The Beast I Drive Posted November 16, 2009 Share Posted November 16, 2009 Just thought I would post this, for future reference. Most of use know that EA81 front axles dont handle high angles well. 2" suspension lifts are pretty much out of the question, as axles tend to disentigrate at rapid rates wuth any kind of off-road abuse. Well, I figured I would just do 1" of extra lift on my Brat, so I made a 3" kit with 2" engine crossmember blocks and 3" strut blocks. It worked great, until I took it off-road. It did fine off-road, but I must have over-extended the DOJ and popped the clip. Well, at a stop sign, the axle fell out of the DOJ cup. There were BRAND NEW EMPI axles, so Im a little dissapointed, I cant take them back under warranty becasue they over-extended due to non-factory modifications to the suspension. Anyway, from my experience, I would not advise any kind of suspension lift on a EA81 car other than cranking up the adjuster bolts. It works, but you will eat axles. Thanks -Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don_Quixpunch Posted November 16, 2009 Share Posted November 16, 2009 What about modifying the car to take different halfshafts? Once I find myself a job, I really want to give my 81 Brat a couple inches of lift along with a 5 speed d/r and eventually, an EJ. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheSubaruJunkie Posted November 16, 2009 Share Posted November 16, 2009 If you can find us some better CV's to use, you will be a hero to many! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uberoo Posted November 16, 2009 Share Posted November 16, 2009 why not adapt EA82 DOJ's and CV's? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheSubaruJunkie Posted November 16, 2009 Share Posted November 16, 2009 Sure... do it and let us know how well it works out for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bheinen74 Posted November 16, 2009 Share Posted November 16, 2009 interesting read. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don_Quixpunch Posted November 16, 2009 Share Posted November 16, 2009 Blah! Half the fun of being on the board is that other people have figured out most of what I wanna do already. Guess it will be up to me to find better halfshafts then. Don't hold your breath, right now the job hunt is a much higher priority. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yo'J Posted November 16, 2009 Share Posted November 16, 2009 Hmmm, my 2" lift is even all across and the axles just seem to be weak. The only part of the car that is in its stock location is the shifter. What would make that weaken the axles besides the extra tire size. Isn't it possible to take the ea82 inner cup, bearings and race and attach them to a ea81 halfshaft? Remember the only new axle is a factory one and all the others are remans even empi. My new empi drivers axle clicks like hell but only in odd spots on my turn radius. My new junk yard one clicks worse in different spots and neither click all the time. ????? I looked at the remanns after cleaning and the race and balls are much lower quality than factory. After killing one good at reiters I found chips all over the race on the cup side when I blew the cv side in half. I won't go unless I carry 2 now. One to break on the trail and one to break getting off the trail. IMHO....they are all bad except factory, new never used, (like I'm gonna buy that) be careful. Oh, try looking at a reman on the counter and grab the inner or outer in one hand and shaft in the other and twist, like driving force, back and forth hard. If you get ANY play the bearing is in a worn cup or race, its blown already. I hope you get lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Beast I Drive Posted November 16, 2009 Author Share Posted November 16, 2009 Im planning on looking at the EA81 and EA82 front DOJ cups I have laying around, if the EA82 cups are longer, then I will try to find a conversion race to attach them to the EA81 axles, but if they are the same length then there would be no point in swapping them, as my problem is overextending the DOJ's. The CV's held up fine this time... What I plan to do for now is swap EA82 parts in the frontend, basically widening the track by about 3 inches, which will take some of the extreme angle out of the axles. I know EA82 axles can handle the 2" suspension lifts. Basically Im going to swap in custom plated lower A-arms, EA82 knuckles, EA82 axles, EA82 brakes and EA82 front struts, Ill just make custom lift blocks to go from the 2 bolt strut top to the 3 bolt. All this is really temporary anyway, but I want to drive/wheel the thing for a while until Im ready to build the custom suspension along with the T-case. -Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott in Bellingham Posted November 17, 2009 Share Posted November 17, 2009 this is what Ive found EA81 keep stock geometry , so if you want a 4" lift go 4" on everything EA82 2" over stock on front Axles OK and 1" over stock on rear axles OK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Beast I Drive Posted November 17, 2009 Author Share Posted November 17, 2009 this is what Ive found EA81 keep stock geometry , so if you want a 4" lift go 4" on everything EA82 2" over stock on front Axles OK and 1" over stock on rear axles OK Ive found that the rears on the EA82's can handle 2" over stock better than the fronts. The fronts run better at 1" over stock, but they do just fine at 2" over too. Ive been running the rears on the Beast at 2" over stock for 3 years and Ive never blown an axle. Ive torn the boots off the originals, but never broke one in any way. -Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheLoyale Posted November 17, 2009 Share Posted November 17, 2009 Hmm good reading, I've read every post on this. Thanks guys -Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Scooby Posted November 17, 2009 Share Posted November 17, 2009 ya im fine on the back with my EA82 with the SJR lift on the rear shocks but thats it. (2inch by the way) and more then a few have seen what i did with it at the evans creek meet. ive only broke one rear axel and that was me wippin doughnuts in a field and went from left to right while on power and it cracks the cage so it would vibrate, that was it. still drove with it like that for almost a