LeolaPA

Thanks guys

OK, today was the day. I got the part and it was the exact part that was ordered, and it was Subaru genuine. Also the top solenoid came in from Rockauto, plus I bought some hardware and hose. I don't remember if we discussed putting in one end or the other first, but I first tried to put the tank end into the rubber hose, and found that I had to scrape undercoating off to get the outside end in place. With some mallet help, I got that out, and then the hose end popped out! So I went back and did it reverse order. I was worried about getting the pipe end into the hose but the hose was soft enough and I did use the WD40 trick, so it went in OK. The middle bracket that mounts to the inner fender was something I had to work around. I did get it in place and got everything back together. It took much more time and was much more of a hassle than I expected, but I got it done. I had ordered a new hose to connect to the tank, but I found out from the today that the rear differential has to be dropped to get the tank out, and I didn't see any way to get to that hose clamp, so I didn't use the hose I bought. The reason the pipe is black is because I painted it with Rustoleum before installing it. I figured it would help this one last until the car is end of life anyway. You can see my side by side photo.... Thanks for all the help and good advice.

I almost never buy anything with a generic photo.

Ebay sellers are sometimes people just like me who sell a few things that they have laying around, and then there are big businesses. I like to buy from ordinary people if possible. You can tell by their feedback if they are somebody to avoid. The biggest problem I have with that is poor packing. Bought a set of gage pins this year and they packed it with no padding and the box was bent. I have bought 2 side mirrors for the Subaru from junk yards through Ebay this year. Both were good, and saved me time slogging around in mud. I know that there is a lot of fake stuff. If you buy batteries for cell phones or UPS units there are lots of fake ones. I'm not sure there is such a thing as a genuine cell phone battery. The worst dealers I ran into were book sellers when I was trying to buy textbooks for my daughter. You can't contact them, and you have no idea where they even are. I think I'm OK with this pipe but will see in a day or two. Got 2 parts from Rockauto and a couple parts are coming from the Subaru dealer. Lots of time to do this job.

I checked by year and model, but just to be responsive to this question I checked by VIN today and it's the right one. 42066AC150

When I took the plastic cover off, a couple pounds of gravel fell out. So no doubt that contributed to how this rusted out. Heartless, good thought about the scratches on the sticker, etc. I bought the solenoid but I'm a bit puzzled by that name. I think of a solenoid as electrically operated and I don't see that this has any electrical power going to it. I wonder if this is just a mechanical valve that opens or closes when the gas nozzle enters? I guess I will see better when my part arrives. By the way, there is an absolutely beautiful filler neck with all the parts (used) on Ebay for a Forrester. Too bad it didn't fit my application.

IdoSubaru and Heartless attached is a picture I took yesterday. Not sure how we've been getting gas into this car. Also you see the urethane caulk I put in there last year to hold the whole thing together. What a mess I made. But there was no time that day to fix the problem. Heartless attached is a screen shot of the part I ordered. I've done about 1,000 transactions on Ebay, so I'm pretty sure I'm OK with this. I DID order a solenoid and a new hose from this neck to the tank on Rockauto today. I did not know what the rusty box in the photo was, but apparently it is a SOLENOID and I'm sure ours is totally useless, so I ordered that. This job is sure complicated.... I likely will be getting parts by the weekend.

Thanks. I got the car home yesterday and took the plastic cover off today. The part looks to be the one that ends in 150, so I just ordered an OEM one that was on Ebay for about $63 plus tax. These days if you look at something on Ebay, likely you might get an offer in a day or two, and that's what happened on this. The filler pipe was half gone a couple inches below the little flap for maybe 5 inches. So I guess the filler nozzle was long enough that the gas was getting into the pipe beyond that hole. Numbchux it looks from diagrams that I will need the gasket. Not sure what else. There's a part bolted on up near the top that 2 hoses attach to . Not sure of the purpose but I'm hoping the part the hoses attach to is still OK.

Thanks. Rubber sticking to rusty metal can be an amazing bond.

I have one in my watch list on Ebay 42066AC150. I still didn't see the car yet to look at the area. Since my daughter uses the car, I was hoping to have her mechanic replace it, but having to take the cover off is half the work of doing the job myself. May see her next weekend. I'll poke around and see what I can see. Do you people buy the big hose at the end from Subaru, or use something generic?

Thanks to all who responded to my post. My daughter drives this car, and she is an hour from where I live, but the next time she's here I'll take the plastic cover off to see exactly what is going on in there. On this car the tube is rusted at the top so it is loose right up in the filler area. I had used some urethane calking to try to temporarily hold it together a while back. I'm hoping that the metal the tube attaches to is not rusted out, so that I can bolt in the new one. The car, by the way is a 99 Legacy 30th Anniversary model with 2.2. It's not an Outback. The parts sites spec that the one I need is the one that the part number ends in 150.

