pontoontodd

Drove about 90 miles to pick up this gem. 2005 Forester 5MT with 52 miles on it, they said it was out of a crash test car. Funny how much cleaner it is than the 2013. 4EAT stubs fit, seals in the trans are too big. I ordered some 30x35x13mm ground bearing races that I can hopefully press on the stubs to make it seal. One of the switches has the wiring cut, I have a few of those lying around. Impreza drove out there and back great, almost four hours round trip. Head gaskets seem to be holding.

Subarupartwholesale shows the same part number for the front diff side gears in the 2005 Forester 5MT and 2013 Impreza 5MT, so I think my 4EAT stubs should fit.

Did you get front wheel drive or four wheel drive SVX axles? Car-part lists them separately, there's a pair of 4WD SVX axles in town for $45 each. I know the early 90s Legacy FWD axles were bigger than the 4WD axles.

Noticed car-part lists tons of different axles for 2003 Impreza. I understand AT and MT are different, sounds like you're saying the sedan is wider than the wagon, so that explains the front. For the rear they're showing different left vs right and different for RS/TS/Outback/WRX (different for sedan and wagon)??? Are there really ten different rear axles?

I would really like to find a 5MT with less than 100k miles and 20 years on it. Must have 4.11 ring and pinion and VSS. A taller fifth than the stock 99 Outback (.87) would be nice too. The only thing I can find like that I can find is the 2004-2008 Forester. According to the FSM and subarupartwholesale, they had a VSS until 2008. In 2009 it shows a plug. I've seen pictures on car-part of a 2004 and 2005 with the VSS in the side. Car-part is showing the 2004, 2005, and 2006-08 do not interchange but I don't know why. According to the FSMs and cars101 the 04-08 Forester has about the same ratios as my 99 OB but a taller (.78) fifth. The pictures on car-part show plugs in the side, no CV axle stubs. The plugs look pretty big too, I'm assuming it's the same issue I ran into with the 2013 Impreza trans. It looks like those bigger seals can be replaced without unthreading the side caps, is that right? Couldn't find stubs on subarupartwholesale for 04-06 Forester in the front axle or front diff section. Anyone know if my 2002 4EAT stubs would fit? Again, worst case I turn up a couple sleeves in the meantime to make the seals work. There are a couple of 2005 Forester 5MTs with about 60k miles on them within 50 miles of my house for about $500. Anything else I should check?

My wife's been driving the 2001 OB H6 from Oregon for a couple days now and at most one night there were a few drops of oil or trans fluid under the car. Nothing this morning. So I probably got lucky and the head gaskets aren't leaking. It still needs a tie rod and rack boot and have to put the drip tray back under the front end but hopefully will be a reliable driver for a few years.

I replaced the valve cover gaskets, oil cooler gasket and hoses, resealed engine oil and auto trans pans, replaced engine and trans filters (three total), engine/trans/front diff oil, coolant, spark plugs, belt, idler pulleys, and air filter on my 2001 OB H6 a couple weeks ago. My wife's been driving it for a couple days now and at most one night there were a few drops of oil or trans fluid under the car. Nothing this morning. So I probably got lucky and the head gaskets aren't leaking. If you do all that at the same time it's not too bad, unbolt the exhaust from the engine, remove engine mount nuts, jack up the engine, then you can push it to one side or the other at a time. For the record I used MAHLEVS50489 from Rockauto. Would have just bought them from the dealer but it's expensive when you add up the valve cover and spark plug hole gaskets from Subaru.

I got a 2013 Impreza 5MT TY758V45AA. First thing I noticed is that the speed sensor hole is not machined. Some pictures of them I've seen online (now) have an allen plug, others are just not machined. Figured I could machine it or worst case use an old case half and adjust the side bearing. Checked the 4EAT spline stub and it fits the differential splines and bore nicely. The seal is much larger though, figure I could switch the seals or buy/make a sleeve. Case is not sitting flat in this picture. Finally got the case split open and there is no speedo gear cut on the 3/4 double gear. For what it's worth the gears measure the same width as the '99 5MT gears. Anyone want a 2013 Impreza 5MT with 39k miles on it? I really need to step up the 6MT/R180 conversion. Anyone with a good lead on that let me know, I see a bunch of them on NASIOC. In the short run there is a '99 5MT with 175k miles on it in town for $300 or one 70 miles away with 136k miles for $420 I will probably buy. Also still need to figure out the alternator voltage issue.