week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chazmataz Posted November 17, 2009 Share Posted November 17, 2009 i think what you might be after is the actual axle shaft it self being longer on the ea82 not so much the doj. the doj might be different as far as the spline count for the trans stub axle. if anything i would compare the shafts themselves and i think this would go for the rear also. as far as new axles goes, we buy new axles from a warehouse here in portland called fast undercar. they don't sell remans anymore and the new ones are about the same price as remans, atleast at a shops cost anyway and i do know they have a warehouse in seattle. i'll see if we still have both ea81 and ea82 axle in stock at work and compare the shafts. i use to make sure we stocked them as i was going through them, atleast the front ea82's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Beast I Drive Posted November 17, 2009 Author Share Posted November 17, 2009 I know for a fact the EA82 axles are much longer than the EA81 axles, both front and rear, which is part of why you can do a 2" suspension lift on an EA82 car (longer axles = less angle at the CV and DOJ). The rear axles on EA82's also have longer and stronger DOJ cups, which is why anyone who wants to wheel a Brat with a stock rear setup and a welded diff needs to build Hybrid axles (EA81 rear axles shafts with EA82 rear DOJ cups) or the stockers shatter like glass. The problem with trying to use EA82 axles on a EA81 car without modigying the suspension is that EA82 axles are too long. The track width of the EA81 is like 2 or 3" narrower than the EA82, making the axles at least 1" too long. This would be fine for full suspension droop, BUT under full compression, the axles will bottom out in the cups, and you get binding, grinding, and limited flex from the suspension. EA81 tranny stubs and N/A EA82 trans stubs are the same size and splines (23 splines) But I believe the axles may be different splines where they go into the race, I know there is a problem like that for converting EA81 axles to work with an RX trans that requires a conversion race, but cups for EA82 Turbo axles are different than regular ones (25 spline, also larger) In order to run EA81 axles reliably for the forseeable future on a car with 1" over stock lift on the front, longer DOJ cups are needed. So, first thing to measure is the length of the EA82 front DOJ's. If they are say 1/4"-1/2" longer, then the next step is to take measurements inside the cup, to deterimine if the EA81 ball and cage set will fit properly. If it doesnt match, then the next step is to see if the diameter and splines on the EA81 axle shaft match the EA82 axle shaft. If they do, then just pop on the race/cage and balls from the EA82 shaft. If they dont, then a conversion race would need to be sourced. Now, to go with, say, 2" if suspension lift, you would need even longer cups, longer than anything you will find on a Subaru, but you would also need high-angle CV joints (I keep hearing Porsche 930 CV's will do that) THEN figure out how to attach the non-Subaru parts to the Subaru axle. One other thought is dual Porsche 930 CV's with a slip-yoke shaft, then you couls run 3-4" of suspension lift as long as nothing on the engine crossmember or control arm will get in the way of the axle under full flex. -Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcbrat Posted November 17, 2009 Share Posted November 17, 2009 Just thought I would post this, for future reference. Most of use know that EA81 front axles dont handle high angles well. 2" suspension lifts are pretty much out of the question, as axles tend to disentigrate at rapid rates wuth any kind of off-road abuse. Well, I figured I would just do 1" of extra lift on my Brat, so I made a 3" kit with 2" engine crossmember blocks and 3" strut blocks. It worked great, until I took it off-road. It did fine off-road, but I must have over-extended the DOJ and popped the clip. Well, at a stop sign, the axle fell out of the DOJ cup. There were BRAND NEW EMPI axles, so Im a little dissapointed, I cant take them back under warranty becasue they over-extended due to non-factory modifications to the suspension. Anyway, from my experience, I would not advise any kind of suspension lift on a EA81 car other than cranking up the adjuster bolts. It works, but you will eat axles. Thanks -Bill if you go the opposite way, the axles last a lot longer... On my red Brat, prior to it's current build, I had 5" engine crossmember blocks, 4" strut blocks, 3.5" radius rod blocks, RX front springs and the adjusters up... I still went through axles, but not nearly as quickly.... as far as other axles, one thing I always wanted to look into but never had the time, was long side drive axles off a Dodge Caravan... just ecause on a couple of occasions, my soob axleshafts came with Caravan instructions... maybe just a coincidence, but if the splines were the same, it could open up potential for knuckles, etc.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbbvw Posted November 20, 2009 Share Posted November 20, 2009 What I plan to do for now is swap EA82 parts in the frontend, basically widening the track by about 3 inches, which will take some of the extreme angle out of the axles. I know EA82 axles can handle the 2" suspension lifts. Basically Im going to swap in custom plated lower A-arms, EA82 knuckles, EA82 axles, EA82 brakes and EA82 front struts, Ill just make custom lift blocks to go from the 2 bolt strut top to the 3 bolt. -Bill This is what I did on the front of my '81 wagen with 4" lift all around. I extended the radius rods 2", the inner tie rods 1" and used ea82 outer tie rods to make everything work. I'm currently running ea81 struts, but have thought about going ea82 or something with more travel. When I mocked up the front strut with no spring with front suspension fully compressed the DOJ was just bottomed out. So I'm sure 1-2" more lift wouldn't hurt it. The ea82 axles do seem to last longer if they're not allready worn out. This setup really helped tire clearance with my 27-9.50 SSRs after trimming about 3" off the front of the fender, but nothing off the rear. Notice my camber angle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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