allwheeldad

Hey all...something I have been curious about for a while, how hard is it to replace wheel bearings on a 99 legacy? I have access to a nice heated shop with lots of tools and have pulled the motor out of my wife's 00 legacy, so I am no stranger to mechanics or subies. My contact at Subaru warned me against trying to do the bearings myself saying that other garages have gone to do them and then had to flatbed the cars over when they got it wrong. I have done bearings on other cars, what makes these ones so hard? I have come to rely on and appreciate the knowledge shared on the USMB and was wondering if anyone out there has done these bearings.

As it turns out there was a loose connection on the solenoid. I went and cleaned it out and reattached the wire and haven't had any problems since. I like free repairs. They don't happen often enough.

My 99 Legacy Gt, 380,000 km, has developed an issue with starting. After a short drive yesterday we shut the car off to avoid idling. Went to start again and nothing happened. I went through the motions of jiggling the AT selector in case the neutral switch was acting up, and stepping on the brake pedal.....after a while it started. But when it wouldn't start I didn't hear the solenoid clicking. What are the chances this is a solenoid issue? I had an ignition part replaced on my wife's 2000 legacy years ago because it wouldn't start, maybe same problem?

You would be best to go to the JY and physically look at the brakes. The calipers from an 02 WRX are the same as those on my 99 Legacy, and nowhere other than here did I find them cross-referenced. If you are able to look at the part number on the donor caliper that would be best. You never know.

My 99 legacy gt seems to be dumping its power steering fluid somewhere. I don't see anything around the pump or the lines but I haven't had time to get underneath it yet.I have been noticing some strange feedback from the front wheels lately as well. They are intermittently hard to turn at low speeds, slow to return to center, and seems to want to wander. I've checked the tie rods, ball joints, and wheel bearings at all four corners and can't find any play. There is a slight clunking sound heard when I jog the steering wheel. I am starting to lean towards a crapped out steering rack. Any thoughts, hints, smacks to the back of the head?

Just to piggyback this thread a little.....I have a pesky P0440 evaporative emmision code fault that is driving me nuts. I have soldered and shrink-wrapped a new plug on the wire going in to the charcoal filter at the back right corner on my 99 GT. I cleared the code and all was well until I went over a big bump and it came back. I have cleared it three times now and it keeps coming back on when I hit bumps. Any idea what is causing this?

Just a side note to finish this thread off.... the front calipers on the 99 legacy are the same as the wrx, but the rear calipers are different. the front rotors are bigger, but the rear rotors are the same size. This is an easy swap if you are keeping the calipers on the car because you don't have to bleed the system. I decided to go that route and just swapped the front rotors and brackets and just did the rotors in the back. It took me about two hours start to finish with a crappy jack in my driveway.

I am already sitting on the 16 inch WRX rims, so clearance is not an issue. Thanks for the straight forward advice. I'm not building a rally car, just taking advantage of some hand-me-down parts from my more fortunate brother. I just need the car to stop when I hit the pedal.

I've been told that the rotors and calipers from an 02 WRX will bolt up to my 99 Legacy, but it has occured to me that the master cylinder might not be able to handle the increase in fluid capacity. Does anybody know if I will have to replace it or if it is safe to keep it?

Something to keep in mind when lowering a vehicle is to allow for camber adjustment otherwise you will get excessive tire wear. I am swapping in a whole bunch of 2002 WRX parts into my 99 Legacy GT, so if they will fit there is a good chance that parts from the same chassis of similar model years will fit without too many issues.

Maybe a shot in the dark, but I had a clunking sound plagueing me for a while and it turned out to be the sway bar bushings. The clunking sound would happen whenever I loaded or unloaded the front suspension.

Everything people are saying about head gaskets is correct. I have a 99 and my wife has a 2000. We have done head gaskets on both at around 230000Kms. If you have the opportunity to have it inspected at a garage have them check the wheel bearings. I have had to three on mine and two one my wifes. At $500.00 at the dealership they are not cheap fixes. The rear bearings on the one you are looking at are a hub assembly and can be replaced fairly easily if you are comfortable working on the car yourself. My car is sitting at 370000 right now and is used as a daily driver for a 150 km round trip commute. These are great cars, but like anything else it all depends on how well it has been maintained and what you are prepared to spend on likely repair costs given the mileage. Good luck, hope it works out for you.

Thanks, I might try it out this weekend. I'll post my findings as I go. My brother's WRX is the donor car and if this works fine I am going to look into swapping some other parts. He has a set of Tein coilovers with EDFC that are starting to look really tempting.

Does anyone know if the rotors and calipers from a 2002 WRX will fit on a 1999 Legacy GT? I already have the stock 16's off a WRX, so rim clearance is not an issue. I have all the rotors and calipers at home, I was just wondering if it will be a huge headache to bolt them to the knuckle or not. Thanks.