long travel Outbacks or making Subarus faster and more reliable offroad

[pontoontodd]

One of the last things I did before we drove to Vegas was replacing the ignition switch that was shorting out.  Has security bolts holding it to the column.  I read about people slotting them or removing them carefully with a hammer and punch.

I tried a little of that and just decided to weld a bolt to the head of these and use that to remove them, it wasn't too difficult.

When I bolted in the new one I used socket head cap screws (left) instead of the break off bolts supplied (right).

Turned the car on and off without blowing fuses.  Still had to use the start button fairly often especially when the starter was hot.  Can't take the key out in the on position anymore which is annoying.

[pontoontodd]

I've been waiting to post about this all year.  Let me start by saying these won't be cheap, on the order of $4000 retail.

This has been a few years in the making but we finally made a proper low range for a Subaru.  Replaces the center diff of a 2006+ STI 6MT.  Shifts between 1:1 high and 2.94:1 low.  Center diff shifts between open and locked, no limited slip feature.  We've had one in my 99 Outback for about five months now.  We've had some shifter cable issues.  It popped out of high on rough portions of V2R.  It occasionally shifts into center diff lock also, most often on rough trails.  Those problems will probably be fixed by a better shifter.  Unit itself hasn't had any problems yet.  Everyone who drives it says it's like cheating.  Low range in B's Forester with the 1.6 dual range is equivalent to in between second and third in low with this trans.  We hardly even use first low on climbs, second or third is usually plenty, even putt up some hills in fourth low (equivalent to about first in high).  Finishing a few more we have most of the parts for, next one is going to slammo.  These are some pictures from the mockup, not the finished product:

Video from our test run at Badlands off road park, video never does the hills justice but at least watch the rock crawl starting at 1:15:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyDVQnRx-Dc

I think we can fit the same thing in a 5MT which obviously has a much larger market.  It looks like the easy way to do the shifting would be to use a rear case section from a pre 97 5MT with the access panel on top.  No idea how the standard driveshaft and R160 will hold up to a 2.94:1 low range but I guess we'll find out.

[Numbchux]

Very cool!!

Not compatible with '04-'05 transmissions?

[pontoontodd]

10 minutes ago, Numbchux said:

Very cool!!

Not compatible with '04-'05 transmissions?

Correct, those have a female splined rear output gear and I don't know of a good way to make that work with this design.

[pontoontodd]

We've been working on the long travels.  I think this is all the housings - galvanized, painted, and ID ground.

Prepping the tops

Z's set is all assembled and ready to install on his car which should happen soon.  Really just need a couple bushings and bumpstops to finish slammo's set.

 

Front control arm bushing off B's Forester.  Maybe the most worn out one I've ever seen.  He recently replaced both his rear wheel bearings, another reminder we have to do the billet rear knuckles.  Still need to get his dual range back together and back in his car too.

 

Support for the trans skid plate on my 99 was quite bent after the Vegas to Reno.

 

Bent it back about as straight as I could using a big piece of tubing and the floor jack.

Flattened the panel back out in the vice and got it bolted back in.  Definitely not flat but much better than it was.

 

Hard to get a good picture showing how beat the floor of this car is, in person it looks like the ocean.

 

Many of the skidplate bolts looked like this.

Hard to tell in this picture but that rear strip (left) is about half the height it started out at.  I welded another strip on there before we put it back on the car.

 

Here was our main structural failure during the race.  Hose clamped the driver's side of the steering rack back in before we drove home.

 

Bracket was essentially disconnected from the crossmember.  The way it cracked it couldn't quite fall out but there was zero weld left intact.

Not pretty but welded it back in place.  Should be good for the life of the car if we don't do any more desert races with it.

Some of the many cracks I welded up, these were on the front crossmember near the rack mount.

Put in new rack bushings and got the rack bolted back in.

[TanStin]

Very cool on the low range front, exciting to see something happening!

Before I had to move from a house to an apartment I started tearing apart a 4EAT and was planning on getting an adapter machined (as well as a custom splined output shaft) in order to run an NP231 transfer case from a XJ. Complete goal was a new tailpiece that could redirect  it through the transmission, but I was also looking into the option of running solid axles (or more specifically, traction beam) front and rear. Ultimately, with the lack of a garage, I had to put that project on pause :/.

