Front suspension swap done (mostly)

[GreaseMonkey03]

So I finished the front swap today from an 03 forester into my 97 legacy OB. Figured I'd post notes in case anyone needed the info as there are some minor differences. If you're gonna do this or something similar, have tools. Lots and lots and lots of tools! I did this at work side by side on two lifts with access to a compressor, torch, welder and a shop full of tools and it was STILL challenging. But I also dropped the entire front as one unit. It would be way easier to take it out piece by piece. That's how I put it back in. A jiggle jack only helps so much. If someone can tell me how to post pics I'll gladly do so. I can't from my phone, I think the files are too big. Anyway, on to the meaty stuff.

 

The lower side frame rails on the forester won't transfer over. Don't even try. Impossible unless you reengineer the whole damn car.

 

Crossmember is a direct swap. Only difference here is that the forester has mounting locations for the side rails. I also used the aluminum spacers from the forester. Different design but way lighter, won't rust and bolts direct. They are also the same height so no extra lift.

 

Steering rack is a little trickier. You have to keep the power steering lines from the OB, they hook up but the bends on the rack are slightly different so you will need to remove the bracket that holds the lines together. The splines are also different on the input shaft of the forester. I cut and welded the top portion of the OB intermediate shaft to the bottom of the forester shaft. Measure and mark 300 times and cut once! I used the forester tie rods. They look the same or at least close enough. Didn't want to take it apart only to find out the inner is a different thread so I didn't bother looking.

 

Front sway bar is also a direct swap. Forester has slightly different bends due to side rails but bolts up. End links are different but since I was using the forester control arms it didn't matter. Mounting location is in the same place and you can probably use the plastic OB ones.

 

Control arms are the same except for the design of the end link mount. Boxed on the OB vs a tab on the forester.

 

Knuckle is different mostly because of ABS. The OB abs reads off the inside of the rotor. The forester unit reads a tone ring on the axle. My only advantage here is getting larger rotors (and a lot less rot, which is why I did this swap). I haven't tried to tackle the abs yet. Didn't even look at the plugs. I'll update when I figure that out. I have a complete donor car which means I also have the 16 inch wheels, the rotors will NOT fit inside the 15" wheels on the OB.

 

If you use the forester struts, swap the brake hose too. I have brand new OB struts and springs installed so I kept those and used the OB brake hose. The only differenc is in how they mount to the strut. Both bolt to the caliper exactly the same way.

 

Axles are not interchangeable because OB uses stub axles and forester doesn't. The OB axles fit fine but don't have the tone ring. So I'll order 02 forester axles to hopefully be able to get the abs to work. The spline count at the hub is the same.

 

Don't need to do anything with the brake lines but the bends are close enough so I will probably hack the last few inches or so into the OB because they are ready to rot through and one already did.

 

Motor mounts are slightly different. Forester mounts have placement tabs in addition to the stud. OB has only studs. For whatever reason I was having trouble lining up the forester mounts. Most likely because of the way the engine was being suspended from above. I reused the OB motor mounts but I'm certain the forester ones will fit so I'll try those again when I put in the lift kit.

 

So everything minus the axles,knuckles and rack is a direct bolt in affair. Rack can be made to work. Knuckle works but abs is unresolved at this point.

 

As far as the other way around (from OB to forester) nothing swaps over except maybe the control arms if you use the plastic end links.

 

Hope this helps out the OB parts hunters out there!

Edited February 19, 2017 by GreaseMonkey03

[GreaseMonkey03]

ob uses plastic bushing style end links. Forester uses ball joint style end links. looks like the forester lower control arms reflect this offset. So they will need to be modified or you can just use the forester end links. Don't know how much room there is to "make it work"

[GreaseMonkey03]

Here we go. Before and after. Definitely worth it.