carguy327 Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 Hello everyone, I've been trying to fix a rear end problem on my 96 Legacy, which was simply a rear passenger bearing. I have a parts car that I decided would donate its whole rear suspension as it had had a bearing replaced already..didn't know which side though. Well, 40 minutes into it's maiden voyage, the car started to violently shudder, thunking in the rear. It felt as if the rear passenger bearing was seizing so I replaced it. Thankfully I could do all the work except the pressing of the bearing..no big deal. Yesterday was it's new maiden voyage and the same thing started to happen..nearly exactly at the 40 minute mark once again giving me the exact same sounds fro the same damn corner again. So I remembered that i can stick a fuse in the FWD holder under the hood. When the FWD did turn on the thunking and binding stopped. ( though I'm not sure why the FWD doesn't always lock in immediately. When I start the car, sometimes the FWD is on , sometimes not...Do I have to wait for it or something? ) Anyways, here I am still without my daily driver, driving a gas guzzling truck instead, bleeding $ right into the tank. What should I do next? My thought is to put the original diff back in..The original is a '96 LSI and the donor is a '98 GT sedan. I don't want to waste any more cash or time. Thanks for any suggestions. Gerald Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BK207 Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 Is the gear ration for the GT the same as the LSI? If not that could be most, if not all of your problem. I know that my '96 Brighton has a ration of 4.111 in the rear diff, but I dont know about the other Legacy Trims. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
babybaluga32 Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 If it is a manual, the gt is 4.11 and the 96 legacy is 3.9. I posted that earlier but I dont see where he posted that he used it, just that he could..... http://www.gearhack.com/myink/ViewPage.php?file=docs/Subaru%20Transmission%20Chart Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carguy327 Posted March 14, 2011 Author Share Posted March 14, 2011 Ahhh...hmm..My Lsi is a automatic..the GT is a manual. Looks like the original diff should go back in. Here's another thought though, if it was a big problem, why would the car have to warm up before its a problem? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnegg Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 the car doesn't have to warm up to have it happen. but it is much less noticeable on a straight run. more noticeable on turns. the AT LSi is a 4.44 rear diff and the manual GT is a 4.11. put the original rear diff back in the car and then address the binding in the AWD unit. it sounds like you have an intermittent duty c failure. it's $100 from an online dealer and you can do it in the driveway with out pulling the trans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I Donated broknindarkagain Posted March 15, 2011 I Donated Share Posted March 15, 2011 Is the gear ration for the GT the same as the LSI? If not that could be most, if not all of your problem. I know that my '96 Brighton has a ration of 4.111 in the rear diff, but I dont know about the other Legacy Trims. I have 4.44 gears ^_^ -broknindarkagain My Current Project - Click Here COME AND TAKE IT "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
subikid90 Posted March 15, 2011 Share Posted March 15, 2011 I have 4.44 gears ^_^ your special lol -Subikid90 1997 Legacy GT 5spd & EJ251 w/EJ25D heads ~10.5CR 1998 Legacy GT Limited waiting for EJ22T hybrid swap Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carguy327 Posted March 15, 2011 Author Share Posted March 15, 2011 well...i did it in one shot...diff replaced and so far so good..i'll let you guys know how my commute works out. Thanks for the advice everyone.. G Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carguy327 Posted March 15, 2011 Author Share Posted March 15, 2011 Well..It's not a complete failure. My drive this morning was nearly an hour and the car drove very nicely...until the last 5minutes or so. While nowhere near as bad as before, I'm definitely getting a mild to medium knock/nudge/bind/???? from the backend. I feel it from the center out to the rear passenger corner (which I know, has nothing wrong with it) . This diff never caused me problems before i switched it and back again. I also removed the FWD fuse, so I'm running AWD. I'm not sure what to do next..other than maybe run it in FWD. I do have a donor GT with a manual 5speed and would like to switch it out soon (probably should keep the other diff) so if something needs replacing on the Automatic, I'd rather perform the swap than fix the current tranny. (though I am stupidly busy, maybe another year with the auto wouldn't be so bad)....Any thoughts? thanks G Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnegg Posted March 15, 2011 Share Posted March 15, 2011 well i don't have a clear picture of what's going on. but if it only starts to bind after it has been running for a while you may have an intermittent duty c. but i don;t have enough info to say. you need to test drive it before it warms up. drive it in tight circles on dry pavement. when you do notice binding you need to pull over and turn the car off and then re-start it. look for a flashing AT TEMP light at start up. that indicates there was an electrical fault in the trans the LAST time the car was driven. have you done a drain and fill? does your speedo work all the time? my guess is that it is binding all the time but you only notice it at the end of your commute when you are making turns. if i'm wrong and it only happens after it warms up as you have said, try this. leave the fuse in and look for the FWD light at the end of your commute. if the duty c is failing sometimes, it will only light up the FWD when it is working. make a habit of looking for the fwd. or just pull the rear section of the drive shaft and run in 2wd until you can fix it. let us know what you learn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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