legacycentral bbs

I installed my new shocks today! The installation went as well as expected being that it was the first time I had done a strut install. It took me about 5-6 hours to do all four corners. I made a few mistakes along the way that took up extra time but all in all it went really well. BTW, I have a 94 Legacy wagon FWD, 175,000 m

Thank you so much for the information on this board!!!!!!!!!!

I don't think I could have done it without it. I would recomend to anybody contemplating this repair to review all the threads on this site and then get the correct tools and have at it. It really is straight forward and you'll save yourselt quite a bit of money to boot. I'm looking forward to doing this on my wife's 96 Legacy and also my daughters 98 Outback. I'm hopong to reduce the time on each attempt!

One thing I did notice on my test drive is that the drive axles seem to have a CV joint problem now. Where as before there wasn't any clicking during acceleration or turns now there seems to be. Sounds like the drivers side. During my install of that front strut, the assembly that the strut is attached to didn't seem to move upright and in very easily adn it took several attempts to push it in so the holes would line up. I wonder if something is now amiss in the CV joints? I might be looking at a drive axle install when the weather gets better. Before the install I would only hear occasional clicks.

Anyways, keep on keeping on guys.

Thanks for sharing the info, and glad to hear it went well. As you do a couple more, you'll get quicker. You'll want to take the car to get a 4-wheel alignment if you haven't done so already.

Regarding the cv axles, are the boots torn at all?

Hi Josh,

I didn't check very well while I had the car up, my bad. They very well could be as they've been on the car about 40,000 miles already. Cheapo rebuilt's is my guess.

But after my strut install today the clicking on acceleration and turns is easily 20-30 times worse. (in other words, a lot!)
I'm not sure how I could have screwed the CV's up by installing a strut but there is a way I'd be the one to find it.

What did you have in mind?

Well, when installing the struts you have to move the spindle around and that may have put some stress on the axle. If the boots are torn or they are cheapo axles, that could be the reason.

Do you recall if the metal cylindrical housing part of the axle was green or not?

Josh,

They are not green. What does that mean?

The green axles are typically Subaru OEM axles.
http://www.main.experiencetherave.com/s ... s/cvaxles/

The non-green axles may or may not be OEM Subaru axles. I was just trying to see if we could correlate your clicking to the axles being non-OEM axles.

Here's some pictures of some new cheap Advance auto axles and the old subaru axles (non-green) out of my impreza.
http://www.main.experiencetherave.com/s ... s/cvaxles2

After 100 miles on the new KYB GR2's I can certainly tell there are new shocks on the car. they seem to be a lot stiffer then the stock struts, but of course those had 175000 mi on them! Maybe the new ones aren't broken in yet but they aren't providing the smooth ride I was hoping for. Will they loosen up a bit with more driving?

The GR2's are a little stiffer than the stock setup, but they shouldn't be that much stiffer. If you're comparing the stock struts with 175,000 miles on them to the GR2's, then yes the GR2's are going to be way stiffer.

The stock struts on my car were shot around 80,000 miles.

Update:

So I've driven about 4500 miles since I installed the 4 struts on my 94 wagon (5sp,FWD). The GR2's have really settled in now and I'm very happy with them. I ended up installing 4 GR2's on my wifes Legacy in March and 4 GR2's on my daughter's Outback in April. Just as I thought, the installs went quicker each time. All turned out really well plus I have the satisfaction that I saved about $1300 over the course of the 3 cars. There's really no way I could have justified spending the money for 12 struts to be replaced by a shop. So if you are contemplating this repair....Just Do It... it will make all the difference in the world!

Glad to hear things went well and you're happy with the struts. When I did the ones on my Legacy, I too was very happy with the results of the GR2's.