I might do that myself next time. Good idea John.

Good solution. Only improvement I could suggest is to add a 2nd screwdriver on the left at the 9 o'clock location; with the 1st one at 3 o'clock, just push on the handles to bring the inverted nut toward you.

I may get to try that soon. I have the Subaru over at a buddies with a lift so when he has time we can get it up in the air.

The more I drive it the more I think the new axle I installed on the right is defective, I just have a slight thumping at about 40 mph and if I had a broken spider I think I'd have more than that. It also has stock rear axles and driveshaft so driveshaft might be a thought too.

That axle did go in and seemed to be about the right length but next time I'll buy it from Subaru. More later.

I must be leading a charmed life. I had a CVJ boot let go over the weekend and finally had time to replace the axle this evening. By the way, early Legacy ('91) and '97 Impreza take the same axles. Had this confirmed by SIR in Portland, MWE who rebuilt my two axles, and Tom at Aaron's who's sold enough axles to know the difference. I don't understand the discrepancy in the part numbers but they could be different numbers for something inconsequential.

 

It took me 45 minutes start to finish without any "special" tools. Probably because I've done this often enough on all my cars that the parts haven't had the opportunity to rust in place. Needless to say, I used some never-seeze on the splines to make sure I never experience the problem cookie had with his.

 

For a change I took a chance by dropping the ball joint out of the bottem of the strut to minimize the chance of screwing up the alignment. Worked okay for me; better than past experiences with that option.

The last time I dropped the ball joint it cost me $30. I mucked up the boot. By the way I have a spare good ball joint that just needs a boot if somebody needs one.

If it turns out I have a defective axle it will come out easily now I think. I greased the beep out of them. If I had seen the note to use anti sieze before the job that would have been better since it stays for many years and resists rust.

The last time I dropped the ball joint it cost me $30.

That's exactly why I don't like to drop the ball joint. I did it this time since I didn't want to screw up the camber (even when I'm very careful, the camber can be upset by taking out the 2 big bolts). I got lucky this time because it came out easily; and more surprisingly went back in just as easily.

So it sounds like I have a broken spider gear too, or possibly the ring gear. When the tranny is running you can hear it pound.

Currently shopping for used trannies and it sounds like around a grand here in CA as I want one with 50,000 miles or so. I could get an older one for less but i'd like to get the rest of the time I own the car out of it. If I had tons of time I could probably swap the gear set but the rest of the tranny is a bit musical too so I may as well bite the bullet. She has under 140,000 miles now and the engine burns a bit of oil so that will be the next thing that goes. The suspension is good, clutch and seals were done a few years ago. I do have an oil leak that may be cam seals and radiator and hoses are old.

I'm not sure I have heard of many Subarus breaking spiders or ring gears, just lucky I guess.