Anyways, I figured I'd respond because I've been lurking for the past while now. Love what you guys do, and love what you have done. The fox struts have been an inspiration for my second gen Crosstrek, although I am looking at running off the shelf bushings from McMaster-Carr due to lack of, again, garage. I'm also looking into a "HiPer" style strut. That will allow me to bump the track width out about 2 inches, without changing the upper mount.

 

Keep up the good work!

 

-Tanner

[Numbchux]

On 9/5/2021 at 11:08 PM, TanStin said:

Before I had to move from a house to an apartment I started tearing apart a 4EAT and was planning on getting an adapter machined (as well as a custom splined output shaft) in order to run an NP231 transfer case from a XJ. Complete goal was a new tailpiece that could redirect  it through the transmission, but I was also looking into the option of running solid axles (or more specifically, traction beam) front and rear. Ultimately, with the lack of a garage, I had to put that project on pause :/.

@Scott in Bellingham with SJR had started a similar project, I think to use a Nissan case behind the 4EAT. He's always got many irons in the fire, so I'm sure he'll come back to it at some point.

[pontoontodd]

On 9/5/2021 at 11:08 PM, TanStin said:

Very cool on the low range front, exciting to see something happening!

Before I had to move from a house to an apartment I started tearing apart a 4EAT and was planning on getting an adapter machined (as well as a custom splined output shaft) in order to run an NP231 transfer case from a XJ. Complete goal was a new tailpiece that could redirect  it through the transmission, but I was also looking into the option of running solid axles (or more specifically, traction beam) front and rear. Ultimately, with the lack of a garage, I had to put that project on pause :/.

Anyways, I figured I'd respond because I've been lurking for the past while now. Love what you guys do, and love what you have done. The fox struts have been an inspiration for my second gen Crosstrek, although I am looking at running off the shelf bushings from McMaster-Carr due to lack of, again, garage. I'm also looking into a "HiPer" style strut. That will allow me to bump the track width out about 2 inches, without changing the upper mount.

 

Keep up the good work!

 

-Tanner

I've seen several people put a transfer case behind a Subaru (or Toyota or other) transmission and put solid axles in a Subaru.  TTB in the front would be hot.  In my mind you might as well start with a Toyota at that point as it would be a lot easier.  Also in my mind it's a different tool for a different job, Toyotas and Toyota buggies crawl silly but they're best when they're crawling, not going fast.

How would you run the front output back through the transmission?  Ideally you'd want the low range before the center diff if you want a Subaru style center diff.  If you're using the NP231 2wd/4wd you would have to run the front output to the ring and pinion in the trans if you want a Subaru style layout.

We are using off the shelf bushings from McMaster, it's just a lot of pieces and work putting struts together.  Kinda wish we'd just made conventional struts with bigger shafts rather than inverted but our current design works so we're sticking with it.

[slammo]

On 9/5/2021 at 11:08 PM, TanStin said:

I'm also looking into a "HiPer" style strut. That will allow me to bump the track width out about 2 inches, without changing the upper mount.

The HiPer strut design accounts for some steering geometry correction, but it will do nothing to address the strut bending issue that is arguably the biggest problem with adding track width.

16 hours ago, pontoontodd said:

Kinda wish we'd just made conventional struts with bigger shafts rather than inverted but our current design works so we're sticking with it.

I for one am glad you did inverted struts; maybe a thick shaft would be "good enough" but I wouldn't trust it for heavy use. I think there's good reason that any rally suspension uses an inverted design, as well as the other manufacturers that have entered the long travel Subaru market (Flatout, Gorilla, etc).

I'm really looking forward to having this setup on my car.

Edited September 8, 2021 by slammo

[pontoontodd]

Z made this a while back:

[Numbchux]

I got into rally when my friend's STi got hail damaged. The insurance check paid for the cage....

[pressingonward]

Man, I missed a ton of updates - the notifications were going into spam.

Loved the pics from your past couple trips - you've got a good eye for capturing cool photos. I'm curious whether the frog in your one pic with the snake escaped or not lol.

