RavenTBK

Since I have no social life whatsoever, I usually go trail riding since I live in the national forest and all. Well, what was interesting is there was an airshow this weekend at the airport. The airport is surrounded on three sides by the forest, with various trails running around the perimeter fence. So, since I'm a cheap punk, I hopped the boobaroo with my HT and took to the perimeter trails. Went to my usual spot at the end of one of the runways.. which just so happened to be the primary strip for the show. Yadda yadda.. kickbutt show. Going to leave, theres a frame twisting flexy spot thats always the highlight of the trail. Just so happened that this time, I took it a little too slow, and endured a bit of tire spin as the weight transferred. You know the kind.. "spinspinGRABspinGRABGRABspinspinGRAB" kinda thing. As the Brat was almost out of the wash, thats when I heard the kaPow! Once I got back on level ground, I saw the wheel cocked all funked up and the strut popped free as in the third attachment above. I wasnt about to abandon the Brat in the woods, so I eased it the rest of the way out the trail, and ran it the 3 miles up the truck route to my buddy's shop where I played musical trucks yesterday. Grabbed my Bronco, snapped the pics, and here I am. Subaru makes one tough as nails ride. Here's where I'm confused. It looks as if the center section of the strut has pulled itself out of the upper mounting plate. I havent studied the struts enough to know how serious this is. All I know is bolt em up and ride. How serious of damage is this? Will the whole bloody strut have to be replaced, or does it really just sit there in the upper plate, kept in place by spring tension? Can I get away with jacking, compressing and sticking the upper half back into the mounting plate? Hehe.. I have no idea as I have never seen anything break like this before. What are my options here?

You guys can call me crazy, but.. I really dont think this is supposed to happen!

Mmmmm. That makes me want to go out and lick my dipstick.

So let me get this straight.. your old alternator boiled your battery, and instead of replacing both of them, you just paired a new alternator with your old battery? If thats the case, it should be obvious what the problem is. Yes, a choked out battery can burn out a new alternator. Take your alty back to the parts dept for a warranty exchange, and buy a fresh battery. Problem solved.

Naah.. I wouldnt believe so. However, anythings possible. The braking on these models is crappy by design, so it does take quite a bit to stop. On my Brat, the left front (ironically the same one you've got the issue with) does wear down/out faster than the right front. Why, I do not know. Sounds the same as you described tho. Go on ahead and check its tightness, as it's easier to snug those axle nuts than it is to pull off the wheel.

There wasnt any play in mine either.. but thats what it was. I cant explain it, and apparently nor could anybody else, so my old thread dropped into the "pit". The torque spec on that thar nut is 145ft-lbs.. so that means it takes quite a bit of beef to get it just right. Snugging it up again about a week later doesnt hurt either.

But thats only on the rear correct?

Wow, this sounds so familiar its scary. Check this thread Heh.. short story, check that castle nut.

Any chance of lifts greater than 4"?

What did you make it out of? If you use a long screwdriver like I've got, its as if you placed your ear right up to the valvecover. When you listen to the valves, they're supposed to click. Unless its exceptionally loud, theres no problem there. You need to use a long screwdriver and place it in various places around the block. If it is crank related, you would hear the knock in the middle of the block, either at the front, or rear. Just keep poking around till you hear your knock through the screwdriver. Depending on where you hear it, we can help you diagnose its source. Or.. you could drive it up to a different mechanic and see if they can pinpoint it for you. If its really that loud, serious sounding, and annoying, just do a warranty exchange on it and call it a day.

Straight pipe, no cats, 2.25", Flowmaster40. Nothing better.

A real mechanics stethoscope is a waste of money IMO. Grab yourself a long rump roast screwdriver, push the point down onto your block, and press your ear to the handle. I've got a 24" small phillips with a big rubberized handle thats absolutely perfect for such tasks, and is useless for everything else. If you poke around with a similar device with the engine idling, you can hear what valvetrain noise sounds like, what the tranny gears whirring sounds like, and whatever is the source of your knocking noise. Good luck.

