Half Shafts and Oil Seals...?

[Wally]

I hate for this to be my first post, but here goes:

I have a 94 Legacy, 2.2L NA... It's been making some weird noise lately and leaking a variety of fluids. Noise seemed to be coming from the rear end so I pulled the wheel, brakes, hub etc... and everything looked pretty cool.

So I thought, I'll jack up the front end and see what's going on up there. To my chagrin, I found 2 shredded CV boots, one on each side. So I got new shafts from Napa and am in the process of installing them (which is no fun by the way)...

So here's my question: Where the shafts attach to the car (I'm not sure what to call it, transmission or transaxle or something like that), is there any kind of oil seal that should be there? The reason I ask is that it appears there may be a leak. I had a similar issue with this on my other car (civic) and it was a matter of popping $4 seals into the tranmission. The area in question has a big star shape circle going around it as well (if that helps).

Thanks for listening and a big thanks in advance for any help or words of advice...

[entirelyturbo]

Welcome to the board

Yes there is a seal in there, and don't bother doing it yourself. You can't.

There is a bearing in there that MUST be set to spec with literally micrometers as a margin of error. You don't have the equipment to measure it.

I tried replacing those seals myself coz I was a moron and thought they should be replaced anyway even though they weren't leaking. I actually stuck a screwdriver in there and messed up the existing seal, and for the next week I poured every imaginable type of gear oil in to make up for the oil that was literally pouring out that seal. I took it to the dealer and let them fix it for a mere $450

If you're positive it's leaking, plan on paying that much to have the seals replaced

[WRXdan]

Listen to subyluvr on this. The "star" shaped piece sets preload. If you take it off you have to replace it EXACTLY as it was or risk wearing out your ring and pinion. Plus subaru has a special tool to remove that cover. You can try a hammer and screwdriver but you will break the teeth off the cover. Sucks, but that is how it's designed. Smell the fluid leaking. If it's leaking out the diff seals then it will smell like gear lube, gear lube smells like no other auto fluid. Once you smell it you never forget the smell.

[Wally]

Smell the fluid leaking. If it's leaking out the diff seals then it will smell like gear lube, gear lube smells like no other auto fluid. Once you smell it you never forget the smell.

Thanks for the replies everyone... I don't suppose you know what color the gear lube would be? It's kind of looks greenish, but it appears to be too thick to be antifreeze.

The rear main seal needs replaced too, so maybe it's time to just drive it till it comes to a screeching halt.

[WRXdan]

Smell the fluid leaking. If it's leaking out the diff seals then it will smell like gear lube, gear lube smells like no other auto fluid. Once you smell it you never forget the smell.

Thanks for the replies everyone... I don't suppose you know what color the gear lube would be? It's kind of looks greenish, but it appears to be too thick to be antifreeze.

The rear main seal needs replaced too, so maybe it's time to just drive it till it comes to a screeching halt.

I think gear lube can be different colors. Smell is the easiest way to tell. If it smells sweet then it's coolant. Gear lube has a strong smell.

CV boots are filled with grease. When they rip they spray grease everywhere. Make sure this is not what you are seeing.

[evolutionmovement]

Coolant smells like candy and the gear oil smells absolutely horrible, so it's an easy check. If your nose accordians and your stomach wants to convulse at the smell, then it's probably gear oil.

Steve

[Wally]

Well, the bottom half of the opening for the driveshaft is wet, so it probably is gear oil...

Just for fun, here's another question:

Is there some super secret way to get halfshafts out of the wheel hub? I did one side no problem, but I'm having an awful time with the passenger side. I used a 3 arm gear puller on the driver's side and broke it on the passenger side. I bought a new one this morning (Craftsman-2 arm) and I'm cranking down so hard that it's making an impression on the end of the shaft... I've tried bolt breaker spray and a rubber mallet and nothing seems to work.

I thought about taking the whole hub assembly off and taking it somewhere to have it pressed out but none of the other bolts will budge and even if they did, the ball joint just spins and spins and spins. This thing is a deathtrap.

[THAWA]

You have to remove the axle nut first to get the shafts out. I did okay using one of the tranny to engine top bolts inside the brake disc, with my old drive shaft attached to the breaker bar (talk about leverage) After that you need to disconnect the swaybar mounts, and then you can unbolt the balljoint. then you need to pry the hub off the knuckle, afterwards you can move the hub around to get the shaft out.

[Wally]

You have to remove the axle nut first to get the shafts out. I did okay using one of the tranny to engine top bolts inside the brake disc, with my old drive shaft attached to the breaker bar (talk about leverage) After that you need to disconnect the swaybar mounts, and then you can unbolt the balljoint. then you need to pry the hub off the knuckle, afterwards you can move the hub around to get the shaft out.

I unstaked the nut and removed it... That was the easy part

The shaft is such a mess though that even without removing the hub from the ball joint, I could pull the inside end of the shaft off the engine... That's how I did the other side because that ball joint was messed up too. It's a tight squeeze, but it works.

However, this part with the outer end of the shaft being stuck in the hub has me totally stumped. I can still put it all back together if I absolutely have to, but the thing has been apart for 2 days and I'd love to be done with this...

[Wally]

Well... I gave up. The end of the shaft was starting to mushroom and I figured I should quit while I was ahead.

At least when I put the shaft back on, I had an extra pin from the driver's side, which is more than it had before I started.

Anyway, thanks for the kind help!

[94L_wagon]

Wally

When I did my axle I had to hit it with a BFH to get it out. I used the round ball end of one hammer against the center of the driveaxle, and hit against that with another, bigger hammer.

This avoided mushrooming it, but eventually provided enough encouragement to get it out.

This is probably bad for the wheel bearings, but it just laughed at any other attempts I made.

If you search the forum you'll find some people had to have them pressed out at machine shops. Sometimes they just don't wanna come out. Next time a CV joint busts on me, I am taking it to Midas or someplace. I'll gladly pay an hours labor to avoid CV boot grease, axle nuts, and unmovable drivelaxles . And I'm a tightwad .

[eastbaysubaru]

Glad you got it taken care of. Whereabouts in the City are you?

-Brian

[94L_wagon]

I'm in the Glen Park area, right by 280 .

[turbonator]

How long can you drive around with a ripped boot..??

[THAWA]

depends on where you're driving and how rough you are.

[scottzg]

heh, this thread reminds me of the time i accidently snorted trans oil. I get physically ill when i smell the stuff now.

I too live just off 280

[vrg3]

I drove around for nearly a year (including one of Ithaca's super-salty winters) with three torn boots in the front of my car. I was careful about what I drove over (I basically pretended it wasn't a Subaru ) and every couple weeks I packed some more grease into the joints. They never even started to click.

[91legacyman]

hi guy's quik question how easy is it to replace the wheel bearings cuase im gonna need to replace my axles to but my bearings are shot to hell

im pimpin a 91 legacy L 2.2L FWD thx!