2manetoys Posted March 18, 2011 Share Posted March 18, 2011 I've got a 96 Outback with the 5spd manual and 2.2L and when I go into a tight turn in either forward or reverse it feels like the brakes are on even I'm not pressing the pedal. Some background info. Shortly after I bought it, I had to put about 15 lbs of air in each of the 4 tires. Since then (a week) I've had to add air to 2 again (4lbs).This seemed to correct the problem teh first time I aired the tires up. I know that I need to get the tires checked out and possibly filled with nitrogen if that will prevent or slow the air loss. I also had to replace a frozen drivers front caliper and it sounds like the passenger one has a very slight drag to it. I'll be replacing the flex lines very soon in case they are collapsing. What other things should I check out to see if it's a brake problem or torque bind and what order should they be done in? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olnick Posted March 18, 2011 Share Posted March 18, 2011 (edited) How many miles on the car? How do the tires look--old and worn? If you have alloy wheels there may be some corrosion inside the lips, allowing air to escape. You may need to have the tires demounted and sanded smooth . . . and you may need new tires all around. I doubt that nitrogen would help you at all. Re the brakes: After a bit of driving feel around the hub area of each wheel (carefully!) and see if one feels hotter than the others. That would be a sign of brake dragging. Probably not the flex lines. If you find one hot wheel check the pads & rotor. Make sure the caliper piston is not stuck and (most likely source of the problem) make sure the slides are smooth, clean and well greased. Use high-temp caliper grease on them, of course. Hope that's your problem and not torque bind. Good luck. [Edit: Just re-read your original post and saw that you've already changed one caliper. Oh well, consider what I said as "confirmation"!!!] Edited March 18, 2011 by Olnick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fairtax4me Posted March 20, 2011 Share Posted March 20, 2011 If correcting the ire pressure relieves the problem temporarily the center differential may be damaged. 4 new tires rotated regularly and keeping the air pressure in check should allow it to work properly for an un-determinable amount of time. Replacing the center diff assembly is fairly easy. Shouldn't be too hard to find a good used one in a junkyard if you feel it necessary. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeneralDisorder Posted March 20, 2011 Share Posted March 20, 2011 Yeah - the center diff is very easy to change out or replace the VC on. You remove the rear cover of the tranny and it slides right out. Then you just pop out the snap ring in the end and it slides apart. The VC is the bit on the top directly under the snap ring. If you get a good used one you just plop it in and put it back together. If you get a new one make sure to also order the bearing that is on the end of the VC (806255010). And in either case you should order the bronze thrust washer that's under the bottom spider gear in the center diff carrier (803135013). GD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2manetoys Posted March 22, 2011 Author Share Posted March 22, 2011 Thanks for the tips. I just received my FSM on CD in the mail so I'm now able to put the names of the parts that you're telling me with the pics from the FSM to better understand how it works. I'll be looking at the brake system next to make sure that there's nothing out of whack there as well and I'll go from there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unibrook Posted August 3, 2011 Share Posted August 3, 2011 Any resolution on this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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