WoodsWagon

I could bust out the old J-10 with open headers. At midnight.

The dual range 4wd out of a 1986-89 car will make a huge difference. The low range makes up for the lack of power.

And only on automatics for the 95's

Or you could make your own. I'm not saying the factory TCS vs ABS valve block is the same. The factory TCS probably had some way of making the on-off switch of the brake aplication smoother, so that the system would be streetable. Nonetheless, the ABS system can turn the brakes on and off independently without input from the brake pedal. A system for off-road use only could be pretty basic and unrefined, but it would get the job done.

Page 93 and 94 of the "1995_legacy_wiring_diagrams" for those into instant gratification.

The ABS system has all the mechanical parts necesarry for a TCS system. When the ABS is doing it's thing, it shuts off pressure from the master cyl, dumps the pressure, and then reaplies pressure to the wheel from it's own accumulator and pump. That's all you need for TCS, a way for the brakes to be applied individually without you pushing the brake pedal. The only part that's needed is a secondary computer to run the ABS as a TCS and a switch to turn it off when you're not wheeling.

Were you saying that you were running the engine without the 1"dia hose that connects the IAC to the plastic intake that runs from the airbox to the throttle body? These engines run based on the MAF sensor, not a MAP sensor, so having any openings into the air ducting between the MAF sensor and the throttle body will totally screw things up. I know on my 2.5, the engine will start then imediately die if the IAC hose is off. You can keep it running if you try, but it isn't happy at all.

could you throw us a link to this diagram? It doesn't appear in the 1998 outback FSM I have, so i'd love to see it. Dual E-brakes is awesome, but I'd rather use the existing ABS systems which has the ability to brake each wheel individualy, not just the backs, and do it with split second reaction times.

How does the TCS in the 95 and 96 2wd legacy's work? I'm assuming it uses the abs, not a fuel cut. My mom isn't an idiot driver, she's been driving new england weather for more than 40 years. When she gets the car stuck is when she takes it off the road to get to trailheads and water sampling sites. The AWD does all it can, but it ends up with one front wheel and one rear wheel spinning, just like EVERY 4wd with open diffs does. It sucks, and an ABS based TCS system would make it a lot harder to get the car stuck.

The Dual range is 100% better than the pushbutton. I switched out my pushbutton for the d/r in my loyale. The lo-range gearing helps keep the engine in the power band sooo much better than the pushbutton. You can shift 4wd hi and lo on the fly, I do it all the time. Sometimes it's a little bit of a hard time getting the car back out of 4wd, but getting it in is no problem. As for the delay of moving your hand from one shifter to another, the vacuum operated system takes time to engage to, and it's failure rate is a lot higher than that of a lever. The D/R tranny has a rod running down the side to a small lever by where the dipstick is on the tranny. That's the easiest way to ID one. You'll need the lever, the linkage, and at a minimum the rubber boot that has 6 screws holding it to the floor. THe center console is nice, if you can get it.

TCS can make a huge difference to a 4wd car. Take a quick search on "dual handbrake" in the offroad section. That's the most basic form of traction control. What I need is a computer that hooks into the ABS to kick the brakes on on the two spinning wheels to try and break loose the non-spinning wheels. The 2wd legacy's used it, so there must be a system that was make to interface with the subaru ABS system. My mom has a penchant for getting her outback stuck, then coming home after digging it out and complaining that the AWD sucks. I had to point out to her that her taurus would have been buried way before the outback gets sunk, but I'd like to make it even harder to get the car stuck.

"Subaru's two-wheel drive 1995 Legacy Sedan, 1995 Legacy Station Wagon and 1996 Legacy Sedan may be equipped with the Subaru Traction Control System (TCS) as an option. Prior to dyno testing, the TCS switch on the dash must be placed in the "off" position after starting the engine." Would there be any way to put TCS on a 98 Outback with an auto and ABS? It seems like it should just be a piggyback controller on the ABS system.

How much "grease" ran out? That's what actually produces the drag when it heats up, so if their only coated in it, and not immersed in the viscous fluid, that diff wont work well.

Definitely have had a bunch of threads about this.... But with 30" mud tires on, SPFI, 97mph.

You got raped.