Our 99 Legacy wagon needs a new gas filler tube. The original Subaru part comes with just that main filler tube and nothing else. Some of the aftermarket ones come with one or more small tubes attached to the side. My inclination is to buy the OEM one. If I do that, is it likely that I will need to buy other stuff also? Maybe stuff up at the top also? I'd appreciate any comments from people who have actually done this job.

OK, well I removed the axle yesterday, and I just gave it a jerk, and it came right out. I didn't need to pry. Those roll pins are so hard to get to on the passenger's side, I just went ahead and this worked fine. I believe in later years the stub that goes into the transmission is actually part of the axle, so that's what you have to do on those models. No fluid leaked out with the axle out.

I don't know if this will work, but here is a link to a video where they pulled the shaft out. If the link is no good, it is on Youtube, and it is Keith and Kevin's repair and restorations and the video is called How to replace a CV Joint in a 1996 Subaru Legacy AWD Auto Part 2 Stub Shaft / CV Joint Install

A couple years ago I replaced a front axle on one of my old Subarus, and I found that I could just pry the axle with the stubby shaft on the inboard side and get it out without having to mess with the roll pin while under the car. I changed the stub shaft to the new axle and popped it back in. HOWEVER....all the videos I see online, nobody does that. They all punch out the roll pin while under the car, and leave the stub axle in the transmission. Is there any harm to doing it by popping it out? Seems like there was a spring ring that held it in..... I'm doing another one this weekend, and I'm more cautious because it is my daughter's car.... Thanks for any comments.

When I asked about this I already had the new seal and inner bearing on the hub, so I was obliged to do it that way or throw away a $60 bearing. I used a Ebay hub tool and also used an old inner race pushing on the inner side inner bearing, and pushed the outer assembly together. After I got the tool off the assembly, I turned the hub it it was difficult to turn. I had to lever the seal in, so I got a screwdriver and did that, and the force of levering between the hub and the seal loosened up the turning a little. I then put the slide hammer back on the hub and gave it one or two whacks, and that made it so the hub turned smoothly. I don't think I would want to do it this way again. I could have broken the tone wheel if the screwdriver had slipped. So, anyway this did not take care of my noise. I still have a noise when I am going at 30 or 40 mph and let off the gas to coast. I don't know what it is now. Maybe driveshaft is the next thing to check? I don't know. Pretty frustrating...

They say that the fit of the outer seal is not as tight as some of the others and that it can go in that way....in other words, the seal can be pushed in with screw drivers after it's all together. They say there is less tendency to damage the outer rollers, since that cone is pressed on using the steel race and not the rollers. if you press the hub through both cones, the outer cone bearings have to take all the force as the hub is going through the outer part.

Thanks to everybody for the comments!

I bought NTN bearings from the Subaru dealer. They were greased, not just oiled. By the way, I looked at a bunch of videos on Youtube, and one guy recommended putting the bearing race onto the hub (outer seal, then the race) with a press and putting the outer race into the hub, then pulling them together. What is your feeling on that?

I'm just coming into this issue now and didn't know that.

I was talking to a local Subaru repair shop the other day about installing a wheel bearing in the rear of our 95 Legacy wagon. I bought a bearing from the local Subaru dealer, and it came with grease. The local guy says that that grease is not good, and I should repack it before installing it with high pressure grease. He claims that grease is just to keep it from corrosion. That seems hard to believe for me. I would think that a new bearing would come ready to install, and that the grease would be the proper type. Are there any Subaru techs that work for dealers who can give their opinion on this? Thanks!

Yes, except that we did it the correct direction the second time. We just pushed on the wrong area. We pushed on what we thought was the outer race of the bearing, but it wasn't. It was the little step in the casting that stops the bearing when you push it in.

OK, well another update. The press should push on the CENTER race. There is NO WAY to push on the outer race. There is a shoulder inside the knuckle that the outer race butts against. Believe it or not, I got a second one, and we destroyed the shoulder thinking we were pushing on the outer race! I was thinking that I could still use the knuckle, but then I realized that I would not be able to torque the big axle nut properly. It would just push the bearing back. So I'm back to looking for a 3rd one....

Updating the story: I found that the 23 piece tool for removing the bearing did not work. First of all, the disk that was closest to the bearing diameter was 64mm, but 65mm would have been better. The disk got off center and sheared the bearing a little but did not push it out. I ended up removing the entire knuckle. I turned a bigger cylinder of aluminum on a lathe to push out the bearing, and tried on my neighbor's 12 ton press, but that did not move it either. I went to a machine shop and the guy turned me a steel cylinder to push on it, but I wasn't paying attention when he put it in the press, and it got put in backwards. The press destroyed the knuckle. So now I need to buy another knuckle to continue......

Here's the video where the bolt is severely rusted: