legacycentral bbs

My Legacy's shifter is so bad, I have decided not to drive it until I fix it. Basically, the shifter moves left and right about twice as much in 1st as it should in Neutral. So it's not only a guessing game of sorts, but there is the danger of destroying the tranny in one single bad shift...

So now that I have the XT fixed up to where I feel comfortable driving it everyday, I've gone ahead and taken half the shifter of the Leg apart...

I still am infuriated at the needless difficulty of this job. It is entirely possible that I might have to at least partially, if not totally, remove the transmission to get a single bolt out, the one bolt that is keeping the whole shifter in the car, and the one that is missing bushings.

I'll also do a 4-wheel brake job and convert the A/C to R-134 before I put her back on the road.

I am very privileged, though, to be able to do this in a extended timeframe, at my own pace, now that I have another car to drive as a daily...

Hmmm. . .and you must have a garage, as well.

Good call on the conversion to R-134, by the way. I haven't priced freon in a while but I know the price isn't getting any lower. . .that's IF one can even find it anymore.

Also VERY good call on not driving until at least the shifter is working properly.

good luck with it ^_^

subyluvr2212 - Jeez, that's kind of scary about the shifter! Good luck with the repair. I've never pulled a Subaru tranny before, but maybe you could just undo the crossmember and let the transmission tilt back a little in order to reach the remaining bolt?

Yukonart wrote:Good call on the conversion to R-134, by the way. I haven't priced freon in a while but I know the price isn't getting any lower. . .that's IF one can even find it anymore.]

Yeah, that stuff is expensive... I do have a small cache of R-12 "oil charges" (a little freon and a little oil together in a can) lying around. I can't officially legally sell it without a license, though...

If anyone needs a little, PM me.

Indeed. . . if you need to recharge your AC system anyway, it's the perfect time for the R-134 conversion. AND, you can sleep with a clear conscience.

Oh, I can get R12 no problem, from my workplace. For the leisurely cost of $45 a pound and the Legacy R12 system takes almost 2 lbs I think...

I don't think I'll hafta pull the tranny, there has to be a way around it. I just need to get creative. If possible, I might just Dremel the bolt out, and try putting a new one in the other way. The 4WD transfer case and the tranny tunnel make things VERY tight in there, also the various crossmembers and other parts of the shifter make reaching some things difficult, and many times at an inefficient angle...

I cannot say it enough, though, how happy I am to have another barrel-of-monkeys-fun car to drive around in the meantime

And yes, I have a garage

If you do have to pull the tranny you might as well do the clutch at the same time...

Good call. . . if there are components that are hard to get to that WILL wear out shortly, you might as well look at replacing those while you have everything out. Will take a little longer and cost a few extra $$, but you'll have a lean, mean Subbie machine when you're done.

Oh yeah. . . and don't forget the enthusiast's creedo:

When it comes time to replace. . . . UPGRADE!

That would suck if u have to take out the tranny just to get to the shifter linkage... You can't just take the driveshaft off? I haven't had a chance to look under an AWD legacy before, so its just a logical suggestion...

My clutch was only replaced some 14k miles ago, so that's good. I would probably only have to drop it down a few inches, I really doubt that I would have to remove it entirely...

In the bottom gears (2nd, 4th, Reverse) is the best position to try to take that bolt out. Forget it in 1st, 3rd or 5th. But I don't think it's going to come out in ANY gear!!

I'm thinking of Dremeling that stupid bolt out, then try to put a new one in from the other direction.

This is when 4WD really sucks. And guess what? The XT will call for the same repair soon, and it's got the pushbutton 4WD on the shifter!!

I think you may be looking into this a little more complicated then you have to.

Take a look here: http://legacycentral.org/library/shifter.htm

There are only a few bolts you need to remove to pull the shifter.
A) the couple that you can see in the passenger compartment
B) the two that hold the rear bushing in; underneith the car
C) the one that goes through the big round area of the shifter (you'll know it when you see it, very visible in the 5th picture, lower assembly, lower bar)
D) the bolt that goes through the actual linkage piece, visible in the 5th pic, lower assembly, top bar.