Congrats on finishing the Reno race, that's no small feat!

Very cool that you were able to build a custom 6mt low range - would love to see more details to satisfy my own curiosity

You've been hinting that the black subie is nearing the end of it's useful life - what's the replacement going to be?

[pontoontodd]

22 hours ago, pressingonward said:

Man, I missed a ton of updates - the notifications were going into spam.

Loved the pics from your past couple trips - you've got a good eye for capturing cool photos. I'm curious whether the frog in your one pic with the snake escaped or not lol.

Congrats on finishing the Reno race, that's no small feat!

Very cool that you were able to build a custom 6mt low range - would love to see more details to satisfy my own curiosity

You've been hinting that the black subie is nearing the end of it's useful life - what's the replacement going to be?

Glad you liked the pics.

Thanks, the V2R was quite a challenge, glad we finally finished it, can't imagine doing it again in a Subaru.

Maybe eventually I'll post more pictures of the 6MT low range but without showing it to you in person or some kind of in depth video it would be hard to explain how it all works.

 

The black Subaru still runs and drives pretty well so I will keep it for a while, I have plenty of other things to do.  But the eventual replacement will be:

Impreza wagon/hatch - probably first gen - lightest EJ Subaru, mechanical HVAC controls, more robust hatch than Legacy/Outback/Forester

EZ36 on standalone

swap over/copy many of the upgrades on the black Outback - 6MT/R180 with the low range, long travel, steel bumpers, skidplates, maybe fuel cell in place of spare tire well but no cage.

thinking about fabbing engine and trans crossmembers/subframe since I'd have to space/modify them somehow and the engine crossmember has been a real weak point on the black Outback.

 

[pontoontodd]

Driver's side exhaust was squished pretty bad after the V2R, as was the skidplate on that side.  First step was to remove the heat shields.  Also bent one of the coolant lines a bit despite that starting about 3" away from the skidplate.  That little hose was probably about to leak if not blow out completely so we got kinda lucky there.

Here's now non round the part we cut out was:

I used a steel cone and hammered it into the ends that we were reusing to make them round again and B fit some new tubing, 2" x .095" 4130 IIRC.

Fully welded that, put the heat shields back on, B fixed up the skidplates a bit and reinstalled those, 99 OB is basically ready to go.

 

While installing long travel on Z's Forester XT, I had to make a lot of clearance for our fabricated control arms at full droop.  As you can see in this first picture it can't droop much.

Just kept cutting and hammering until it fit.

Got it to drop enough to be able to swing the knuckle into place.

Capped and welded it back together.

Another issue was that the control arm bushings on the STI are wider than the normal bushings, they stick towards the front of the car about 1/4" more.

If we'd known this we probably would have just ordered STI bushings in the first place but since the standard ones are installed we just welded spacers in the subframe to compensate.  Also welded our normal thick spacers on the outside of the subframe to keep those holes from getting worn out.  So from front to back it goes big spacer, small spacer, no spacer, big spacer.  Mainly for slammo and travelvw's benefit.

Then I did the other side, went faster and turned out a little cleaner.

Spacers on the LF.

We also wound up having to cut away most of that little strip of metal that's blocking the view of the spacer in this picture for axle clearance.  Cut that bolt shorter as well.

So Z's Forester has long travel fully installed, drove it around town a bit, seems pretty good.  Should be a blast off pavement.

Shipped about half of slammo's long travel to him too.

[slammo]

16 hours ago, pontoontodd said:

Driver's side exhaust was squished pretty bad after the V2R, as was the skidplate on that side.  First step was to remove the heat shields.  Also bent one of the coolant lines a bit despite that starting about 3" away from the skidplate.  That little hose was probably about to leak if not blow out completely so we got kinda lucky there.

What hose was this? One going to the oil cooler?

 

16 hours ago, pontoontodd said:

Shipped about half of slammo's long travel to him too.

[pontoontodd]

6 hours ago, slammo said:

What hose was this? One going to the oil cooler?

 

No, it's on the driver's side and it's extremely short, the metal lines almost touch.  I think the line goes back to the heater core.

