Subaru_dude Posted December 30, 2011 Share Posted December 30, 2011 Got a '95 Brighton Legacy with 244,000 miles for $500 ($700 after expenses) that needed a clutch. Dropping the trans wasn't bad, but going back in was another story. The 4 smaller bolts that go into the body at the rear tranny crossmember were all sorda stripped. Nothing an impact and elbow grease didn't fix. Got one bolt each side, the other 2 were too fubard. Then the larger tranny crossmember that has one larger bolt on each side gave me some trouble. The weld nuts in the body both broke loose. Using the impact I eventually got them both tight though so no big deal. Front axles, no problem. Tie rod ends gave me some crap too. I unscrewed the castle nuts so that the nut stuck up above the threads. Well, after the 4th smack with the BFH it stripped the threads out of the nut. Ok, I'll just go ahead and beat on it till it comes out and get a new tie rod end. It finally does come out, pretty mushroomed. Same happened on the other side. The vaccuum hoses under the hood were all in pretty bad shape too. Got it all together, and didn't make it 2 miles down the road and something catastrophically fell apart in the front end. I don't blame that on the car, probably something I missed working on the car in the near pitch black. My Outback was of WAY better quality. The bolts in the Brighton are of much worse quality. Is it because it's a '95 and they were cheaping out to sell them? My Outback was a '96 and was WAY easier to work on. Even the rubber hoses in the Outback, having 10,000 more miles, were still soft and pliable. WTH????????? Oh yeah, and the transmission pops out of gear quite a bit. I ABUSED the Outbacks' trans with 3000rpm clutch dumps going up rocky hills, slamming it in reverse, changing gears without using the clutch (took some practice but I could do it pretty smoothly after a few tries) and it never showed a HINT of trouble. What gives? Should I avoid Legacies and stick with strictly Outback or is it because it's a '95? I'm pissed. I was hoping the simplicity of the Brighton would be a nice change but this car is absolute crap. Were some of them made in USA? I'm sure if some were this is one of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ocei77 Posted December 30, 2011 Share Posted December 30, 2011 I've personally owned 3 Legacys, 97,04 and 07. None of them gave me any more trouble than the usual maintenance issues. I also have a 98 and 99 Impreza Outback and still no real issues. I just think you have a neglected 16 year old car that is showing its lack of care. O. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fairtax4me Posted December 30, 2011 Share Posted December 30, 2011 It's the same car. There is no difference in materials or craftsmanship. You got one that was rusty and/or abused by a previous owner. Shifting without the clutch does less harm to the transmission than shifting with the clutch, assuming you do it correctly. All thats happening is you are matching input and output shaft speed when the years are engaged rather than making the synchros do the work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subaru_dude Posted December 30, 2011 Author Share Posted December 30, 2011 Not changing your cars oil on time has nothing to do with the quality of the bolts. And it's not rusty, less rusty than my Outback was actually. Not that the Outback was a rust bucket, I just got it out in the snow alot. The bolts on the underside were pretty well tainted with the dreaded RUST... but at least they weren't made out of damn lead like this LEGACY!!!!!!!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subruise Posted December 30, 2011 Share Posted December 30, 2011 you get what you pay for man. sorry its sucks so bad back east. seems like id be inspecting a little closer when dropping even as little as 5 bones. RV Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeneralDisorder Posted December 30, 2011 Share Posted December 30, 2011 Agreed - same car, same bolts. I've worked on many of both trim levels (brighton, L, Outback, etc) and the build quality is the same in the 95 to 99 years. 90 to 94 is of typically higher build quality - at least when it comes to interior bits and peices. Mechanically they are all pretty much the same. Sounds to me like you are impatient and useing WAY too much force on body capture nut retained bolts. Impacts are good for dissasembly most of the time if you are careful - they are not appropriate for assembly. It is easy to get those x-member bolts, etc started crooked and cross-thread them. You just have to be patient and careful and don't force things. GD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subaru_dude Posted December 30, 2011 Author Share Posted December 30, 2011 Sounds to me like you are impatient and useing WAY too much force on body capture nut retained bolts. Impacts are good for dissasembly most of the time if you are careful - they are not appropriate for assembly. It is easy to get those x-member bolts, etc started crooked and cross-thread them. You just have to be patient and careful and don't force things. GD I would say that's true. I'm in a hurry because I've been without a car a while. It's together at least, just gotta replace a ball-joint. Did the brakes on my sister's '96 Legacy today so didn't have time to do that, all went smoothly at least. Rear discs are so nice..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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