mcbrat

anyone done it? I'm fixing some stuff on the rear of Grizzly. brake pads, trailing arms, bearing... the axles are rusted onto the diff stubs (and the outsides as well) and are not budging yet... I've got them soaking with yeild right now though... it currently has an open diff... I'm thinking of just ripping the whole mess out since I'm putting in new trailing arms... and I've got more axles, and I've got 2 spare rear diffs at home. a welded one I ran for years in my Red Brat, and I got it used from WA... and the second one is a VLSD that's in pieces.... I've got newish MWE rear axles with Legacy cups (maybe). not sure exactly what combo they were, but they are longer travel, and maybe even a tad longer. I ran them on my Brat before without issue... I also have about 8-10 spare stub shafts for the welded one... My daily commute is about 30 miles each way... Am I gonna eat my tires up super fast if I use the welded diff? I'm not sure if I even have all the parts needed to get the VLSD back in service....

took these while doing some work on Grizz.... the frame rails are fine, but where the rockers were bent from offroading they rotted away... the entire passenger side is like a rocker flap. and here's the mounts I made and welded in so I could run the ea82 rear coilovers....

it's all in the eye of the beholder... a guy in my local club has an old FJ40... well, it started as one... it still has the FJ grill. that's about it... my friend Chris has a Jeep. Chevy TBI 305. GM TRans. 1 ton axles. but still hs TJ suspension and body... normally, i will be called whatver it looks like... (body). I still have an EA81 and a 5 spd/DR, but even if I swap ot to a non soob engine and trans, I'll still consider it a Subaru....

whether you make your own frame or use a "pre-built" one, it's still not subaru... any modified trail/rock rig you look at isn't going to be 100% of anything... my Brat uses a subframe welded/integrated into the soob frame rails, so I could get the lowest possible center of gravity... here's my build thread... http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=92202

I used this in a PM, and thought it might be a good sticky. Feel free to add pics. I will eventually take all the pictures and use them in a rehosted page... post pics and description of lift and tires only. other stuff WILL be deleted. 3" lift, pug 15" alloys, 205/65r15, just a slight roll at back of wheel well in front... same lift, with 195/70r14 tires. same lift, 205/70r14 tires on genuine subaru alloys... 3" lift, 14" pug steels, 27x8.50x14 BFG All-Terrains. slight trimming of rear of front wheel well... same vehicle with same size tires, but BFG Mud Terrain. same wagon with 225/70r14 ATs, and a different Brat with 4" lift, and the 27x8.50x14 BFG Mud-Terrains. same wagon, but with 4" lift, 27x9.50x15 Swamper SSRs on 15" chevy/toyota wheels (high offset). still haven't beat enough to stop rubbing.... Brat with 5" lift and 27x9.50x15 swampers on same wheels as above.... lots of trimming/bashing, and tied down in pic.... same Brat with complete customs suspension, toyota axles, lots of trimming, and 315/70R17 (35") all-terrains. Comparison to Blue Brat from above...

if you go too wide a stance, you will have a lot more beating/cutting to do.... on my 82 wagon, I had 27x8.50x14 BFG mud terrains on pug steels, and with a 3 inch lift, I barely had any beating/cutting to do... I now have a 4" lift on the same wagon, and 27x9.50x15 swampers on aftermarket 6 lug wheels with a RWD offset, and I've cut and pounded, and the wheels still rub at full lock... wheels are 15x7 with 3.5" or 3.75" backspacing...

see above.

to level the front, you'll need to do a full 2" lift for all the front components...(engine crossmember, struts, steering linkage, radius rod/transcrossmember blocks. just adding lift on the struts is the same thing you tried with the adjustments, and you saw the resulting camber....

My 2009 Forester XT came standard with 17" wheels... and 225/55R17 tires, so you should be fine... though they will be a tad shorter, 1.7" less diameter, so you'll lose 3/4" of ground clearance....

Put my '86 Brat away for the winter...

getting that roll bar?

I saw good "butt-dyno" gains from adding a MSD-6A ignition and the Excel SuperCoil (square blockstyle)...

very nice....

I just went through the same thing on my Brat. it would knock really bad on the gas, but not if I let up... it would change when I turned the wheel early on, but as it got worse, it didn't matter... I was dead sure it was the right axle from the "feel" (read: overconfident) and I was already in progress of taking out the right axle, when I went to remove the roll pin from the inner joint, I noticed my left axle was missing the boot entirely... I buttoned back up the right side, and replaced the left axle, and it's all good now.....

http://www.indysworld.com/80s/brats/cbrat/cbrat.html

4 spokes are at my house now

I occasionally see NOS ones show up on ebay for $10-15... never hurts to stock up on them

2003 Honda Foreman Rubicon 500 Dual Range, Hondamatic (Auto or ESP shifting) almost new tires. I got it with a plow, so it will have snow duty this winter, replacing my riding lawn mower/blade... it also has heated handgrips... I got a smokin' deal on it too... with the added benefit that I can drive it down in my backyard too.... I can't fit a soob back in there yet....

it's about time you actually use those

Let's see... been a while... Loaded up a bunch of lumber in my 86 BRat... Towed a trailer with my Forester... 9 mp with bad wind. But still only 10-11 mpg with normal winds... the trailer weights 1300 lbs empty, ATV is 600 lbs, plus an EA81 fully loaded, and an engine hoist... Parted out an '84 wagon for the above mentioned EA81 and these...

I want to get these.... so I'll just keep using my ATs until then

I could get them cheaper if I was using 15" wheels... I need 35x12.50x17 ...

stick to the original question as asked. there's plenty of threads in the retrofitting forum discussing the merit of EJ swaps and engines of choice for said swaps.

or if you don't like the offset on the sports , I will be bringing a set of 4 spoke alloys home the first weeknd of Nov. (as seen here... http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=109229)