questions on lifting my 95 legacy sedan

[cymbri]

I never had a car lifted before, but I'll be needing new rear struts and more ground clearance during a snowstorm is always good, so might as well replace all 4 struts and springs. It's a '96, sorry about the wrong year in the title.. 

 

I've heard the easiest thing to do is to get legacy outback springs and struts and that'll lift it 2" with no other work required.

 

The person doing the work tells me i should just get forester struts/springs.

 

I'm concerned about handling, this car handles better than every car I've driven in the past 4 years, but it's also lower.

 

So for people who have lifted their subies, how much did you lift it and did you notice a large impact on how the car handles?

 

If I use forrester struts/springs do I need to do anything else like lengthen the steering column ect?

 

And does anyone know which years/models of other subarus would have pretty compatible springs and struts with my car? 

Edited October 23, 2013 by cymbri

[JKinPA]

I'm going to preface my answer with I AM NOT A MECHANIC... but here is my 2 pennies worth.

 

I would sooner go with the Legacy Outback springs because you are staying within the same platform.  The Forester is built on the impreza chassis in Japan, the Legacy, Legacy Outback, Baja, and Tribeca I believe, are all built on the Legacy chassis in Indiana.  Putting the springs from a smaller platform vehicle (Forester) on a Larger platform Legacy seems counter intuitive to me.  It may be sound advice but personally I wouldn't.

 

The springs from an Outback (NOT OUTBACK SPORT) would make more sense to me.  Again I am not a mechanic, never even played one one TV. 

[86BRATMAN]

Best of both worlds, 96-99 legacy outback struts and gen1 Forester springs. Nets a hair over 3" of lift, gives you the best tire to strut clearance of the options above. And the ride doesn't really change drastically if you keep sway bars connected.

 

I am a shade tree mechanic with 15+ years of hands on subaru experience, and I have personally ran this setup.

 

 

Edited October 23, 2013 by 86BRATMAN

[Fairtax4me]

Outback struts and springs will give you just a hair over 1 inch, Only because the struts are longer. The springs between Legacy and Outback are the same.

Forester springs are taller, and will give you 1 inch.

Outback size tires (205/70/15) are a hair over an inch taller than the stock legacy size (185/70/14 or 195/60/15).

 

Outback struts & springs, with outback size tires = 2", and will not greatly affect handling, you can actually make it slightly better by adding Outback front and rear sway bars.

 

Outback struts, forester springs, 205/70/15 tires = 3"

Handling will be affected, and you'll easily split your now old CV boots.

 

I have Outback struts and springs, outback tires, and a 2" block kit, and I'm sitting a hair over 4" taller than stock for a 96 L.

 

Edited October 24, 2013 by Fairtax4me

[MilesFox]

You will have to adjust out your tie rod ends possibly to compensate. I have used forester struts on the legacy spring, the rear forester strut has more travel than the legacy spring, so forester would be better.

 

Mechanically, the forester and the legacy use the same drivetrain an suspension.

[AdventureSubaru]

I did a forester lift on an Impreza OBS - Yielded about 3 1/2 inches of lift. I had to re-drill the upper holes in the rear to accommodate the forester struts but it's one hole to drill per side. Forester will give you a little more lift than Outback struts. A little firmer ride too. I also made a set of 3/8 HDPE spacers for a little extra lift, and to clear the forester top hat in the back. I'm not sure if the forester rears are identical to legacy bolt pattern or not. You may not have that issue.

 

Handling on my impreza is still fine, but it drives more like a small SUV now than the rally car feel - which is totally to be expected. Still winds around curves in the road just fine. Wouldn't want to go at high speeds though. (Not that I really care to anyway.

 

Forester struts/springs let you clear up to a 28 inch tire.

 

No need to lengthen the steering column unless you do a body lift. A 4 wheel alignment would be ideal after the lift since the lift changes the camber noticeably.

[heartless]

95 Legacy wagon (on right) with straight Forester strut swap - nothing else - sitting next to my bone stock 90 Legacy wagon (on left) - the two cars were the exact same height before the strut swap...

95 is still wearing the stock 14" wheels/tires as well...

