On a thread in the old gen section, a member makes mention of a dual range tranny in Legacys that was available in some countries. We have only single range 5 sp and 4 sp auto here. Anybody know more about this?

Australian cars have dual range.

The general rule here in Northern Europe is that any non-turbo wagon or Forester will have dual-range.

 

So, if you really want it, you could source one from over here

from what I have heard the EJ d/r low range was not near as low as the earlier ones, makeing it less usefull for larger tires and such.

1.4 reduction, so yes, not exactly tree-pulling stuff, but enough to drag a boat out of water or pull a caravan up into the mountains.

all 5-speed wagons here came with dual range up to 1998

Just an example - Here's the current Australian Forester specs with the Dual range

 

http://subaru.com.au/explore/forester/specifications.asp?body=Wagon&grade=X

 

The low range is 1.196:1 - has been since the early Libertys (aka Legacy) in Australia. It is a popular notion to use the use the Low Gear out of L Series (EA82) in later boxes (thus giving a 1.592 low range)

There was suppose to be someone here on this board who was suppose to be getting in contact with a South American Subaru dealer to see if he could get these trannies sent to the US. He has since dropped off the face of the earth.

Thanks for all of the replies. Now, does anyone know roughly how much a good tranny would be worth ? Will they bolt up to both 2.2 and 2.5?

Not sure, Jim, but as far as I know Allied Armament is still planning on trying to import a bunch from Australia.

if you want to go old school tranny AA also make the adapter plate to do so.....

I know that the old DR 5sp trannies can be put in, but I'm more interested in the lower final drive ratios from the Legacy series, around 4.11 or better. Larger tires without sacrificing gearing would be optimum, and not having to change the rear diff would be a bonus.