tdodge41

Nope, these axles were brand new EMPI axles from Rock Auto. Makes me real glad I saved one of my old ones. They had ripped boots, but the joints were fine on em. Might just reboot the old ones and return the new one I bought. Does anyone have any experience warrenty-ing things from rock auto, or EMPI?

The ones that I did were from rockauto, EMPI axles. Both were brand new. And it looks like EMPI axles have a 12 month warranty, so thats good. Does anyone have any experience on trying to return something to EMPI or something that you bought through rockauto?

Been doing work recently, just not too much I have taken the time to write about. Have heard a funny knocking noise while accelerating in 1st and 2nd ever since I did my axle swap on the passenger side. Changed the wheel bearing this past weekend, and it didnt seem to help at all. I am thinking I am going to throw my old axle on there and see if rockauto sold me a bad one. Have shocks and new inner/outter tie rods to figure out how to do sometime soon here. Oh, and also, thanks to TomRhere, I have THIS trim piece: It really brings the brat together. Going out to the car show tomorrow night, will try and get it nice and cleaned up and a picture taken with those new wheels on as well.

Thanks all. Did the front wheel bearing successfully in about an hour and a half, minus an impact. Noise is still there though. This noise started when I did the first axle swap. Might throw the old axle in there, or a gently used one, and see if the noise is still there. If so, then I have a nice message I will be sending to rockauto trying to find some warranty information.

No, the more wordy the better. I am very new to working on cars, so the more explanation I can get, the better. I need to figure out what size axle nut I have and get a socket for that, and a set screw shaft collar that will fit my bearings. And apparently some bearing grease, because everywhere I have read says to make sure and pack bearings tight with bearing grease. Heading to quality farm and fleet after work to get this done. Any idea the estimated time this should take?

What should the axle be torqued to?

I guess what I am not seeing is where they need to be seated... the illustration I see just shows a oil seal, inner bearing, spacer, outter bearing, and seal. Does it seat into the axle?

So I am getting ready to change the passenger side front wheel bearing on my 85 Brat. In addition to the tools I used to change the axles, is there something else I might need? My haynes manual says I need a shop to take care of it for me by using a hydraulic press. That would be a bummer, it was really something I was hoping I could do from home. Any thoughts here?

Very cool. She has no idea how lucky she really is. Took me till I was 26 to drive one of those cars.

Oh man, yea we are going through 13 in tires like you wouldn't believe. And these wheels look amazing. For real. Like... maybe the best work mechanical_misfit has ever done. Powder coating is really the best way to go for any of that stuff. I am going to try and finish up some front end stuff (already did axles, now inner and outter rods, and a wheel bearing) and then just enjoy driving it for a month or so before I tackle more work.

I would be interested in this too. I am currently getting ready to replace the passenger side bearing on my 85 Brat. And you're right, grease IS the worst.

The person selling this ride had it on the forum for sale, glad an enthusiast got to it. For the price it was the coolest ride I have seen around here in a while. Glad it got into your hands. Take 100s of pictures of it for us.

So we did this today. Brand spankin new powder coating on some 1986 wagon wheels. Running 185/80/13. Big tires. Awesome rims. Could not be happier.

I would have thought it was from when the tape deck was put in, but the speakers were cutting out long before I ever even took the radio apart. I think whats going to end up happening is I am going to run new wire and really just take everything apart this coming weekend.

The problem was happening when I only had the four stock speakers going. Now I also have two rear boxes hooked up and the problem still persists. I have an EA stock radio in there. The original speakers (I assume) were using original wiring. The new ones, well the wires were already there when I bought the brat. Don't know how they are wired in. Audio work isn't really my specialty.

So just by one bad connection between one speaker, even though there are three on the right side (dash, door, and box behind seat), it would cause all of them to cut out?

The radio in my 85 Brat cuts in and out on the D/S only, seems when I either hit a bump or shift funny it will cut out. Then if I turn the radio on and off, it will come back sometimes. I don't know if I have a broken radio, or there is a short somewhere in one of my wires. The Brat is wired to have two pioneer boxes behind the seats, but this was doing it before I added those speakers. I was thinking maybe if I took the radio apart and just used some contact cleaner that might work too. Any ideas would be wonderful.

Yesterday we changed the two front axles. Now there is a little bit of knocking in the front end when turning and going low speeds. Going to take a closer look later today and see if maybe I forgot to tighten something up, or maybe over tightened something. Who knows, it was my first time, so I am sure there is a myriad of things I could have done wrong. Also gave it an oil change and topped off all the fluids. Also put some tires on the front end. Did 150/70/13 seeing that it is impossible to find a size I actually need, which is 185/70/13. Probably going to try and have these get me through summer and buy a new set in the fall. I have some back and forth in my wheel now though which wasn't there before the change. So now I am real lost on what the problem is. Oh well. Back to the drawing board.

@Rodeo4jake Yea I think thats what we are going to do. Get some of the rustoleum. Also going to get a white paint marker and do the subaru badges up real nice.

Its amazing with these cars what something as simple as a paint job will do for them. I really do love seeing it shine! Good luck on the leak.

Question: If I don't currently have the capitol to invest in new stripes, what is the best thing to go over the old stripes with to get them to have some color again, and stay with that color? Permanent marker? Spray paint? Auto paint? Huh?

Bendecker: Yea, they fit on real easy. There was a bigger ring piece that was also supposed to be on there, but I did not have clearance for. But yea, both cranks just snapped right on. Will forever be contemplating those seats that were in it as well. REAL comfy to sit in, nice high racer back.

Also, took it on its maiden offroad voyage to the Muskegon River. For those of you not from Michigan, its a river by Muskegon. Real nice one too.

Haven't done much to the Brat at this point. Still looking for a good way to get a pic of the exhaust. Kept the Y pipe in there and ran a pipe out the back with two chambers on it. Sounds real quiet now, which is kinda nice, considering I have gotten fix it tickets for quieter vehicles. Then a day later or so went to the junkyard to try and find some matching window cranks. Couldn't find something from a Brat, but I did find a matching set of these beauties: Which we managed to pull off this: It's possible I might be going back for the seats again this coming week. Next on the list is to install some of the EMPI axles I just got in the mail and figuring out the issue of replacing the fuel tank. Any suggestions on that would be amazing. I have heard of using universal tanks but those look like a pain in the rump roast. Are these repairable? And what other kind of old subaru tank would work. Do I need specifically a Brat tank, or would something else work?

TDF rode great on the two tracks. Was a total blast. Cant wait to get back to some wrenchin'.