in 4WD and parked it. The transmission has been making some strange clunking noises like a CV is toast. I was up in the mountains doing lots of drifting and donuts for about 2 hours last Friday. Tore a CV boot on the driver's side and the DOJ on the same side was quite loose. Suspected the CV. No big deal. Last night I was going to swap both axles with some rebuilt ones. Got the passenger side done. Was going to do the driver's side but ran out of time. The rebuilt drive axle is tight at the CV joints but the stub shafts coming out of the transmission was flopping around. Oh, oh....So, I grabbed the passenger side DOJ and wiggled, a lot. Not very confidence inspiring. Maybe it was supposed to be that way? Driver's side was loose, too. Just not as bad. All gear fluid was changed 200 miles ago with Valvoline Synpower 75w/90w synthetic. Do you guys think I killed the differential? Suggestions? Rebuilt transmission? ($$$$) Junkyard? Anyone got a good used D/R 5 spd they want to sell in the Seattle area? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subarian Posted December 1, 2005 Share Posted December 1, 2005 Just a couple of thoughts- Is the wrist pin in place on the inboard side of the CV, and is the castle nut on the end of the shaft tight? Since the front differential isn't limited slip, if one side spins, you won't go anywhere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eggroller Posted December 1, 2005 Author Share Posted December 1, 2005 Just a couple of thoughts- Is the wrist pin in place on the inboard side of the CV, and is the castle nut on the end of the shaft tight? Since the front differential isn't limited slip, if one side spins, you won't go anywhere. Yes, the wrist/spring pin is inserted to hold the DOJ/inboard CV to the output of the transmission. Castle nut is torqued to 137 ft/lbs. per the manual with a cotter pin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nipper Posted December 1, 2005 Share Posted December 1, 2005 did you break a cv joint? usually things like that dont go without making a lot of noise (they roar). Pop the hood, start the car, put it in gear ( if you are 100% sure it wont move) and have the wheels pointed straight, adn at a wall or pole that is about 1 foot away just in case. Look at your driveshafts, do NOT walk in front of the car. i suspect you may have a broken cv joint and not know it. One drive shaft will be spinning one wont. i had the same thing happen to me in my 1988 GL. nipper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will Smith Posted December 2, 2005 Share Posted December 2, 2005 sometimes a bad hub will give the same indications. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheSubaruJunkie Posted December 2, 2005 Share Posted December 2, 2005 Honestly... HAS ANYONE ON THIS BOARD EVER DESTROYED A FRONT DIFF??? These tranny's are even more bulletproof than the engines. I seriously doubt you did damage to your tranny. $20 sais you have a bad CV. -Brian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vanislru Posted December 2, 2005 Share Posted December 2, 2005 I've got alot of miles on an old d/r, most of that with 29" tires and really heavy toy rims. I think CV's will be the first to go every time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eggroller Posted December 2, 2005 Author Share Posted December 2, 2005 Thank you all for the input. My quick glance under the hood yesterday revealed nothing but I was late to work so I grabbed the other car. I took some time to look under the hood last night and of course you guys are right (this board is a gold mine). The pin holding the DOJ sheared off. It appears as any load will be on the splines. Now why would that pin shear off? Instead of that pin could I use a long bolt? Or do you all think that Subaru designed the weak point for a reason? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nipper Posted December 2, 2005 Share Posted December 2, 2005 sheer pins are that for a reason, sacraficial. i would investigate it further to make sure everything was ok before i replaced the pin with another pin. Never replace a sheer pin with anything but a sheer pin, could mean the differnce between a 200.00 repaire and a 2000.00 repair nipper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
