legacycentral bbs

This is the 3rd Legacy I have had to replace the speedo drive and driven gears on.
Here are the pics I took during the job, all done with engine and trans in the car.











did this on a 94TW, a 93SS, and now my 94 LGT wagon.


Usually, in the past it was heat cracks in the big gear and stripped there and the small gear. This one, the small gear had flat spot, but the big gear was good. but you have to replace them in matched sets for proper wear.

I used Mobile1 Synthetic 75w-90 gear oil, which is lots better than the ATF I drained out (previous owner). They said the speedo got glitchy about 5k miles back...

Now, no CEL for VSS, and the car knows when to shift, and the cruise works again.


enjoy. and to those who say cannot be done with trans in the car, lol, this is the 3rd one i have done. No it is not easy, especially instaliing the snap ring, but i love a challenge. I think this job takes about 5 hours hard at it, you know, gotta drop the exhaust out of the way, remove lower arm bolts to slip axle out of the way, check bearing retainer pre-tension, remove the cap, remove the bearing, remove the axle stub, remove the speedo big gear, pull off the snap ring, slide out the small gear, install new small gear, install c-clip, install the axle stub, install new big gear put on the bearing, put new o-ring on the side retainer cap, install side reatainer, check preload vs the start step, install exhaust header, install axle, install control arm, etc.......

The full synthetic is the best for these autotragics...it stays flowable in extreme cold (thick normal oil in cold can strip the gear) and the synthetic stays cool in the heat of summer better too, so keeps plastic from burning to a brittle mess.

wanted to add, this is the job one cannot afford to pay a shop to do, it would be cheaper to swap in a different trans than paying a shop to do this job....

And most people cannot figure this one out. lots to factor, and you have to know how to check preload on the bearing etc..and have tools, which i don't even have the correct bearing removal tool, or the side retainer tool.

But for me, it is parts about 36 bucks, oil at 11.99 a qt, x 2, and my own time

If i had the right tools, i could have this done in 3-4 hours.

Not all speedo issues involve this, some it is the base of the speedo cable, but for all 3 of mine with no working speeds, this is what it was, on the autotragics.

Very nice write-up! I guess it is possible to change the speedo gear with the trans still in the car.

So were you saying that there was ATF in the differential section of the trans? If so, the ring & pinion gears probably have accelerated wear on them due to the ATF not having the correct EP additives that the GL5 rated gear oil has.

Awesome write-up. Thanks for sharing. I thought I had to do this, but thankfully it was just the cable end that was bad.

I am about to attempt to replace this myself next week. I was planning on dropping the tranny, as i need to replace a rear main seal as well. Any more advice you could give me would be greatly appreciated. I ordered new snap rings and washers from the dealership, anything else i am forgetting?

I don't know what you meant about the preload on the bearings but I would like to know if this can be done but instead of just replacing the gears I'd like to install different gears from another transmission. My speedo reads wrong with this JDM 4.444 forester trans. If you subtract about 10% off your speed you'll get an accurate reading.

I'm about to replace my oil in my tranny to try to get the synchros to work better. Ordered the andrewtech cocktail mix of 3 quarts Red Line Lightweight Shockproof and 1 quart Motul 300. As cold as it is I don't feel like doing replacing anything that's going to require at least 5 hours of work but it would be a good time to do it.

only tip is spray spray spray the retaining ring with penantrant, pb blaster, etc, they are kinda hard to work loose. Since they are alumimium, the little tabs/fins on them crack off easily. take it slow, with a dowel tpy epunch and hammer lightly til they work loose. They are fine threads.