I will get one of those axles sometime to see. So I got a 2013 Impreza 5MT TY758V45AA. First thing I noticed is that the speed sensor hole is not machined. Some pictures of them I've seen online (now) have that allen plug you mention, others are just not machined. Figured I could machine it or worst case use an old case half and adjust the side bearing. Checked the 4EAT spline stub and it fits the differential splines and bore nicely. The seal is much larger though, figure I could switch the seals or buy/make a sleeve. Case is not sitting flat in this picture. Finally got the case split open and there is no speedo gear cut on the 3/4 double gear. For what it's worth the gears measure the same width as the '99 5MT gears. Anyone want a 2013 Impreza 5MT with 39k miles on it?

OK I'll just take a set, was wondering if it was some large size like 14 or 17. Still wondering if you know (or know where to find out) what axles might be longer than what I have. Have wider than stock control arms on the car and I have some old FWD Legacy axles that have more plunge than normal EJ axles, but if I could find a better source of long axles that would be good. Talked to a yard near here that has a 2016 with 19k miles, waiting to hear back to see if they can get it out of the car this week. Axles and trans for $650.

Could you tell me the allen / socket size so I can take it out at the yard? The 3-4 gearset part number for the '12 and '15 Impreza is the same and goes back to 2005 in Legacy/Outback turbo. The 2005 Legacy turbo just shows a plug and gasket (washer) for the speedo. This is the picture they have for that 3-4 gearset: argh!!!

Thanks for the shortcut. I would be nervous about something leaking and pumping all the oil out of the trans. Tried a different alternator this morning. Last year both of these alternators were putting out about 14V. Now they are both putting out about 12.5V. They're definitely doing something, without the engine running voltage is about 11.5V. Checked the three wire plug at the alternator again and the middle one is still 12V all the time (battery), another one is 12V with ignition on. What might be causing this? I've been getting a lot of help on the late model trans option in this thread: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/topic/166503-late-model-5mt-into-99-outback/ I will probably check one out today or tomorrow.

Did you go to subarupartwholesale.com? They should have breakdowns of all the parts you can zoom in on and find part numbers, pricing, etc. My 2002 OB had wind noise coming from the driver's side mirror. After trying a few other things I rolled down the window and squeezed on the seal the window slides up into as hard as I could. Rolled the window back up and now it's much quieter.

Those are some good pictures. Thought that's what I had seen on car-part but these are much clearer. What is the track width difference? Figure I could just put stubs in it and use my CV axles.

Thanks for checking input shaft, didn't consider clutch spline changing. Ya, fork, slave and release bearing look the same as the older 5MTs. Also checked online and yes, it looks like the 12+ Impreza 5MT just has a normal center diff. The 4EAT stub I checked is 25 teeth. It was out of a 2002. I could probably find the VIN but it would take a while. How easy are those plugs to remove? Any chance you can see in the hole to check that the shaft has that spiral cut on it?

Can you tell what the difference is between the 38415AA110 (2002-2004 Outback) and 38415AA070 (2000-2002 Outback)?

I might just get the front CV axles if they have them. Just to be clear you're talking about this shaft and gear right? I've got a few of those... Do you know if/when they went to the clutch pack for the center diff? Or what changed in 2014?

Thank you very much! Do you know if 4EAT stubs will work? I have a pair of those. Looks like the 04 STI 6MT stubs are $44 each on subarupartwholesale (38415AA110). My '99 axles should fit on those? I didn't see a VSS in the pictures of the '12+ transmissions. It looks like there is a hole in the side of the case, it's tempting to split the case and put in a sender. One of my '99 VSS senders should fit? The shaft in the newer trans still has the spiral gear to drive it?

Where were you doing this reading? There are a ton of these late model transmissions around, maybe I'll drive to the nearest yard with one and see if my 4EAT stubs plug in, if the driveshaft fits, etc. I can't imagine the transmission width is much different if at all. They look identical to the older 5MTs in pictures. Do you mean they switched from a viscous / bevel gear center diff to a clutch like the automatics? Do you know when? Could I just rig up a toggle switch to lock the center diff? Would it only drive the front wheels or all four unlocked? I think on at least one I saw the same plugs for neutral and reverse as mine (not that I really need those). Still wondering what if any difference there is in the speed sensor. I would be tempted to try one of the new six speeds too but they definitely have a different shifter.

