Zebe

Apply heat to the bolt. I have had success with a Benzomatic brand propane torch (TS8000). Hold the torch flame on the head of the bolt for 20-30 seconds. Use breaker bar. Crank bolt should loosen relatively easily. Use care handling the bolt, because it will be hot.

My dashboard lit up like a Christmas tree the other day. Speedo and odo stopped functioning. Brake, ABS, Airbag, and Battery lights came on. Trip odometer displayed "Er IU". Interestingly, no CEL. I have a 2007 Legacy 2.5i with 148.5k. A search of this forum came up "no results" for "Er IU". A Google search for "Er IU" resulted in this thread first. Using details from this thread accompanied with a thread on NASIOC and subaruoutback.org, helped me troubleshoot. I disconnected the battery, which cleared the "Er IU" fault and all dashboard lights except the battery light. Measured 12.2V at the battery. Measured 11.8V at the battery when the car was running. Took the alternator for testing. It failed. Bought a new alternator. Installed. All good for the moment. Upon restarting, I experienced a low idle with sluggish throttle response from full stop. I have had this same symptom the past few years when I have had to disconnect the battery for various repairs. Each time, it took an extended period for the car to relearn its ECU settings. After refueling this morning, the car threw a CEL. Scan showed P0506 (low idle). After clearing the code, I found a thread on NASIOC with a detailed process for resetting the ECU. Following Uncle Scotty's suggestion for resetting the ECU solved my problem. No more low idle. No more slow throttle response. All is good now. Root cause for my "Er IU" experience was a bad alternator. Your mileage may vary.

^^^ Was about to post up that my axle is stuck in the hub...the above video showed me how to work around the need to remove the axle from the hub. Hope I don't have to replace the axle anytime soon.

I re-inspected the entire left front wheel area, but did not find any obvious looking issues. The brake shield appeared to have adequate clearance. The drive shaft boots remained intact and the shaft had no noticeable play (as best I can tell by tugging on it in multiple directions and turning it buy hand). So, I move to the tires next, and when I try to swap the front and rear wheels, I notice that three of the five lug nuts on the left rear wheel were barely finger tight and the last two were mildly snug. I removed the wheel and inspected for any visible issues, but found everything to look okay. I reinstalled the wheel and re-torqued the lug nuts to 65 ft.-lb. (along with all lug nuts on all wheels). Noise is gone. This is the second time in the past few months where lug nuts have backed off. The first time, back in March, it was the front left wheel. This second time it was the rear left wheel. What are the chances that these loose lug nuts could be related to failing wheel bearings generating more heat than normal in the wheel causing the lug nuts to backoff over time?

Great thread! I replaced my left front wheel bearing last night. I had to resort to using a 3lb sledge and chisels/pry bar as my hub puller pulled the bad hub apart (much like a few posts earlier in the thread). The good news is that droning noise is noticeably less (I now think I have other wheel bearings that need replacing soon). The bad news is that I have a new noise. It's not as low pitched as the wheel bearing moaning (but not high pitched), is very cyclical (like I have a bad spot in the new bearing), and is most notable when coasting around 20-25mph or slower. Any ideas?

The only issue I see with a load placed outside the feet is if that load is too heavy or if it is not balanced by an equal or heavier load between the feet. I would not recommend using extra wide bars, then loading only the outsides. I use the outer part of my extra wide bars for light loads like a light bicycle or for wider loads like a luggage box and a kayak. You need to use some common sense, too, and adhere to the weight limit of the rack.

Here's something extra... I was rather dissappointed with the bar length and attachment mounting options for the Thule 440 kit, so I modified an extra set of 58 inch bars to fit with the 440 feet. Below are some pics with the bars mounted on the wagon, a pic of the underside of the end of one of the modified bars, and a comparison pic of the 58 inch bar to one of the bars supplied with the 440. Now I can fit my kayak in the middle and one bike on each end. Unfortunately, you will need access to a vertical milling machine to pull this mod off. If you have access, then you will need a 7/16 inch end mill to machine an approximate 13+ inch slot into each end of the bars. The 440 tightening knob is too short to work with the longer bars, so I bought a 2 foot length of square rod from Home Depot. I plan to modify the rod to create a more useful T shaped handle, but a pair of pliers, wrench, or Vice Grips will do for the necessary leverage to twist the feet open and closed. I used standard end caps rather the 440 end caps.