Tranny problems?!

[PeRs|aN]

im about to buy a legacy/liberty rs and i've been hearin alot of different things but the main one that concerns me is that they have a very weak gear box........now is this true or has it just been blown outta of proportion..........and if soo wat are some things too look at while drivin...

wat should i look out for?

if u can help me i would appreciate it alot

thnx

[mile hi]

I wouldn't say that the gear boxes are weak I think some of the failures that have occurred have been due to missed shifts etc. and some are due to added power. We have seen some gearbox failures with engines developing 350+hp and think what has happened is that the power applied to the spiral cut gears has forced the shafts to bend and then the gears are forced apart, loose mesh, and strip. I would recommend some stronger driveline components if running that kind of power.
AL(CO)
al@iwtu.net

[entirelyturbo]

Subaru gearboxes are designed to go indefinitely...under normal conditions. Just like Al said, missing shifts or tons of power are not normal conditions, so the trannies tend to fail under very hard use...

Hondas, on the other hand, seems like they can take anything, Stephen Papadakis in his 8 second Civic is running a bone-stock Prelude tranny ...

[boostjunkie]

Like everyone else has said already, I honestly think that the subaru drivetrains are good enough for normal applications. Even under modified conditions, the transmission from Subaru has never given me problems, and I've owned three of them with over 140,000miles!!

It's driver misuse, to be completely honest with you. I never heard of problems except when talking to your typical boy-racer types who drop the clutch at 5000rpm!!

Idiots!!

[ciper]

A very few problem transmissions may exist, more often its abuse. Even under stress I dont see why an auto or manual wouldnt last 150k+

[powerfulalien]

mine has over 187 thousand on it but it needs to be replaced hope that helps

[PeRs|aN]

thanx for all the feed back guys.......but i still got some question...

wat kinda of mods are we talkin about before a stroger gearbox is needed?PSI??

how can i tell a abused tranny from another? wat tendsto happen before tranny fails?


and also wat kinda of cost would i be lookin at for a new or reco tranny.

[entirelyturbo]

If you're looking at an MT, I would honestly say the best way to tell (aside from seeing what the car drives like) would be to drain the gear oil and feel around in it. If the guts are all torn up from missing shifts or grinding or whatever, you'll feel a lot of metal shavings in the oil as you run your hand through it....

Now a few shavings here and there aren't bad...who here has NEVER grinded a little going into reverse? Probably nobody...

Of course, if the gears won't shift, or lots of nasty noises, etc. you might need a tranny overhaul...