I was thinking it would be great to get one with thousands of miles and a couple years on it rather than hundreds of thousands of miles and decades on it. I've broken at least four 5MTs in this car so far. Over the winter I plan on doing a 6MT/R180 swap but I'm hoping a nearly new 5MT will last this summer. I was wondering about the axles. I take it the earlier ('99) axle stubs wouldn't just plug into the newer ('12+) transmission? Worst case I could probably swap the front diff but then I have an old front diff and it's a lot more work. Other than the CV axles do you know if the driveshaft and speed sensor are the same on the '99 and '12+?

You could call it an adventure. Considering walking out of the woods and leaving your car at least twice in one day takes some of the fun out of it though. That last climb was definitely the longest steepest climb I've ever done. Not very rough but definitely needed low range the whole way. That said, I don't see why a minute of low range use should cause a problem. I know it's not getting any oil from gravity at a steep angle but there's a gallon of oil in the trans and there are already channels and holes directing oil off the ring gear to the low range. I didn't see where in that thread they were modifying the oiling but I have heard of people doing that. I have really tried to be easy on it in low range considering I've broken first and reverse without low range. I have never dropped the clutch with the H6 and 95% of the time I'm in low range is at half throttle. I just think the 5MT is inadequate for what I'm trying to do. As I was warned.

Food for thought: http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/newbie-general-4x4-discussion/1384538-using-traction-control-system-instead-lockers.html Thread degenerates pretty quickly as many do, but there are some interesting thoughts and ideas. Makes me think it would be pretty easy to rig up turning brakes if your ABS pump and valves are still working too, that would be cool.

According to Wikipedia the 2012+ non turbo 5MT also has a 4.11 final drive, similar first, and taller fifth gear. Cars101 also says 12+ Imprezas have these ratios. 12-16 Impreza manuals seem to be all over for $500-800 with under 30k miles (even under 3k!) on them. Is the shifter, clutch, speed sensor, bellhousing, trans mount, driveshaft, axles, etc the same as my 1999? The ones I have seen pictures of (12-16 Impreza) have no axle stubs, would I need 12-16 front CV axles and would those fit my front hubs? Not worried about ABS, that's long gone on my car. I have plenty of axle stubs for the older 5MTs and at least one pair for a 4EAT, would those work? Car-part.com shows 12/13 do not interchange with 14-16, what is the difference?

I need to replace the manual transmission in my 1999 Legacy Outback (again, long story). There are a few transmissions with under 100k miles on them a few states away for $600-700. According to Wikipedia the 2012+ non turbo 5MT also has a 4.11 final drive, similar first, and taller fifth gear which would be nice. Cars101 also says 12+ Imprezas have these ratios. 12-16 Impreza manuals seem to be all over for $500-800 with under 30k miles (even under 3k!) on them. Is the shifter, clutch, speed sensor, bellhousing, trans mount, driveshaft, axles, etc the same as my 1999? The ones I have seen pictures of (12-16 Impreza) have no axle stubs, would I need 12-16 front CV axles and would those fit my front hubs? Not worried about ABS, that's long gone on my car. I have plenty of axle stubs for the older 5MTs and at least one pair for a 4EAT, would those work? Car-part.com shows 12/13 do not interchange with 14-16, what is the difference?