[pressingonward]

Wish your pictures were showing up inline. As someone mentioned a while back, I have to open each picture in a separate window to get them to show up

[pontoontodd]

Rendezvoused at Z's new house at 7AM Friday morning last weekend for a trip to the UP.  Someone noticed his car had a blown CV boot so we swapped out his axle with B's spare in Z's garage. Drove north out of Menominee, haven't done that in a long time. Went by some other trails and snowmobile trails and got to the Felch grade. After driving it in my car for a while I rode with Z. His car is definitely harsher but bottomed out at least a few times on the trip, not sure if that was sidewalls or suspension bottoming though. Definitely needs more tuning. Got up to Rapid River and hit the super whoops. Cars didn't seem to handle them too well or maybe the whoops are getting taller (sort of look like it). Fall colors were prime in some areas. We headed east and wound up at the same spot we'd gotten the white Outback stuck on our last trip. B noticed a different line through the swamp that looked easier so A tried that in my car. Got stuck of course, Z pulled him out with the strap. A tried it again farther to the right but wound up in the same ruts and got stuck again. Z started to get him out with the strap after a few hits but was digging his own ruts. I almost told him to stop because he was going to get stuck but his car seemed to still be driving fine and he didn't seem concerned. Then of course he got stuck. No standing trees within winching distance. Later on I noticed a large fallen tree we probably could have winched to. Z and B worked on jacking up the Forester with the bottle jack and shoving wood under things. A and I used the electric jack on the Outback and various wood and were slowly raising it. Eventually we got the recovery ramps under a couple of Forester tires and drove it out. Tried winching the Outback to the Forester but it just slid the Forester. Ran a strap from the front of the Forester to a tree and then the winch was able to pull the Outback out (after jacking and getting wood/recovery ramps under the tires). Z said he could hear the Forester's body creaking.  We were probably stuck for a couple hours, a longer strap(s) and/or a high lift would have helped a lot but we only had two cars so we didn't have all our usual recovery equipment.

Saw a porcupine crossing the road.

We eventually got up to a campsite we'd found before on a little lake but it was occupied by a van. Found a different one at the top of a hill by the lake and camped there.

That area had a ton of trails so the trail riding Saturday morning was good. Found a pile of random toys along a river and made PB&Js there.

We tried going to the south end of the old bridge we'd found earlier this year to reevaluate fixing it. I think it was there we went through a super nasty looking mud bog that was actually fairly easy, just a few inches of slime on hard packed sand.  Bridge could certainly be rebuilt, maybe even with the materials on hand, but it would take a lot of effort and fasteners we didn't have. Drove around the block (10-15 miles) to get to the campsite between two lakes. Nice night, no bugs all weekend really, lows in the 50s. We had a little campfire after dinner and some guys drove in with their UTV and just turned around and left without saying anything.

Sunday morning we went up and hit the jumps just north of the campsite but they're blind so we didn't want to do that too much. Tried going east, there were some mudholes and bypasses around fallen logs but we made it a few miles until the trail ended at a turn. Couldn't figure out where the road used to go so we turned around. Moved some logs out of the way on the way back. While we were doing this an old timer showed up on an ATV. He warned us there were some mudholes the way he'd come and we said we knew, that's where we came from. Then I realized he thought we'd come the other way so I asked him if the road actually went through. He said that's what he was trying to find out, it used to be a road 60 years ago. On a couple of my maps it went all the way through. A couple of other ones didn't show most of what we'd driven but did show it going farther east. Typical UP navigating. Got stuck in a couple other deceptively soft swamps but got out with the strap in one and the electric jacks and ramps in another.  No real issues all weekend, good temps, no bugs, not much rain.

[pontoontodd]

B and Z and I left my house a few weeks ago for a week long off road trip in my black Outback and B's Forester.  Got most of the way to Little Sahara and camped at a lake in KS.  It got very windy that night be we survived.