All_talk Posted December 2, 2005 Share Posted December 2, 2005 Its not a shear pin, its just a roll pin to keep it on, the splines take the load. Sounds like you may have a turbo axle on a N/A trans, from what I've heard they feel like they fit, but the turbo is larger and will spin on the N/A output shaft once the pin shears. My RX has pretty floppy output shafts (310,000miles), its the bearings, but still runs just fine and leaks almost no gear oil. Is it just the stub moving or is the DOJ wigglin on the stub... again possibly a turbo axle on a N/A stub. Gary Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eggroller Posted December 2, 2005 Author Share Posted December 2, 2005 Learning a lot about these beasts. If it is a turbo axle....shoot! I will have to get the measurement calipers in there and verify the inside diameter. Then I have to take it back out and exchange. Bummer. Nice to know the output shafts flop about. Whew... Great INFO!!! Thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nipper Posted December 2, 2005 Share Posted December 2, 2005 i went through that hell in my 1988gl for a while, went thru an axle every few weeks untill i went to the dealer and finally got the right part The dealer was cheaper then the mechanic who screwed me up the first 4 times. If you had a bolt in there you could damage the splines.... i didnt even think of that nipper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
subaru_styles Posted December 2, 2005 Share Posted December 2, 2005 hey eggroller, nice to see you made it here. saw thoose pics of your soob on vortex:drunk: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eggroller Posted December 2, 2005 Author Share Posted December 2, 2005 hey eggroller, nice to see you made it here. saw thoose pics of your soob on vortex:drunk: Need to diversify my skillz! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eggroller Posted December 5, 2005 Author Share Posted December 5, 2005 Further inspections shows that I have the wrong axles. The splines did not engage the output shafts of the transmission. I am not listening to myself because I said "Hmmmm, that is strange" when I put the parts on the car. Doh! I went about measuring the size of the opening for the splines on the axles. The original one measures 26.4mm (~1"). I ran around and measured all of the manual transmission axles I could find. All of the rebuilt items are 28.4mm (~1 1/8"). Could it be that I have a non-standard transmission output flanges? Does the automatic have different size splines? Time for another run around to check them. Hopefully I can return the wrong parts. Since I installed one of them I might own that axle. Which sucks. Where do you guys buy rebuilt axles from in the Seattle area (not mail order)? I saw that Schucks carries the Cardone brand with a nice Liftime Limited Warranty. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edrach Posted December 5, 2005 Share Posted December 5, 2005 Turbo axles have 25 splines and non-turbo 23. A turbo axle on a non-turbo transmission will shear the roll pin every time. Looks like your dealer sold you the wrong axles; not an unusual mistake with some rebuilt axles. I've had very bad luck with ARI rebuilds in the past. I'd suggest you get your axles from ShawnW or www.cvaxles.com. Also, Pull a Part has them very inexpensively is you inspect the donor axle carefully. For now take that axle back to the shop you bought it. Good luck getting the right size roll pin (dealer item); I have a few in my hardware bin if you want a pair (I'm in Bothell); drop me a PM for a 'phone #. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eggroller Posted December 5, 2005 Author Share Posted December 5, 2005 Thank you for information! I will have to count the number of splines to verify. I am pretty sure that is the probelm already. Sheared the pin easily and quickly. Furthermore, looks like rebuilt axles by Crown are not very good. They have shoddy workmanship. Missing parts, bits of of the shear pin still in the DOJ and they can't even put the clamps on the CV straight. So, those that receive them...double check. Thank you for the offer for the pins. I ran around on Sat. and bought 4 of them from Carter VW in Shoreline. They were the only place around that had them. So, I left them with one on-hand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eggroller Posted December 6, 2005 Author Share Posted December 6, 2005 Alright, got some rebuilt axles from Schucks (of all places). They are correct as I can see. They are rebuilt by Cardone. Much better quality than the Crown pieces of junk (which I still need to return). The boots are of good quality and don't look used. New parts everywhere and nice clamps on the boots which were on straight. I would buy again and need to do so since they only had one in stock at the location I was at. The axles I purchased were for an '88 GL Wagon 4WD Auto. Part #607008. It has the 23 splines like I was told above. Comes with a limited lifetime warranty (the Crown crud does not have any warranty at all). I sure hope that this information helps others. The wrong part number was #607009 at Schucks. This part number had the 25 spline inboard CV (turbo spec). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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