legacycentral bbs

Hello all, I bought a 91 legacy wagon last week, 5spd, N/A, lots of rust, cat piss smell inside, but runs perfect for $325.00. My intentions with this car are not to restore it to perfection, but simply to drive the hell out of it, the looks don't bother me for now. The thing that got me though is: when I got it home and found the oil level about an inch above the full mark, I immediately drained the excess oil out and noticed that the drivers side axle was not there. Passenger side was intact and looked ok, but WTF?. I drove the car around before buying it, seemed ok. My question to whoever reads this, why would someone do this? (I'm hoping too poor to replace a noisy cv joint)
I'm hoping that I can simply put an axle in and be fine, but I"m scared that this may be masking a bigger problem. Also, wouldn't this overstress the center diff?

thanks in advance.

i would say if you were able to drive it you should be able just to put one in and it should be fine. good luck though

If it was driving with just one axle then the differential is locked, otherwise it would have transfered the power to the missing axle.

A factory 5sp has a constant 50/50 f/r torque split I think. So it may have just been rwd and spinning that missing alxe output in the front.
Raise the front of the car and see if both axles turn independently.

Was the outer joint installed on the wheel hub? Without that, the bearing would have fallen apart?

Thanks for the replies, work is taking all my free time .......the car sits and waits for now

Bottom line...no axle...no move

Need more details on the car, as in what driveline. Front wheel drive, all wheel drive, auto, manual, etc.

Oops, It's awd, 5spd manual. I also test drove the car around the block before buying and then driving it home.

an AWD 5MT will not move almost at all with a broken front axle (it will behave very much like an almost completely failed clutch, it'll try to move, but it won't). if the car can move without one the center diff is fried (the chicken or the egg?).

You sure? I drove the thing around, up some hills, and then two miles to my house, the drive home was 40-50mph. I didn't seem to notice a problem moving, in fact, it will over power the emergency brake when parked, I'm leaning towards the post saying the trans splits the torque 50/50.

Will the rear tires spin from a stop on a loose surface?

you mean like a burnout?

Yes, like a burnout.

Was the outer joint installed on the wheel hub? Without that, the bearing would have fallen apart?

^^^^

Pics?

Ok, Just went for a test drive, yes, I could spin the rear tires on a newly graveled road. And the stub appears to be in the hub? looking at the tire, the stub appears to be there, with the axle nut in place. As for pics, of what?[/u]

Next test: with the front wheels off the ground (and the car on jackstands) will the axles (or one stub, in this case) turn independently of each other?

A while ago now....I was able to drive my 92 5spd with one front CV totally sheared. If I threw too much throttle I could feel the diff's do whatever they were doing at 200+K. But the car moved around without drama.