Well, I'm doing an experiment now. Since the bar folded, that tells me the issue is the upward pitch of the motor, and downward pitch of the tranny onto its mounts. It cant be the opposite, as that would straighten out the pitch bar and want to pull it out of its upper mounting place. So.. with this knowledge, heres how my experiment is going to happen. I first reshaped (for the third time) the bar back to its original straightness.. and even a bit better than before. I then reinstalled the bar, but adjusted up. Up as in pulling up on the engine, pivoting the tranny mounts to near their base. With all the "free upwards play" (or downwards if you look at it from the tranny's point of view) removed from the engine, in theory, it shouldnt want to pivot upwards anymore and bend the bar again. The minimum of available downwards movement at the tranny mounts also come into play.. the tranny cant drop too much further, therefore the engine cant rise too much further. Which, again, in theory, will stop my pitch stopper from folding up like an accordion, and still hold things in place. Okay, I know it sounds crazy.. but I'm a curious person. I like to learn and experiment. Either way, I will get a stronger bar made up, but this is just to pass the time till then.

Well, I'm going to have to come up with something here soon. This afternoon's outing ended up bending it up even worse than before. The suby took the terrain just fine, but the pitch stopper wanted no part of it. http://random.fjeer.us/usmb/imagedump-070.jpg You can see how bent up it decided to get. Also you can see the nifty bolt welded up in the middle to elongate the stopper bar. After a bit of thought, I guess its all working how its supposed to. The stopper is keeping the engine/tranny from pitching, which has kept my mounts from tearing apart. The pitch stopper is the fuse in all this, instead of something else like I initially thought. Either way, I'm going to have to be less agressive with my trail riding till I can get something figured out.

Heh.. I need to take a picture of this one for ya then. Its the stock rod, cut in the middle, with a 6" bolt welded in the gap as an extension. It works.. but it was just amusing when I first saw it. I was considering my options, and all I could come up with was completely fabbing up a new one, but the larger tube "sheath" is a good idea. I weld about as good as I dance.. which is not, so I'd probably get creative with some JB.

Which type Blaster is it? Well, was it?

Moderate to high. I'd say the pitch stopper is a required piece. Its what keeps the engine/tranny from pitching back and forth when you're in FWD. Since the output shafts are in the front of the transmission, its like you stuck a pencil through a banana, and twisted it back and forth.. the banana would want to turn with the pencil. In regular RWD vehicles, the torque is distributed side to side, the prop shaft being the pencil in the banana. Where in FWD vehicles, its front to back. In newer models, the pitch stopper is known as the "dogbone", where it serves the exact same function. Keeping the engine/tranny from excessive movement as a result of torque.

Based on your description, I agree with Eli. ^^^^

Based on your description, I cannot think of anything obvious that would cause this situation to occur, as you've already replaced all the possible culprits. Well, I guess the first thing would be to verify its the correct master cylinder. Limp it up to the parts store and get them to pull one off the shelf for you. Walk outside and compare. Also look into the rubber lines that are in the wheel wells. In the mid 80s Fords, they were known to swell themselves shut and cause a similar situation. And uhm.. thats about all I've got this early in the morning.

Logically, if those are the only two connections on the back of the alternator, the big B+ would be the battery output, and the smaller D+ would have to be field current (ignition signal). I also called up my buddy who does nothing but volvos and he agrees, if its the mid 80s 80A Volvo240/740 we're talking about (which is what the picture looks like).

I didnt think it took me that long to write that last post.

This afternoon I used my Ford wrench (read: BFH) and the vise and tapped my stopper rod back straight. I also found a brass bushing that was the perfect size to sit in the upper hole with a large washer on the outside to keep it all in place. Looks and works a helluva lot better than it did before. So I guess the lack of responses means that nobody has ever bent the crap out of their pitch stopper while offroading? Considering how easy it was for me to do, I'm surprised there wasnt a flood of responses. :-\

To repeat what everyone else said.. leave it in FWD, shifter in neutral and ride. Keep up with those tires though, and make sure the steering is unlocked. BTW, its a 5 speed? I remembered reading that the EA71s came with 4 speeds. Am I wrong?

To repeat what everyone else said.. leave it in FWD, shifter in neutral and ride. Keep up with those tires though, and make sure the steering is unlocked. BTW, its a 5 speed? I remembered reading that the EA71s came with 4 speeds. Am I wrong?

That would be the EG33, found in the SVX. That would make for an interesting swap as well.