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Update time! I pulled the trigger and made the 4500 mile round trip to get the parts car. I live in Madison, Wisconsin, and the car was just north of Seattle. It is also a '71, but has a 1300 engine (1300G?). It has the window, it has a good subframe, and tons and tons of other small parts I'll surely need. I also picked up an EA71, an EA63, and an EA61 short block. I'm back in business! Picture time: The car is safe at my storage lot, it snowed a bunch while I was gone so I need to get everything re-organized over there. More progress to come!

Use the 6mm pin punch to check the stub axle hole alignment with the CV cup’s ole before smashing the roll pin back in place. Or slide under the car or safe to do so and visually check it, either way works for me. Cheers Bennie

You could use a rod slightly smaller than the hole as a double check, I just check the spline / valley positions. Use the drift to get the insertion depth right, the tap the roll pin in, paying attention in case it hangs up. I disabled, cleaned and re greased a clicky axle or 2. I also bought ball bearing balls, and replaced the bad ones in one. Look at the wear on the center start piece, and the walls of the cup. One of mine had a little more wear on the sides that were carrying the load, so I swapped the axle to the other side, which puts the load on the opposite faces. So far, so good. Almost all of my axles are OEM axles. I've been running these models since 1988. I bought used OEM axles back then and re greased them. When one of my earlier cars was done [due to rust] I saved all the parts except the rusted out body. I never bought an aftermarket axle, the only few of those I have came on the later used cars I bought.

Anything is possible, but that is the major structural member of the car that is rusted out. It's going to require considerable time and patience to fabricate new frame rails, and seal everything up. Not to mention the fact that I'm sure this is just the tip of the iceberg (maybe it's the worst of it, but I bet there's a lot more). Looks like the rocker is gone. If you're doing it yourself, looking for a project to fill up your free time, knock yourself out. If you're paying someone to do it. It'd be far cheaper to have a solid shell shipped to you from another part of the country.

1. *** Critical question - how positive are you the noise ever existed before the wheel bearing job and started immediately after the wheel bearing job? 2. Does it only start grinding with your foot on the brake? 3. If it starts grinding and you immediately respond with more brake pressure, or let off, does the noise go away? Front or rear bearing? Describe the symptoms and how long was it bad? Was a Subaru or aftermarket bearing installed? Did it fix the issues or was this "brake noise" the issue that the wheel bearing replacement didn't alleviate? If you replaced the fronts, maybe it's the back making noise? Or the other way around. Jack up the vehicle and turn the hub (with the wheel on and without the wheel on) by hand and reproduce the noise to help locate. Look for debris stuck in, or around the backing plate, or a bent backing plate that's rubbing the rotor. Open the caliper and check for a distorted wear indicator or bent brake pad clip touching the rotor. This would be very uncommon but as I can't see the car you want to make sure nothing is inordiately close to the rotor - pad clips, rear backing plate, and wear indicators are easily damaged/shifted. Aftermarket wheel bearings are lower quality and can fail shortly after install - is there any chance this new bearing is bad or was damaged during installation?

1,000 ft-lb 3/4" impact gun. Or a 3 foot pipe over the handle of a 3/4" socket wrench. Axle nuts routinely break generic/average 1/2" breakers/sockets all the time. Ball joints vary wiidly based on corrosion and time in situ. Yes a crow bar "is enough" if yours isn't bad. Have the ball joints ever been apart before in the past? If not they've sat there for decades. People here do it on the side of the road because they've probably done a bunch and often times have already had that axle/knuckle apart in the last couple of years so removal is easy before age/corrosion set in. A first timer with even minor corrosion/rust issues has zero chance of getting this done without a headache so you're right to ask. just look inside the axle hole and the stubby shaft hole. on one side of the axle *the VALLEY of the splined shaft will be in the center*, on the other side the TOP RIDGE will be in the center. Line it up appropriately. It's not hard, just need to know to look for it.

The pin that holds the axle on the transmission is a straight roll pin. 2 things get people in trouble - using a drift that is too small, and it gets into the hollow center of the roll pin, and jams. The other is not noticing the splines when reassembling. One hole has a peak, the othe side has a valley. It's almost but not quite 180 degrees off if you get it backwards. Try to drive the pin inot the offset holes makes for a bad time. The bug nut should not be as tight as you describe.... yes 3/4" breaker bar. For.the first time removal, sometimes need a 2.to.3 foot extender on the handle... reassemble with anti seize. The 140 /150.ftlb is dry tourque, so go little lighter with anti seize. I also use anti seize on the ball joint mating surfaces. Makes any future work way easier.

my other half has a 2006 LL Bean Outback with the H6 and just uses a readily available brand of the recommended type - he has had the car for about 8 yrs now, and no issues, so i dont think brand is all that important, tbh. obviously, dont by the cheapest crap out there, but it isn't necessary to buy the most expensive, either.

Amsoil ships free over $100. Get 2 oil changes and filters and you are set for 2 years.

I suspect that the manufacturer's recommendations for oil viscosity have more to do with meeting fuel consumption limits, than other reasons.

Replace the radiator. It's garbage. Welcome to modern cars. Radiators last 8-10 years max. GD