I replaced all the little dash lights that had blown out. I tossed the radio to my dad and had him solder new bulbs to the board to light the radio back up. Now all the origional illuminated buttons light up again. Way cool. Went out for a night drive. So much easier to use the dash controls when you can see what the frig your pushing. I'm going to get the rear hatch lock actuator out of the outback in the junkard. I'd like to wire it up with a pushbutton switch down by the fuel door release so that you could lock the back without going back and using the key, which is a PITA. With that and the rear wiper motor, I should be about satisfied with the option level on the car.

The owners manual says that flat towing the car w/ 4 wheels on the ground and an auto tranny is fine as long as you have the FWD fuse in, the ignition on or in acc. and the transmission in neutral. Don't tow farther than 30 miles, at under 20mph. Manual trannys can be towed all day as long as they're in neutral. Auto trannys can be towed with the front wheels in the air as long as the FWD fuse is in, AND the ignition is on.

I hope she has no kids, and I think it might be the other way around with the spouse abuse... She was yelling at her husband over the phone, and I could hear it outside and away from the house. Mabe she doesn't understand the state motto "live free or die"?

You can flush the power steering fluid out and put new in. It might be that the spool valve or the pump vanes are getting sticky, and new fluid could help.

cause trouble when you're busting through plowed snowbanks. I had been meaning to put a spare compressed tensioner with a pin in for just such an occasion, but I hadn't gotten around to it. It ended up screwing up my saturday afternoon. In NewHampshire, there are lots of Class 6 roads, which are public right of ways, and unmaintained. You can drive pretty much anything down them at any time and it's legal. I use lots of them for my offroading expeditions. People often plow the snow from their driveways or the town just stops plowing the real road when it turns Class 6, so there is always big snow piles at the ends of the roads that you have to bust through. I've been busting though these piles all winter, and untill now, I got lucky each time. This time, enough hard chunks got in to the t-belt that it skipped a bunch of teeth. The drivers side cam was off like 90 degrees, so the cam sensor and timing was way off, and the engine quit running. This is where things started to suck. Where the car died is at the corner of a new development, put in last spring. They had paved a 50 foot section of the class 6, and t'd a driveway off of it. I was all the way on the left side of the road, and the homeowner had plenty of space to pull into their driveway. I figured I could tear the car apart, get the timing straight, and drive it home fine. What I didn't count on was the woman who lived in the house off to the side being an A1 arsehole. The first tip I got was the burnout she did as she passed my car and pulled into her driveway. She threw her bag in the house and proceded to yell at me from her side door, telling me to get that "piece of sh*t out of her driveway" I told her I was working on it, and she said "I can't hear you, what, cant hear you!", so I walked over to her and told her that I was fixing it. I also explained that it was a public road and not her driveway. She told me that it had to be out before dark, I assured her it would be, and then she told me her husband would be home in three hours "to deal with me", then slammed the door in my face. I went back to work on the car, got the T-belt off, and worked on getting the timing marks lined up. She starts yelling at me from the door again, so I go over and talk with her some more. I have to put up with "you must be retaaded to think that that caa would make it over that, even a fkn 4wheel drive pickup couldn't make it over that" "Are you fkn stupid? You should stay to the paved roads." "that road is shtty, no one should drive down it, all the roads around here suck" "I just came up from massachussets, and we have the sense to stay on real roads." "you're a fkn moron for even trying to drive over that." It didn't matter what I said to her, it was like I hadn't said anything. She was a broken record of spiteful, mean, and arrogant BS. What was worse was the phone she kept waving around. When she was in the house, I could hear her yelling at her husband (poor guy) over the phone, and I was worried that she would call the cops. The cops couldn't ticket me for anything, but they could force me to call a tow truck ($$$$$ I don't have), so I had to be polite to her. I have never wanted to tell someone to fkoff more in my life, and had to smile and be polite instead. I explained that yelling at me wasn't going to get the car fixed any faster, so she slammed the door again, and I got back to work on the car. No matter what combo of vice grips, pliars, and scissor jacks I used, I couldn't compress that tensioner. I tried putting the belt on and then turning the engine by hand to force the belt onto a pully, I tried different combo's of removed idler pullies, nothing worked. So I called a friend in for a tow. He said he'd be over in 15 miniutes. Not more than a miniute after I called, the lady comes back out of the house. It's nowhere near dark, but she feels the need to yell at me telling me that POS has to be out of my sight by dark, it can't stay overnight. I told her that I had just called a friend for a tow, and they would be here in 15 minuites. She repeats that the car can't stay overnight, and that she's calling a tow truck. I told her, look, I just called my friends and there coming to tow me, don't worry about it. She gives me a blank stare, and repeats that my POS car can't stay there. again and again. I just walked back to my car and waited. 10 miniutes later, my friend shows up in his truck. I quietly explain the sitch to him, and we hook up the tow strap. He doesn't dare tow me home down the state highway (he's got some BAD stuff on his liscence), but he will tow me over the hill and to a safe house. We tow the car over, and I grab the tensioner and he takes me home. Him and another friend just about die laughing as I vent about the lady. I get home, eat dinner, compress and pin the tensioner, and head back in my mom's car. It's starting to get dim by now. I get everthing toghther, and try to start the car. No go. It's dark, I can't figure it out, so I head home, and me and my mom tow my car home on the backroads. I figured out what was wrong this morning, I had an extra paint mark on one of the cam pullies that I accidently used as a timing mark, so the cam was way off. Got it back straight, and it runs as good as it did before. I don't know if she was drunk, insane or just a bizch, but man that lady ruined my afternoon. Any normal person would have said it was fine to leave it there and get parts, it's at the end of a dead end street and out of the way, have a nice day. Sorry for the length, but it's just a story of how a wheeling trip can go bad worst case.

