4WD or 2WD?

[travis1990]

I have an 86 GL wagon, 4WD that has a bad transmission. I've looked on Ebay and the only ones I could find are 2WD. So heres my questions:

 

1 Can I take the transfer case off the 4WD transmission and put it on the 2WD transmission? If not...

 

2 Could I convert the 4WD to 2WD?

[GeneralDisorder]

5 speed or Automatic?

 

1. Generally, No.

 

2. Yes

 

GD

[travis1990]

It's automatic, I forgot to mention that.

 

What do you mean by "generally no"? Can you be specific.

[TheSubaruJunkie]

There is no transfercase to swap. You will need to swap transmissions.

 

You will also need to swap all the stuff in the rear, including gas tank.

[WoodsWagon]

The 86 would have a 3at, which was a sucky automatic to start with. Swapping it to a 5spd isn't that hard and makes a big improvement in the car, but you will have to swap the rear differential to match.

 

I have a 4x4 3at that worked great (I've got video of me smoking the rf tire off and having it shift 2nd, then 3rd, then back to 2nd while burning the tire down.) Course I was pulled up against a tree and had the tire on a steel plate. But still, good working tranny. Free if you want to pick it up, more if you need it shipped somehow.

 

Anyway, what symptoms of a bad tranny do you have? There's common, and sometimes easily fixed problems with them.

[idosubaru]

yes you can convert from a 4WD to a 2WD trans, unless i'm missing something you don't need to do anything to do that swap like mentioned above.

 

i did it to my current daily driver legacy in my sig. remove 4WD trans, install 2WD trans, nothing to it. it was easy even on my TCU controlled trans, your non-TCU trans should be a straight swap.

 

just remove the driveshaft to the rear. leave the rear diff, axles, and hubs. or you can remove those if you'd like.

[travis1990]

The 86 would have a 3at, which was a sucky automatic to start with. Swapping it to a 5spd isn't that hard and makes a big improvement in the car, but you will have to swap the rear differential to match.

 

I have a 4x4 3at that worked great (I've got video of me smoking the rf tire off and having it shift 2nd, then 3rd, then back to 2nd while burning the tire down.) Course I was pulled up against a tree and had the tire on a steel plate. But still, good working tranny. Free if you want to pick it up, more if you need it shipped somehow.

 

Anyway, what symptoms of a bad tranny do you have? There's common, and sometimes easily fixed problems with them.

 

I'm definatly interested in that tranny. If you could ship it to me I'll pay ya for it:)

 

The symptoms I'm having are that it won't shift out of 1st gear or go into reverse.

[WoodsWagon]

You sure it's not something simple like a broken shift linkage?

 

Start with the simple stuff like checking fluid level, there's 2 dipsticks, one for the gear oil in the front differential, and one for the ATF in the transmission. Does the ATF fluid look burnt or foamy?

 

No reverse is surprising. Not shifting out of first could easily be the governor gear apple-cored and not spinning the governor. No governor pressure, no upshift. That happens fairly often in the 3at's

 

If it will shift up at redline, but won't shift up until the engine has been wound way up, you could have had the vacuum hose crack or come off of the vacuum modulator on the transmission.

 

When you shift it to park, does it stop the vehicle from rolling? Since first still works, can you shift between first and neutral and have the transmission go into neutral?

 

What happens in reverse? Does it work but slip, or make grinding noises, or is it just not there?

 

I understand you need the car back on the road, but I'd rather not ship a tranny down if the one in the car could be fixed.

[travis1990]

You sure it's not something simple like a broken shift linkage?

 

Start with the simple stuff like checking fluid level, there's 2 dipsticks, one for the gear oil in the front differential, and one for the ATF in the transmission. Does the ATF fluid look burnt or foamy?

 

No reverse is surprising. Not shifting out of first could easily be the governor gear apple-cored and not spinning the governor. No governor pressure, no upshift. That happens fairly often in the 3at's

 

If it will shift up at redline, but won't shift up until the engine has been wound way up, you could have had the vacuum hose crack or come off of the vacuum modulator on the transmission.

 

When you shift it to park, does it stop the vehicle from rolling? Since first still works, can you shift between first and neutral and have the transmission go into neutral?

 

What happens in reverse? Does it work but slip, or make grinding noises, or is it just not there?

 

I understand you need the car back on the road, but I'd rather not ship a tranny down if the one in the car could be fixed.

 

The guy my dad bought the car off of was a Subaru Mechanic he said the transmission was totally shot, so I take his word for it. He had already rebuilt the engine and was probably going to rebuild or replace the tranny, but he must have lost interest or something. Hence why he got rid of the car. That being said, I didn't focus too hard on trying to fix that transmission and I've already removed the it from the car.

 

I put brand new fluid in it before I took it out and it didn't help. When in drive, the car will not shift to 2nd or go into reverse even at redline, it just isn't there. It will go into and out of neutral and I think park did stop the car from moving.