A few guys from town I know went down to Kentucky to ride some off road parks. I decided to meet them down there with the 99 Outback. It was supposed to snow and rain all day Saturday so I knew they wouldn't be riding. Drove down to Kentucky, snow and rain from Indy down the rest of the way. On the Mountain Parkway there was an accident with a fire truck parked sideways blocking the road. Fortunately there was a u turn spot so I went back to the nearest exit. I took some back roads around the accident. Along the way I decided to hit some dirt roads. One quickly came to a long rough climb which I was able to do in high range. At the top was a big muddy rutted out area. The ground seemed firm but I decided this was a good time to turn around since I was by myself. Not long after that the radio shut off and the battery light came on. OBD showed 18V. Popped the hood and didn't see anything obvious, all fuses looked good. With the brights, AC, and defroster on the voltage would stay under 14 if I kept the RPMs fairly low (2500 I think). Drove that way to the Mine Made park campground. The next morning it was running 14-15V when I started it up. We talked to the owner for about an hour, he told us there were tons of trails and dirt roads all over the surrounding five counties if you knew where to go. They have 100 miles of marked trails. Couple guys drove their Polaris RZR XP 900, another rode his stock Honda Rincon. On the open trails the Rincon never went over 30mph so we had to keep waiting for him or just follow him. The Outback and RZR were pretty well matched for the high speed open sections. We drove through a few shallow rock stream crossings, at one point got to a deep river crossing with a blacktop highway on the other side. Found a bunch of dead ends, many of the main trails were on the GPS but a lot of the roads the GPS showed were gated. Fairly early on the voltage dropped just below 12V and the blower motor mostly stopped working. After a couple hours we got to the most difficult trails, which weren't too bad at first, just narrow. On one trail we were on for miles I kept hoping we didn't have to go back on it. I'm still surprised I didn't get any major body damage or lose any glass. Squeezed between lots of trees and rocks. These trails are mostly on ridge lines so there is no place to pull over or turn around. Which made us wonder how that works when two groups are going opposite ways. We were switchbacking up the side of a mountain on one of these and came to a tight greasy switchback and they both stopped for the turn. I had to stop fairly close to the turn which means I didn't have a good run at it and didn't make it up the turn. One rear tire slid over the edge of the trail. We spent at least an hour pulling, jacking, shoveling to get the car back on the trail. At one point the Outback was very close to sliding down the side of the mountain and taking the RZR with it. We did get it back on the trail though and went back the way we came. Got a flat tire slashing a sidewall on a rock. We headed down some easy trails/roads to a blacktop road and took that a few miles back to the campground. Checked some things on the car, tried to plug the tire, ate some food, and headed back out. I suggested just riding easy trails while I was there and they could try the hard stuff the next few days. We tried a few sections of the park and outside the park that weren't mapped. Then we tried going back to the dirt road we left the park on in the morning as the owner said there were lots of trails off of that. We went on a bunch of trails we hadn't been on but didn't make it back to that dirt road since we wanted to get back to the campground by dark. On the way back we went on some side trails. We were getting close to the campground and the guy driving the RZR decided to try a downhill side trail that was a little overgrown, which is usually a good sign it's a dead end. As soon as I started going down I thought it was a bad idea, the trail just kept getting steeper downhill. I should have tried backing up near the start but decided at that point to just go to the bottom and see where it went. Just went to a couple of short dead end trails. I was able to climb all the way back up in low range but it was an eighth to quarter mile long climb in low range the whole way. Then I couldn't shift it into high range. When we got back to the campground we tried hammering and prying on the trans lever and could not get it to shift into high range. Fortunately All Drive got back to me since it was the morning over there and said I shouldn't drive over 40kph in low range. I checked the wiring to the alternator again and it seemed good, one pin 12V all the time, another one 12V with ignition on, fuse wasn't blown. The next morning I drove to the nearest Uhaul dealer at a leisurely 40kph (that's about 25mph for you fractional types). While driving on the road it was a little over 12V. Loaded it up on a car trailer and towed it back to Illinois. Cost $700 plus about an extra $100 in gas compared to driving the Outback. Would have been about $500 from London or Lexington but that would have been hours of driving in low range. At this point I'm planning on just putting a stock trans in it. There's one with 70k miles in Nebraska for $700 and one with 136k miles in Chicago for $400. Doesn't sound like I can get the one in Nebraska by the end of the week and it would cost twice as much with shipping so I might just pick up the one in Chicago. Is there a newer trans I could put in it with a 4.11 ring and pinion with more overdrive in fifth? I think my Outback is .848 or something, the taller fifth that happened to be in that dual range was nice. Just not sure if I get something with the ratios I want that the speed sensor, etc will be the same as mine. Thinking if it's newer it will be easier to find one with low miles. I will rebuild the dual range even if just to sell it, but it just doesn't seem like it can take much abuse, which sort of defeats the point. And the other Subarus we usually trail ride with don't have dual range either. I really need to get a 6MT and R180 and make a lower first and second.