 

Edited November 3, 2013 by heartless

[subnz]

Buy an Outback its already done and a lot less hassle

Edited November 7, 2013 by subnz

[bratman18]

Buy an Outback its already done and a lot less hassle

Huh? What hassle is involved? If you need to replace your struts anyway, then why not? They swap right in. And the Outbacks came with head gasket prone EJ25, most of the other Legacys have the bulletproof EJ22. And with just the struts swapped in, there is actually more clearance because you can now fit the same size tire as an Outback, but the crossmembers aren't dropped as well. It's a very popular swap, and with great results.

[heartless]

Buy an Outback its already done and a lot less hassle

 

no hassle at all if you are already changing struts anyway, which my car definitely needed (had broken springs as well as bad struts) and the OP says he needs new struts as well...

 

I will take the 95 Legacy with the non-interfence EJ22 over an Outback with the problematic EJ25 any day of the week. (yes, I know that there were a few early Outbacks that came with the EJ22, but they had gone interference by then, so...)

[LosDiosDeVerde86]

I can't wait until I blow a strut in my '10.

 

Totally going to lift. I miss my old lifted 96.

[heartless]

I can't wait until I blow a strut in my '10.

 

Totally going to lift. I miss my old lifted 96.

 

I cant wait to start driving the lifted 95! Now that I have a good tranny to go into it, thanks to Miles Fox, it should be soon!

[Bushwick]

Unless you like driving a limp noodle, you might want to upgrade both sway bars. At the very least, do the rear sway bar. The Outback is a direct swap for the wagon Legacy, guessing they are the same with sedan (somebody confirm?) I've already swapped a rear sway bar from an Outback and it was a big difference, but it's not enough. Definitely doing the front swap soon. Apparently you can get a factory rear 20mm from Impreza WRX, and use Forester bar-to-body mounts to mount to a Legacy. I'm going this route soon, though you'll be better off buying one on craigslist as WRX are typically hard to find in boneyards w/o stupid prices attached, unless you are lucky and find a yard that flat-rates prices. Lowering helps handling, lifting decreases it, so a good way to combat it better sway bars, unless you like slowing down for every single curve.

[heartless]

good info to know - thanks Bushwick. Still have the Forester for the bar to body mounts, but the sway bars look smaller than what the Legacy already has. Did pull the front links to replace the broken ones on the Legacy

[Bushwick]

I think you use the actual metal bracket from the Forester with the WRX STi sway bar AND it's rubber bushing as it'll be a 20mm hole. Think it was Fairtax that mentioned this to me in one of my posts. Far as I know, it only applies to the rear sway bar. On wagons especially, it should significantly improve handling and complement the front better. I know Auto Zone has some heavy duty sway bar bushing brackets with red urethane inserts in their performance isle that might possibly work with or w/o mods. Next time I'm there I'll double check what they actually have and see if it'd be applicable.

[bratman18]

I ran without a rear sway bar on my lifted Forester and saw very little difference. I also have run several lifted cars both with and without bigger bars. IMO, it's not really worth the hassle unless you drive your car hard, meaning, fast through corners all the time. Even with no sway bar, that's possible. Not saying it can't be done. But there's also a difference in the curves of the sway bar between Legacy and Impreza/Forester chassis. They might fit, they might not. And even of they fit, they might have the wrong bend so the geometry is off, and it ends of making no difference. Just food for thought.

[Bushwick]

I never used to care either to be honest, until I lowered my other car and built a custom rear bar, along with fabbing up a rear strut tower brace. The brace alone was worth the effort and changed turning characteristics even at slow speeds. Just feels tighter with less body movement, and overall increases the fun factor. First time driving the Legacy after coming out of the other car with mods, it was blatantly clear where it was lacking. My biggest gripe was the rear would hold OK at really slow speeds but anything over 25-30 on minor curves the rear bar was completely overpowered (still running a 14" rim with skinny factory tires that weren't squealing yet either) and would "wag" back and forth going from "controlled" to "wagging" which made the car feel unsafe like the rear was going to kick out from the subframe. At higher speeds it can get dangerous though if you have to make a sudden lane change as the momentum from the delay of the rear can make it feel like it's loosing control (which it might). If the trailing arms had solid bushings. the rear pumpkin cover solid bushings, and the rear subframe had solid bushings, you could probably get away w/o running a stabilizer bar and still have decent handling, but all that road noise absorbing rubber flexes. I ran solid bushing control arms in one of my early Mustangs with an 8.8 swap and 4.10's w/o the factory bar and it actually handled really good and was a mid 12's car. But with the factory rubber in the arms that wasn't possible.

