Struts for 83 GL 4wd wagon

[egowing]

Rebuilding my struts and lookin for cartridge replacement. Gabriel no longer makes em. KYB will try to match if I know the dimensions of my old Gabriel cartridge. May have to pull a strut and remove old cartridge to measure unless someone knows the diameter and length of cartridge housing, and total length of fully extended cartridge.

Ed

egowing@tds.net

[Steptoe's photos]

It would be a decade since someone sold me "low km strut inserts" . One turned out to be a dud, for starters. Then, I discovered my 84 did not even have replaceable inserts. Off to the bin they both went. Not the first time I have been ripped off by fellow Subaru cyberspace participants.

What I did was install EA82 front struts, complete with their EA82 coil springs and strut tops. I used an old EA82 strut top as a drilling guide, one stud removed to drill through while, one, then both remaining studs used in the original front EA81 hole, then newly drilled rear side hole of the three stud mounting. EA81 are two stud mount. The EA82 strut only needed some emery paper treatment to remove 0.25mm of paint and some metal in order to fit into the EA81 front knuckle.

[MELLOcholly]

On 4/18/2023 at 6:53 PM, Steptoe's photos said:

It would be a decade since someone sold me "low km strut inserts" . One turned out to be a dud, for starters. Then, I discovered my 84 did not even have replaceable inserts. Off to the bin they both went. Not the first time I have been ripped off by fellow Subaru cyberspace participants.

What I did was install EA82 front struts, complete with their EA82 coil springs and strut tops. I used an old EA82 strut top as a drilling guide, one stud removed to drill through while, one, then both remaining studs used in the original front EA81 hole, then newly drilled rear side hole of the three stud mounting. EA81 are two stud mount. The EA82 strut only needed some emery paper treatment to remove 0.25mm of paint and some metal in order to fit into the EA81 front knuckle.

I'm very sorry to resurrect this post, but how did you find those struts? Did you buy them new or find an old one in. Junkyard? I'm mostly done fixing the suspension and brakes on my '83 Brat and ended up stripping the post on my passenger front strut. After not being able to find a tap and die set to fix them, I might have to do what you did. I just wanna make sure I have all the info I need before I try to order from an auto parts store

[Steptoe's photos]

"Find" as in source them (which ones?) ? Or how did they feel in service ? The inserts were advertised on a forum, i stupidly trusted another forum member and paid for them to be posted to me, shelved until ready to tackle the job. They were advertised as only 5,000km of use. The EA82 strut, spring and strut top came out of my RXA that had been converted from air suspension to RX before I bought it. The springs were std height but after market, so a little extra stiffer - love the ride.