We got to Little Sahara Sunday morning. Saw a bunch of golf carts being towed going the opposite way. It was Veteran's day Friday so we're guessing a lot of people had already been there Friday and Saturday, it wasn't too crowded Sunday morning. Everything including the golf carts had paddles on the rear and ribs on the front, and it was mostly golf carts with a few dune buggies. We aired down and installed our tallest flags. Entrance road is quite whooped out, we couldn't run it with any speed. I was leading the way most of the time and working my way around the perimeter or close to it thinking there might be some trails off into the woods but we didn't find any. The whole perimeter was a mess of trails through brush but very sandy, the interior was large dunes but not quite like Silver Lake or the Big Dune. At one point I did a lap of a bowl and realized I couldn't keep my momentum up enough and couldn't get out.  I put it in low and locked the center diff and by backing up the opposite wall I was eventually able to power my way out in second.  I got stuck another time trying to take a soft side trail but was able to back down and sideways back onto the main trail. Got stuck another time trying to climb a small soft hill. While I was stuck sideways halfway up the hill a couple guys came over the other side and fortunately for us immediately stopped but caused the following one to rearend the leading one. Don't think that did too much damage. Z hooked the strap on to the side of my front bumper and B pulled a little too hard and broke the side of the bumper but did get me mostly pointed in the right direction. Z ripped the piece off the rest of the way and we put it in the car. We were able to climb some of the highest dunes after a couple tries, it was a bit tricky to not carry too much speed over the top but have enough momentum to crest the top. While at the top of one of them we saw some cool looking dirt roads going into the hills to the west. After we'd been around the park once (took a couple hours) we decided we should leave – we'd kinda seen the whole place and if we stayed longer we're probably just wind up breaking something, getting really stuck, or hit a golf cart cresting a dune the opposite direction. Went back out to the parking lot, aired down, and made sandwiches. B couldn't get the Forester in high range (Subaru dual range trans), it just kept grinding like the synchros were shot. I had him shut off the engine. Then we slowly rolled the car back and forth while I put a big prybar on the low range shifter from the engine compartment. Eventually got it in high range where it stayed the rest of the trip.

We had to drive around the block but we got to the trails to the west into the hills. They were oil tank access roads and also went by a few ponds. Some went to the tops of hills with pretty good views and the roads in general were pretty fun, a little rough but not too bad. We eventually ran out of those and tried to figure out another area with trails on the way to Big Bend.

A ways south of there we hit some side roads. Eventually came to a gate so we went through, closed the gate, and continued. Not far from there we could no longer follow the road that was on my map. Turned back around to find about thirty cows on the other side of the gate. They associate motorized vehicles with food and water. There were some small jumps near the gate so I hit those a couple times to kill a little time but the cattle weren't going anywhere. Fortunately there was a cattle guard at the gate so I opened it and started waving them back. B was able to get in but then got kind of boxed in by cattle. Z eventually got the Outback in and I closed the gate. I was eventually able to wave a path through the cattle for them to drive through/around and I ran after them over the next cattle guard. Looked like the area around Copper Breaks had a lot of dirt roads so we went down there and camped out for the night.

In the morning we started driving down some of the side roads looking for dirt roads but they were all gated/private.  We basically drove straight to BBSP from there. Met slammo just as it was getting dark and followed him up the roughest trails we'd do all week to our campsite in the dark.

Took one trail that was on the main state park map but kept dead ending in and along a wash so we took the long way around he'd taken before. There was an old dilapidated windmill at the site and a new picnic table.

The next morning we trail rode the long way down to the only open ranger station. Cool desert mountain views, all the trails are what we'd consider Jeep trails, fairly narrow and rough. Took part of the main gravel road to the ranger station. They did have showers, bathrooms, water, and ice, all of which some of us got in on.  We took the long way south to another campsite on a saddle. Took a hike down into a valley and hiked back up in the dark and set up camp.

Saw several decrepit windmills, at least one with dead windmill, IC engine tossed aside, and solar powered water pump in their place, three generations of water pumping technology.

We hiked to a waterfall one morning, it wasn't visible from where we were at through the vegetation.

