Mystery - 32-spline axles in EA82

[jasonkaye]

Hey all,

 

I'm in the process of cleaning, re-greasing and re-booting the two front driveaxles on my 1991 Loyale 4WD EA82 manual transmission. I pulled those axles today - one axle might be OEM, and the other axle is marked with a "remanufactured" sticker.

 

I also pulled two front driveaxles from my parts car - a 1990 Loyale 4WD EA82 manual transmission. As I disassembled the "inner CV joints" of all the axles (also called "DOJ's" by the How To Keep Your Subaru Alive manual) I noticed something very strange - the inner race of the DOJ's on the axles I pulled from the 1990 EA82 have 32 splines! The DOJ cups are a bit bigger, too.

 

As far as I understand, the axles for both of these vehicles should be 23-spline.

 

Two questions:

 

1. Any ideas as to why/how those DOJ's are 32 splines? The original and only prior owner of that vehicle was an elderly person who didn't drive it much, so I doubt they did any sort of transmission conversion.

 

2. How would I modify my current EA82 (with 23-spline axles) to fit the 32-splines axles? (I'm asking more out of curiosity; I imagine this would be impractical to the point of silliness.

 

Eager to solve the mystery!

 

Jason

[Loyale 2.7 Turbo]

... the inner race of the DOJ's on the axles I pulled from the 1990 EA82 have 32 splines! The DOJ cups are a bit bigger, too.

 

As far as I understand, the axles for both of these vehicles should be 23-spline ...

 

Could you Please, share Photos of those DOJ cups with 32 Splines?

 

So we could better figure out what's going on in your Subie.

 

Kind Regards.

[Dee2]

axle info

 

http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/topic/73038-axle-replacement-for-ea-series-cars/page-2?do=findComment&comment=629117

[jasonkaye]

UPDATE: One mystery solved; another mystery born.

 

One mystery solved:

 

The first mystery of the "32-spline axles" on the 1990 EA82 has been solved by me being an idiot - the axles are not 32-spline. The DOJ axle cups are all indeed for 23-spline axles; that is, 23 splines where the DOJ connects to the transmission stub shaft.

 

However, the inner race of the DOJ's on the axles I pulled from the 1990 EA82 do have 32 splines. This spline connects both parts of the DOJ inside the axle cup. This appears to be a variation in the manufacturing of the DOJ innards; this variation does not affect how the DOJ connects to the transmission.

 

Another mystery born:

 

The two pictures below pose a new mystery. You'll see that of the four front axles I pulled from similar vehicles, three of them require different sized boots. The pictures below detail this variation on the DOJ's. A similar issue exists at the other end of the axles with the CVJ's. I need help identifying the axles so that I can purchase the right sized boots.

 

Note that the infamous "Wheels and Axles" identification chart - posted above by Dee2 - unfortunately does not have the information I am looking for.