And coolant. Running an intank pump in a tank with less than a 1/4 full all the time will kill the pump. As for the older subarus, the pump will suck the fuel out of the tank, pressureise it, and the fuel will push the air through the regulator and back down the return line.

The best 6 lugs I've found so far are steelies off of a mitsubishi mighty max/ dodge d-50 minitruck. The 4x4 ones have a couple different versions, but they are made out of heavy steel, look nice, and the offset and width is perfect. I used to run chevy rims. Looked badass, but they stuck out a lot. Hard on wheelbearings, and easier to catch on rocks or stumps.

I've had people swear never to come out wheeling with me before. I scared the bejezus out of them in a beat run with an old F-250 that you had to use trees as turning points. I then convinced the guy to try offroading again, except in my subaru, and on a lot easier trails than I had taken the ford down that day. I let him drive, and talked him through maneuvering through the tougher parts and wheel placement, and now the guy likes wheeling. SO. Take your wife out on some easy trails, something a bit muddy or gravely, but no big rocks or stumps, and let her drive while you talk her through it. Dont yell unless serious body damage is about to happen. And if the passenger doesn't want to go somewhere, convince them first before going. Don't just go. It's a respect thing.

Replaced the combo switch with one out of a 1997 legacy. NOTE: the clockspring must match the steering wheel. My 1995 wheel was different than the 1997 wheel, so I had to swap the clockspring over to the other combo switch. Now the rear wiper relay clicks in the back and the sprayer motor works up front. I swapped in a dual pump resavaur. The wiper relay is mounted to the body inside the rear right quarter panel. I had heard you had to put it in when you installed a rear wiper, but when I got the whole interior apart to get to it, it was already there and hooked up. WTF. Oh well, only broke 1 stupid clip on the window trim and wasted 3/4 of an hour. Cruise control switch bolts right up to the 1995 steering wheel. You have to splice the +12 wire for the horn if you have horn buttons instead of a horn pad. Not a big deal, but have a connector and a crimper handy. Use a matt knife to cut a notch out of the trim piece on the steering wheel so that the cruise control stalk will poke through. The wiring is there for the brake and clutch switches. Leave the stock clutch switch plugged in and add in the other one where the pedal stop bolt was. The cruise control computer goes on the drivers side on MOST legacys. Unfortanately, the 1995 was a first year and not quite standardized model, so the connector is on the passengers side, behind the kickpanel. Took a while to find that one, and mounting the computer was a pain. Everything works great. Did you know that cruise can't be set under 30 mph, but resume works anywhere above 30mph? Set the cruise at 50, cancle, slow down to 20, and hit resume! Lots of fun.

There's your problem. The EA harness turns the pump off if it doesn't see that the distributor is rotating. Since you no longer have the signal from the disty, no power to the pump. I found splicing in under the back seat for the fuel pump wiring was the easiest.