Hello all-

I've got an '87 GL three door coupe (EA82) with the 5MT. I bought it with one hub trashed, etc. It had been pulling the passenger side halfshaft out of the back of the hub (stripping out the spindle nut, etc.) and trashed the hub, rotor, and caliper. I replaced them with new parts and now it wants to pull a little to the left, makes an audible *thunk thunk* which varies with engine speed when I try to drive straight or turn right, and the shifter wobbles pretty good. I first thought of a tranny mount pulling the shaft out backwards...but they look o.k. to me. Tire pressure and diameter are equal on both sides. Is this possibly a DOJ on the driver's side axle?

Thanks all,

Cody

you said it varies with engine speed.. did you mean vehicle speed, or does it speed up when you downshift, regardless of vehicle speed??

 

If it really varies with the ENGINE speed, then I dont think its a drive axle noise.. not entirely sure what it might be, but it could well be something else that had been masked by the noise from your bad axle??

 

or, I was right and you meant vehicle speed, which is probably the case. Just had to disambiguate! :-p

Sorry, I did mean vehicle speed...

Oh, and a new developement...I was driving it this afternoon and it started to buck rather violently...not sureif it's a related issue (front diff letting go?) or might just be something else to work out...

Shifter Wobble and the Thunk are not likely related. The wobble is likely caused by the shifter bushings. They're fairly cheap to replace. Contact your local Subaru Dealer.

The shifters do not wobble when at rest in neutral (clutch in or out) but do move significantly to the right when the engine is revved. I'm also getting a good bit of foward/backward movement in the shifters when applying power or engine braking (at the transition between the two). I' thinking not bushings, as both shifters move simultaneously. Thanks, though!

Sounds like your mounts. Check out both the engine mounts and the trans mounts. The trans mounts usually cause a more forward to back motion, so I would think your engine mounts are suspect.

The thunks and violent shaking were fixed with new axles on my 86 4x4 hatch I had a few years back. They were popping in and out of joint. I don't remember if one or two of the ball bearings were gone from them.

Classic DOJ symtoms. They are binding as they turn. I've had a few so bad that they make the whole car hop up and down. Scary at freeway speeds.

 

GD

I've had a few so bad that they make the whole car hop up and down.

Seems to happen rather suddenly as well. First time it happened I pulled over to inspect the car - it was that violent.... Mind you I've BLOWN front axles and not stopped to see what went wrong - drop it in 4 and get it back home.

 

The DOJ's get loose and lack of good grease coverage causes them to overheat and bind up - the engine and tranny hop up and down as the axle turns. It can easily rip an engine mount in half.

 

GD

Replace That Axle, Man!

got the axle today, so i'll put it in this afternoon. thanks for the help!

I Suggest to Check the Engine / Gearbox Mounts too...

Good Luck!

Well...I swapped out the driver's side cv today...bad news, the symptoms are all still there

 

So, now I've got two new (not re-man) cv halfshafts and something is still not happy.

 

Re-cap: car pulls a little to the left, there's a thunk-ish sound, variable with vehicle speed, whenever I straighten it out or turn right. The shifters shake (left to right) pretty good on accelleration, but stop with decelleration. When I either get on or off the gas suddenly, the shifters move an inch or two foward or back, respectively. Occasionally, when the car has had time to warm up, it will jerk violently, almost hopping up and down.

 

Any info from the guru's would be much appreciated

 

Thanks,

Cody

Computer flipped....double post

Holy triple post, Batman!

Just have to start checking stuff...

 

Pulling could be alignment, badly worn ball joints, or steering rack bushings.

 

Clunking could be several things - check to make sure the leading rod bolts to the control arm are tight, that the steering rack bushings are good, and that the engine mounts aren't torn in half. Try to lift the engine off the mounts, and move things around by hand with the wheels off the ground.

 

Basically it's just a matter of checking each component that attaches the suspension to the body and engine/tranny crossmembers.

 

You have the axle nuts at 150 ft/lbs or more right?

 

GD

Just recently had it aligned, the ball joints are new, and everything is torqued to the spec...as far as I can tell, the motor and tranny mounts are good...I can't get the sound to be replicated with the car off the ground. I wouldn't be bugging y'all but I'm just downright stumped:confused:

Thanks again for all the help so far...

Hmm...I wonder if someone forgot to put grease in the new cv in the factory? It took awhile after I swapped it out for it to go bad...probably a week and a half of normal driving before this problem arose...

 

How can you tell which DOJ is bad?

Hmm...I wonder if someone forgot to put grease in the new cv in the factory? It took awhile after I swapped it out for it to go bad...probably a week and a half of normal driving before this problem arose...

 

How can you tell which DOJ is bad?

 

You can't really. I've even torn them apart and it's still hard to tell. But many have experieced "bad" axles right out of the box. The only sure way to get good ones is to either get them from the dealer, from a quality Subaru axle rebuilder (MWE, etc) or the new ones from GCK. No other options have tested reliable for the members here - it's a crapshoot every time both with quality, and with correct axle model (4WD vs. 2WD).

 

GD

What is the difference between the 2wd and 4wd axles? Is it the spline count?

No - it's the diameter of the shaft and joints. 4WD joints and shafts are much stronger. Spline counts are the same and the axles are interchangable - thus the confusion as most parts stores only show one part number and you literally get whatever they happened to rebuild last. MWE, GCK, and of course the dealer are the only known sources that can get you true 4WD spec axles. The GCK's are my choice as they are actually redesigned from the ground up and are superior to the originals. MWE will get you whatever you need as he does custom work - but they are more expensive than GCK.

 

GD

MWE's aren't that badly priced if you need a full custom peice like ea81 25 spline that will hold up forever. I think the site has it listed for $85 plus core and shipping IIRC.