[eulogious]

My 1990 8" lifted legacy hasn't had sways on it for 9 months and I haven't noticed a thing. And I have taken the car on several 100+ mile trips on the freeway. Haven't had an issue and I don't baby my car either. 70+ navigating through traffic being somewhat aggressive and haven't thought about my sways at all.

 

Yes sway bars are nice, but needed? Not really. I have them sitting in my back yard, but I haven't found a reason yet to go through the effort of reinstalling them and probably never will. Just my opinion.

 

I love having a lifted leggy. I highly recommend lifting it if you have to replace the struts anyways. Best investment I did to my car!

[Bushwick]

Maybe it's not such a big deal on lighter, earlier gen bodies or non-Legacy? 1990 Legacy was 2640-2800 pounds, which is roughly 200-360+ pounds lighter than my wagon. The heavier the car, the larger sway bars need to be control movement.

[heartless]

Maybe it's not such a big deal on lighter, earlier gen bodies or non-Legacy? 1990 Legacy was 2640-2800 pounds, which is roughly 200-360+ pounds lighter than my wagon. The heavier the car, the larger sway bars need to be control movement.

 

"handling" is going to depend on driving style, too. for "most" people's needs, the factory setups are perfectly fine as "most" people dont pay that close of attention to the physical handling characteristics of a given car. "most" dont really care about body roll, g-forces, and the like - If it gets them from point A to point B, they are happy with it.

 

Then there are the ones like you and I, and a few others around here - we do pay attention to what the car is doing in a given situation...

 

The Legacy is a fair amount heavier than the earlier GLs, and does handle differently because of it - but, these cars weren't/aren't meant to be road racers. I am very interested in driving the 95 with the Forester struts to see how much of a difference there is in handling/cornering characteristics vs the "stock" version I drive now. I already know that with the increased height it wont handle corners nearly as well...

[bratman18]

^I think you will be surprised at how well it handles. Forester springs are a bit stiffer and hold the extra weight well.

[eulogious]

Of course there is more body roll, of course it doesn't handle like stock, it's is missing parts after all. But it nothing to be worried about.

 

I have 100 pounds of stereo stuff in my back plus 100 pounds of tools, and it's still not scary or anything like that to drive. The forester springs are a lot stiff of a ride that is for sure.

 

One thing to remember as well... Having no sways means having more tire contacting the road. This is good for off-roading, but not for street racing. It also means you feel the ruts on the freeway more as well. Again nothing to worry about just something to keep in mind when you are driving it. What might feel weird is probably just expected. Took a min to get used to feeling the road more and feeling the ruts, but after about a week I got to used to it and it's no big deal.

 

In my area we have several round abouts and I take them fast and sometime squeal my tires, but I have yet to worry about loosing control or rolling the car, FWIW. And round abouts stress the sways pretty good, if you have them!

 

I would lift it, and then worry about the sways later if you are really worried about it. They will help the ride for sure, don't get me wrong, but they aren't needed to safely get you from point a to point b. I will carry my wife and new born around in my lifted leggy and I will not even question if it's safe for me and them. I trust my leggy over my wife's 2005 Kia anyday of the week when it comes to safely getting my family from point a to point b.

[Fairtax4me]

I noticed a HUGE difference going from the stock 13mm bar on my 96 sedan to the 17 (or maybe 18mm, dont remember) outback wagon bar I got.

 

But ive had the opposite experience, it feels to me like it loosened up the rear end, and it has more tendancy to walk out to the side when cornerin hard with the larger bar. Fine with me, because I hate under steer.

[86BRATMAN]

^I think you will be surprised at how well it handles. Forester springs are a bit stiffer and hold the extra weight well.

From what I've read 1st Gen Forester actually has a slightly lower spring rate than legacy, it's the 2nd Gen Forester that have higher rates.

[bratman18]

From what I've read 1st Gen Forester actually has a slightly lower spring rate than legacy, it's the 2nd Gen Forester that have higher rates.

That might be possible. I do know the fronts are pretty much identical, but the 1st gen rears have a longer spring than the 2nd gen. I have used both and have loved how they ride and handle.