We did more trail riding the next day including a fairly overgrown trail that had some deep ditches crossing it that were a little challenging. It's funny to me that the Lexus certainly made it through/over everything but was often fairly tippy or scary to watch or ride in. My Outback crawled with similar ability but was much more stable. B's Forester had to go through with more speed due to a lack of low range but was also very stable and level. So the one place I had thought the Lexus would have a big advantage I think it was actually worse. Plus with the auto, slammo and I both thought it was not as smooth and controllable as the Outback. The road to a couple mines we wanted to see was closed so we hiked in to them on some of the smoothest roads we'd seen the whole time we were there. The mines were disappointing but we did see some cool grasshoppers. On the way back B and Z and I hiked down a wash for a change of scenery.  Slammo took us to Solitario bar which is an unoccupied collection of treasures on an island of private land inside the park.

We drove up to a state park that was fairly close to the start of the New Mexico Backcountry Discovery Route (NM BDR). We hadn't bought gas in three days, slammo and B both added some to their cars while we were in BBSP but I didn't have to add any to the black Outback.

In BBSP we saw javelinas, a tarantula, and mule deer including a big buck. We also saw antelope and elk and more mule deer on the trip.

Edited December 1, 2021 by pontoontodd

[pontoontodd]

Drove north and stopped at a little grocery store in a small town.  Started on the BDR which was gravel roads for quite a while but eventually got into the Lincoln NF which had all kinds of side trails and campsites. Some of those were pretty cool, a lot of embedded rock like AZ. The forest and mountains reminded us some of Wyoming and northern AZ. We drove along a ridge/bluff when we first got in that was sort of like the Mogollon rim, not as dramatic but still cool.

More big grasshoppers, I had forgotten about the mouse sized ones we'd seen near Texana.

Much of the BDR was just dirt and gravel roads but one section in particular was a rough rocky steep climb. Friday night we looked for a lower elevation campsite as it had gotten fairly cold the night before. Stopped at an observatory which was pretty cool. Drove down the BDR towards Alamagordo and camped in a clearing down off the highway.

There were quite a few springs along and near the BDR.

B's Forester's front suspension was making a lot of noise so we swapped out the rear control arm bushing since it's a pretty quick fix.

The next morning we did more of the BDR. We stopped at a Mexican restaurant at a reservation and ate lunch. Eventually we got back to a highway and figured we needed to start heading home on highways to get back at a reasonable time. B had to air up his tire we'd plugged the sidewall on fairly regularly and I had to keep putting oil in my engine due to a leak but other than that the drive home was fairly uneventful.

Definitely left us all wanting to do more of the NM BDR.

One thing I was definitely impressed by was the overlanding/sleeping setup of slammo's Lexus.  I've thought about doing that to an Outback for years but it's always seemed like there wouldn't be enough room to sleep and would make it hard to haul large amounts of cargo around in when not trail riding.

We have to rebuild the Subaru dual range again, at least replace the synchro(s). Would be ideal if we just set up all the cars with the 6MT low range but that's not as simple or cheap of a swap.  Have to finish the 6MT low range for slammo and will complete a couple more at the same time.  Also we should do more shock tuning, it would be nice to be able to hammer out whoops better and ride more smoothly over the embedded rocks common in AZ and NM, even if it means bottoming out on the big jumps which we rarely see.  Have to finish long travels for slammo and travelbyota too.

Edited December 1, 2021 by pontoontodd

[pontoontodd]

Since we got back my brother bought a rust free white 2002 Forester for B with low miles (just over 100k) in southern CA.

T bought me a red 98 Impreza Outback sport near San Diego.  I plan to drive it up to my brother's house in a few weeks and then we plan to tow it back to IL with the Forester.

The Impreza is meant as a replacement for my 99 Outback which is quite beat.  It didn't give us any real issues on this trip but the body/chassis has taken a lot of abuse and I'm nervous about the wiring.  Plus little things like not being able to drive it over 20 or 30mph with the windows down or the exhaust fumes get to you, HVAC controls not working properly, etc.  My short term plan with the Impreza is to piece together some "obsolete" long travel struts and swap in a 6MT/R180 with the low range so I don't have two cars torn apart for months.  Then depending on the timing and my ambition I plan to swap in an EZ36 with a standalone this winter or next.  Other than that keep it fairly simple, skidplates and fabricated bumpers but no cage.  Might replace spare tire well with fuel cell down the road but just carry a jerry can in the meantime for extra fuel capacity.