If you're putting in the STi unit, you'll need a punch so you can remove the spring pin that holds in the old linkage to the tranny; viewable in the top picture; also highlighted by dave when he says this:

Unfortunately i was bit by another problem that we discovered at in the 11th hour: the linkage between the top rod and the transmission was different. This meant that the new assembly came out, and the old one went back in. Frustrated, i called Richard and asked "what gives?". Richard remembered an earlier conversation i'd had with him, when i was inquiring about clutch and flywheel possiblities, with the shifter in mind as an addition. Richard mentioned that the shifter kit had previously included the extra parts to make it all work, but STi had since eliminated that part from the package, not reduced the price, and now charged $40 for it. Humbled, i asked him to send me one, plus the shifter return spring, as soon as he could. A few days later it all showed up.

Jason, you are absolutely correct. There are only a few bolts that need to be removed to remove the shifter. But the one that bolts the actual linkage together is VERY DIFFICULT!!

Dave didn't have much of a problem because he pulled his tranny . Also that pin he describes simply will not budge on my car. I might take a little more time to keep banging on it, but I don't think my answer lies there. The bolt I'm having such trouble with is probably the only way. I've played with it sporadically for a couple days now, and I haven't gotten it out. I have a lot of upcoming tests in school this week, so it's not going to be high-priority on my list of things to do, but I'm sure I'll figure it out eventually.

Just allow me to say, if you have a 4WD Legacy that you think is a piece of cake to change shifter bushings on, go under there and tell me how much space is under there

subyluvr2212 wrote:Just allow me to say, if you have a 4WD Legacy that you think is a piece of cake to change shifter bushings on, go under there and tell me how much space is under there

It's a piece of cake. There's enough room for my two arms and my two hands and a couple tools.

You do know that there is two roll pins in there right? You have to remove the smaller one in the middle before you can remove the bigger one. A good set of the right size punches help alot. If somethings going to be frozen it's ussually that shift linkage to the shaft, but the roll pins almost always come out.

Indeed. . . I keep a full set of three different-sized nail punches.

You'd be surprised how many times you'll use them. . . they're perfect for pushing bolts out from behind after a nut is removed. They're even better because you can use a nice 10oz. hammer on the punch since it's made for that.

* tap tap tap* and you can usually then grab it from the head side and yank her out.

Wish they made BIG punches. . . like for LCA bolts, etc. But a big ole phillips screwdriver that I don't care about works really good for those.

I bought a whole set of punches.....pretty nice ones too

Okay, I removed everything behind this troublesome bolt, to try and give myself some room. So there is now no shifter in the car.That was hard enough as it is...

I still cannot get the bolt out. And as for these pins everyone keeps describing, I can't get that out either. I have punches and I pounded on that pin quite hard, with no success...

And get this: I now have to get the Legacy fixed ASAP!!! Why?? Because the XT's driver's window just fubared on me!! I managed to get it back up and stick a wedge in it, so it's not open for all the world to see!

Why do cars hafta get old??

Any possible way you could snap a few shots of the linkage assembly? I'm trying to visualize what it is that needs to be done. . . but I have no Legacy with manual tranny here as a frame of reference.

Hmm, I have a good XT window track.....for the pass side

Once again, ole Patti is in my garage, completely incapable of moving on her own

I'm gettin ready to drop the tranny, and I removed/disconnected these things tonight:

1) Clutch/Hill-Holder cables
2) Starter
3) Speedo cable
4) Reverse/neutral safety switches

Next is removing the exhaust. If it is exhaust-related, I'm taking it off. Even the manifolds. Not a big deal to me, because the car will get the 98 Legacy GT exhaust I put a deposit on before I drive her again.

The clutch fork wobbles so much, I'm shocked I just drove it today to get Ginger's unexpected flat tire fixed

It's a good thing that I will probably spend less than $100 for parts though

One question though, does anyone have that special Subaru tool used to hold the engine in place while the tranny is removed?

you can get just a standard engine holder...nothing really subaru specific.