Gents--(and any Ladies)

 

Dealer told me I have a bad carrier bearing on my wife's '01 Legacy Outback 3.0 6 cylinder. Dealer said I had to replace the entire driveshaft for $599. Can I not just replace the bearing?? I took the whole driveshaft off but now I'm stumped as to how to fix the problem without buying a new shaft. Any suggestions?

Hello and welcome. Sometimes a custom driveline/driveshaft shop can replace it.

Maybe they changed things, but the carrier bearing used to be replaceable buy itself. Its the universal joints that arent (technically) servicable.

 

Give https://www.subarugenuineparts.com/index.php a call and see what they say.

 

 

nipper

these carrier bearings fail so infrequently that your best bet is to replace it with a used one if you don't have or can't find a drive line shop to look at it. some machine shops do drive line work or can let you know who does, you just have to call around and ask. owning dozens of Subaru's (many from the 80's) and working on plenty more i have not seen one fail yet. and even on the boards here...carrier bearing failure is very rare.

Maybe somebody is working somebody

as from the look of this-

a FSM reprint of a normal Legacy drive shaft

It does come off.

 

 

 

Disclaimer: this is not a H6 unit.

I guess they could be different?

I searched the FSM 6 cyl supplement and found no

information to contradict this.

Gosh--thanks for the replies.

 

I took the driveshaft out and inpected it. The bearing has no visible damage and turns freely. The rubber housing is in tact with no cuts/damage. The rear u-joint was tight.

 

I bolted the thing back in and drove it. I noticed at between 7 and 10 mph there is a rapid studdering vibration and then the sound stops. The sound is more prominent and louder if the accelerator is pushed. I also felt the shuttering when I had my arm resting on the center arm rest behind the shift stick. I figure its got to be in the center somewhere.

 

Thanks!!!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Maybe somebody is working somebody

as from the look of this-

a FSM reprint of a normal Legacy drive shaft

It does come off.

 

 

 

Disclaimer: this is not a H6 unit.

I guess they could be different?

I searched the FSM 6 cyl supplement and found no

information to contradict this.

Sounds like you do not mind getting your hands a

bit dirty

 

I am thinking it is a transmitted vibration from a

front half shaft (axle). CV more likely DOJ

 

The boots should be examined for cracks or tears.

 

You could remove the rear half of the drive shaft

and see if it changes the vibe.

 

The front half seals fluid in the tranny.

 

How many clicks (miles, Km ect) on this puppy?

skip has you covered - sounds like CV (DOJ) issues. have the axles/boots been worked on ever?

 

if you pay close attention usually you can just barely tell which side it's coming from. to me it's always been just noticeable that i think i can tell which side it is, but not enough that i'm positive....but it's always been that "i think" side.

 

shouldn't deteriorate all that fast, particularly if the boot is still intact but don't let it get too bad. i left one go last year because, well i've always let the outer joints go for years and many tens of thousands of miles. but that inner DOJ is a different animal i found out the hard way, the speedometer gear is a plastic gear driven off the transmission stubby shaft that the cv axle DOJ connects too. all that vibration blew my speedometer apart....and that little part basically requires a transmission rebuild, for me it's easier to replace the transmission though. either way, not something you want to face. it would require a lot, i left mine go for months with terrible vibrations.

You say the rear u-joint was tight? How tight? Could you move it in it's full range of motion?

 

If you feel a side to side shudder, and noise from the rear of the car, under acceleration it could be that rear u-joint.

 

If the noise is comeing more from the front of the car it could very well be and DOJ.

http://www.staugustinefwd.com/

:-\ i just had the same problem, and it turned out to be the used CV axle i got from the junk yard, and i really thought it was the U joint... so check your axles first they may be on the way out