[slammo]

Yeah this was a really fun trip, not too much carnage to repair afterward. The other guys were hesitant to come down to Big Bend but I'm glad I convinced them to check it out at least once.

The Flexus definitely did some things well; the low range and articulation being its key advantages. Only the center diff locks; the front and rear are open so the traction control works pretty hard whenever a corner gets light. Without the brake-based traction control it'd be a real pig lol. Pontoontodd is right that the higher center of gravity is definitely its biggest limitation for most of the stuff we were doing.

[pressingonward]

Enoyed your trip report as always! Those are some cool grasshoppers for sure.

[el_freddo]

Just caught up on a few pages since I last dropped in on this thread. 

Congrats on completing the Vegas to Reno rally! Sounds like a tough gig to say the least. What’s that old saying about real race drivers driving their race vehicle home? Hats off to you and your vehicle. 

And I’m really stoked for you about the low range and centre diff lock! I had ideas but you’ve done something so much better than what I was thinking (mimicking the factory low range but at the centre diff). I truely hope this venture gets off the ground and that many take it up. I’d love one but as the usual Subaru fan, all desires and no cash. Plus I don’t currently have a later model Subaru for this. I’ll be spreading the word if you want it to get around, let me know! 

Love the pics. With the wildlife shots, any chance you could drop the name of the creature under the pic? The one that I was most interested in looks like two small snakes, but I think they’re legless lizards, correct?? 

Keep up the sharing and developing of parts, you’re in a tight niche market but hopefully the parts will move easily allowing you guys to do more of what you love! 

Cheers 

Bennie

[pontoontodd]

1 hour ago, el_freddo said:

Just caught up on a few pages since I last dropped in on this thread. 

Congrats on completing the Vegas to Reno rally! Sounds like a tough gig to say the least. What’s that old saying about real race drivers driving their race vehicle home? Hats off to you and your vehicle. 

And I’m really stoked for you about the low range and centre diff lock! I had ideas but you’ve done something so much better than what I was thinking (mimicking the factory low range but at the centre diff). I truely hope this venture gets off the ground and that many take it up. I’d love one but as the usual Subaru fan, all desires and no cash. Plus I don’t currently have a later model Subaru for this. I’ll be spreading the word if you want it to get around, let me know! 

Love the pics. With the wildlife shots, any chance you could drop the name of the creature under the pic? The one that I was most interested in looks like two small snakes, but I think they’re legless lizards, correct?? 

Keep up the sharing and developing of parts, you’re in a tight niche market but hopefully the parts will move easily allowing you guys to do more of what you love! 

Cheers 

Bennie

Thanks.  For now I'm just finishing three more of the STI 6MT low ranges and two of them will have homes.  It has been working great but I do want to take it out and look over it before we put them in a few other cars.  Maybe with a little more testing and a few on the shelf I will need some help getting the word out.

We've been discussing making center diff low ranges for other Subaru transmissions.  The most marketable one might actually be for the CVTs but since I'm a terrible businessman, I keep thinking about what I can make for my friends so they have a decent low range.  From that perspective the 5MT is the next transmission to fix.  There is room in the case for the low range itself but not much room for shift shafts/levers.  It seems like the only way might be to use the old 5MT cases with the inspection cover on top, which would make converting most of the 5MTs more complicated and expensive.  We also discussed doing the split case 6MT but it's actually not used in as many cars as I'd thought.

If you're talking about these guys:

They are eastern red backed salamanders, definitely the most common type of salamander around here.  They do have little legs.  Fun fact, they have no lungs or gills and breathe through their skin.

A few weeks ago we pulled B's dual range trans out of his Forester because it's been stuck in high range since our last trip.  We took it apart and the high range synchro was melted to the input shaft again.  B decided we should just try removing it. I'd thought about doing this before but always figured it'd make it a lot harder to shift. We sealed up the trans and put it back in and replaced an inner tie rod. B said it's been shifting and driving about the same as with the synchro.  Maybe it will stay in his car for a few years now. 

It would be really nice to have proper low range transmissions in a few more of our cars though.  Especially after riding in and following slammo's Lexus I really appreciate the low center of gravity of the Subarus.