pontoontodd

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.

I've been thinking something like this for years. For what we're all talking about here, stopping a wheel that's off the ground while driving off pavement, the system could be fairly crude. We're not talking about stability control braking one wheel 5% going through a 70mph turn, if it pulls the car side to side a bit who cares. If you already have functional ABS I think you already have all the hardware on your car you'd need. Even something that keeps the wheel speeds within 50% of each other is going to be far superior to a human operator trying to pull handbrakes. And easier on axles than a welded diff. Has anyone tried just riding the brakes with one or more wheels in the air and see if the ABS already does something like this?

Thinking the weekend of 4/7 or 4/14.

It's only 5000 miles away, 15 hours of flying, not much longer than it takes for us to drive there. That is the longest rockiest climb we've ever done. The video really doesn't do it justice. The low range was very helpful. I'd like to get better video of that section when we go back. None of the other trails we were on were nearly that rocky.

1.23" 140#/in Interested in the traction control, always thought that would be a cool aftermarket kit, keep me informed. Usually we're going fast enough that it's not an issue but every once in a while you get two diagonal tires off the ground and then you're going nowhere.

It's nice to have working again, drove it for an hour or so on the tollway today and worked great. Not sure if I ever got back to you but the detent springs do seem to hold the transmission in gear much better, don't think it's popped out since I put those in and we've been on some rough trails.

Cruise has been shutting off every couple minutes lately. The light on the main switch goes out, cruise stops working, press button and it will stay on for another couple minutes. Often goes out when hitting a bump. This whole time I've been trying to think what would cause that. With the actuator unplugged, the cruise will still turn on and the light stays on, so it's probably not that or any of that wiring. The main button is just a momentary pushbutton to turn the system on, so if that was shorting it would turn the cruise on and off, not just off. I tried unplugging the VSS from the trans but wasn't able to. I was getting fed up with it last week, most of our trips to go off roading are thousands of miles so cruise is really nice to have. Ordered an aftermarket cruise control kit from Summit, figured it would take a while to get here and maybe I could fix the stock cruise system in the meantime. Ran a new wire from the fuse to the cruise control module (CCM) main power (green/black). That didn't help but while I was doing that I cleaned up the wiring a little bit. I started reading the instructions for the aftermarket cruise and realized that might not even work with some of the stock wiring and switches (brake/clutch/set/resume/cancel). Then I thought the other thing that might be causing it to shut off is losing ground. So I spliced in a new ground wire to a nearby screw. Test drove it for maybe 20 minutes last night and the cruise stayed on the whole time, so I think I've fixed it. My cousins told me that 90% of automotive problems are electrical and 90% of electrical problems are a bad ground, so 81% of all automotive problems are a bad ground. Exaggeration, but I should have tried that first.

Trying to plan a long weekend of off roading in northwest Arkansas sometime in April. Probably Friday-Monday but we're from northern IL so most of the trail riding would be Saturday and Sunday. Wandering around on forest roads and probably camping when it starts to get dark each night. Post up if you're interested in joining us. Video from a little trail riding we did down there a few weeks ago:

I like your VDC gifs, I don't think I've seen good videos showing that in action before. The cheap and easy way is to fill the holes with expanding foam and spray the outside with undercoating. That might make it rust faster but at least it won't fill up with mud. You really need to save up for a rust free Subaru, there must be some way to get something over there for a few grand that's still clean even if it has a lot of miles on it. I think that works out to about 12-15mpg for those of us still using the fractional system. That is definitely worse than you should be getting. I would expect 15-25mpg with your car depending on where and how you drive it. Have you tried simply unplugging the O2 sensor(s)? Sometimes that will actually make it run better, not sure about fuel economy. If it's better unplugged than plugged in you should probably replace it!

It's probably related to the engine swap. Cruise worked perfectly for the first eight months or so after the engine swap. Could be VSS or just power to the cruise being intermittent, wire came loose or shorted. Most of the cruise wiring is intact from the donor car harness from the TCU to the CCM to the actuator, not too much was spliced.

Cruise is still acting up. Will usually stay on for 5-10 minutes at first, then shorter periods of time as you drive. Often seems to shut off when you hit a bump. Sometimes after a while it will just not turn on, press the main button and the light doesn't come on. At that point you can turn off the ignition, restart the car, and the cruise still won't stay on. It's like the module is overheating or something. I've tried two different main buttons, two different cruise control modules, and two different cruise actuators and it does the same thing. Is there another relay for the cruise (aside from the ignition relay)? There is no indication of one in the factory service manual or on the Subaru parts website but I could have sworn I saw a drawing showing one under the dash not long ago. I could see it being a VSS signal issue but the speedo is always rock solid so I think the VSS itself is good. My next thoughts are running a wire from that at the speedo to the cruise module or wiring in a toggle switch to power the cruise module bypassing the main switch. Any thoughts on this would be appreciated. About ready to just buy an aftermarket cruise control for the darn thing.

Thanks for that info. I will double check on the white 2002 sometime soon. At least I know what rotor diameter should work now.

I tried fitting a 99 Outback 15" alloy wheel on the 2001 Outback and it did not clear the caliper. I looked on Rock Auto and they show the same caliper part numbers for 1999-2002 Outback with 2.5 H4 or 3.0 H6. There is a change in 10/2001 (2002 model year) in some brands. The rotor part number in 99/2000 is different than 2001/2002 though. So I guess I need to double check. Looked on Subaru dealer website and they show the same calipers and rotors for 2001 Outback 2.5 and 3.0. There are three different part numbers for the front calipers and rotors for 2002 (same 2.5 and 3.0). They all say they fit 15 and 16", one is the same as the 2001 part number. White Outback front bumper was like that when I bought it. It's going in the trash soon, plastic bumpers are a waste of time.