Smash Posted July 6, 2009 Share Posted July 6, 2009 The biggest limiting factor on my 5 speed forester is having no low range. That 5 speed hates steep hills, or even not so steep hills that are really long. It's terrible out here as most of our trails are steep at some point or another. A friend's basically stock Outback (auto trans) will walk right past me on a hill. FRUSTRATING. So. If I managed to come up with some money, is it possible to take one of the older (EA82?) dual range transmissions and get it to work on my '03 Forester? If so, any idea of cost for parts? I would not be able to do the swap, but have a mechanic that I trust to do it. Thanks guys! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smash Posted July 6, 2009 Author Share Posted July 6, 2009 Mods please move thread if it isn't in the right place! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smash Posted July 6, 2009 Author Share Posted July 6, 2009 Hmmm. I did find this.... http://alliedarmament.homestead.com/EAEJ.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flowmastered87GL Posted July 6, 2009 Share Posted July 6, 2009 a 5 speed dual range from an 80's GL has been put in a forester before. There are other makers here on the board of adapter plates. I forget who though :-\ If you pull a transmission from a GL I would say to grab all the shifter linkage with it as well just to be safe. A non-turbo will have lower (better) gearing than a turbo tranny. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smash Posted July 6, 2009 Author Share Posted July 6, 2009 Just trying to determine if this is even going to be worth it. Anybody have an idea of cost of parts? If it's gonna be really pricey, or require a lot of fabbing, I'll hold off and stick to the plan: I have 113k on the Foz now, want to get 200k out of him. At that point I hope to be in a position to invest in a "true" 4x4 with low range. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flowmastered87GL Posted July 6, 2009 Share Posted July 6, 2009 if you know where to look you can get the transmission stuff for $100 or so. Its the fabbing and labor at the mechanic that is going to be expensive. Though you may be able to sell off your old transmission to recoup some of your cost. Keep in mind that your donor transmission will likely have 220,000+ miles and you will be asking it to run double the horsepower it was designed with. The GL has 84-90 HP and the forester has around 165 Not saying it wont work, its just some stuff to be aware of. I got 321K out of my transmission on my 87 GL and sold it (the tranny) for $50 when the engine finally blew on the car. And it had a hard life and it shifted better than when I got the car 100K earlier. I would not be surprised if you had to pay well over $1000 to make this conversion work. Unless you have a good mechanic friend who works for beer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smash Posted July 6, 2009 Author Share Posted July 6, 2009 A bugger, yeah a grand is far more than I want to put into this car. Thanks for the help! I'll keep the Foz as is for now unless someone else pipes up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Numbchux Posted July 6, 2009 Share Posted July 6, 2009 you'll need: tranny starter adapter plate -> http://www.sjrlift.com rear diff (your forester probably has a 4.111, a D/R would need a 3.90) flywheel clutch kit linkage driveshaft (forester one will work, but will need to be modified for length). and some custom work for a crossmember. all the used parts would probably cost about 2-300 at the local junkyard here in Duluth, could be a lot more depending on the source. the adapter plate is a couple hundred (I'm having problems with SJRs site right now. looks like it's been redesigned since the last time I was on there. you could always pm him here, his id is "Scott in Bellingham"). you'll want a high-quality clutch kit to hold the power. I HIGHLY suggest the Beck/Arnley kit for an XT6. I got mine from RockAuto.com for a bit under 200. and then labor. if you pay someone else to do it.....yikes. you'll also run into an issue with the clutch. as your forester will have a hydraulic clutch, and the D/Rs have a cable clutch. I suspect the best way would be to get a clutch/brake pedal assembly from a 2.2l legacy or impreza with a cable clutch. then you might be able to sell off the old parts (trans. hydro clutch assembly). if you do the work yourself, you could probably come out only about $500 down. but you could easily spend a grand. and if you're paying someone else for the whole project.....could be more like 2. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smash Posted July 6, 2009 Author Share Posted July 6, 2009 Thanks numbchux! Cool to know it can be done, but I'm no mechanic so it looks like having to pay someone else to do this puts it out of my reach. Bugger. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Txakura Posted July 6, 2009 Share Posted July 6, 2009 It might be worth starting to acquire the parts... you could get all the things you need and store them without taking the car out of service, sort of like a lay-away plan. Then when the last piece is ready, go about the install. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smash Posted July 6, 2009 Author Share Posted July 6, 2009 Yeah but the price of the labor to install is too much to warrant unfortunately. For my pocket atleast! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwilson87 Posted July 7, 2009 Share Posted July 7, 2009 You could always be like me and just be teaching yourself how to do it along the way. Makes for some frustrating times in the garage and lots of wrenches thrown at walls tho... I kind of lucked out and have a buddy with a subaru mechanic father-in-law and another guy who has done my swap in his Loyale. Now if only they had spare time to help. Good luck with whatever you decide and if you do start tearing into stuff, take lots of pictures. It helps with the reassembly for those of us with not much mechanic background. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zyewdall Posted July 10, 2009 Share Posted July 10, 2009 Is there not any way to put the low range gearset from the old EA 5MT D/R into the front of the EJ 5 speed tranny? I know that the EJ tranies came with a low range (not very low, but still two range) transmission down under, and I've also seen an EJ transplant here (Beefaru's) with an AWD 5 speed, that had low range. Though... maybe that was from an RX. Just wondering because if I'm doing the 5 speed swap in my old '82 wagon, and the EJ swap, if I could swap the dual range input assembly into the EJ's transmission it might be cool. Or... just buy the adaptor plate from SJR to bolt the EJ to the 5 speed and make it easy on myself... Z Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lostinthe202 Posted July 10, 2009 Share Posted July 10, 2009 Is there not any way to put the low range gearset from the old EA 5MT D/R into the front of the EJ 5 speed tranny? Z http://ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=98796&highlight=legacy+dual+range Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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