XT Turbo drive shafts in Europe

[joostvdw]

Hi all, 

I've been a member since forever and all that time I did mostly reading, but now I actually need some help with finding parts.

I still have and drive my 87 XT Turbo and I've worn out the rear (inner) DOJs. The fronts are probably not far behind and the outer joints will also have the same mileage on them so not the youngest.

I'd like to replace all 4 inner and outer joints (or perhaps complete axles) but cannot easily find the right parts in Europe. 

Since its a turbo car it has 25 splines on the FT4WD transmission and 23 splines on the stubs of the diff. If you remove the stubs there are internal 25 splines. 

Can I use EJ parts? Which ones? I can buy complete axles on ebay or Amazon but I have no idea of quality (probably spoob).

Are there reputable axle resellers in the US I could contact?

Thank you in advance and best regards, Joost from the Netherlands 

[joostvdw]

I see there is not a lot of responses, I guess it's difficult finding quality axles for everyone?

Would this impreza axle work in the back? It seems that the splines and length are oke?

https://www.autodoc.co.uk/gsp/13921401

[joostvdw]

Surely someone must've already tried fitting EJ axles in the rear of an EA car?

[el_freddo]

Rear EJ CV shafts won’t fit the EA gear. The outer stub axle is a completely different design. 

Inner cups MAY fit the original EA rear shafts but that’s a big gamble to make for two inner cups. 

Best bet would be to contact places outside of Europe. Subarino could be a good source, I can’t say if he’s got exactly what you want but he might be able to source and ship the parts you need. 

Otherwise second hand is your best bet. 

Cheers 

Bennie

[kayakertom]

Can still buy them through Rockauto:

 

https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/subaru,1987,xt,1.8l+h4+turbocharged,1270640,drivetrain,cv+axle,2288

[joostvdw]

@el_freddo You are right, I had another look and the EA series rear CV axles have female splines on both ends and a stub axle in the hub. Second hand is not available here, there were only 30 XTs sold here and there are probably less than 10 EA series cars left. I will send Subarino a message/mail, thanks for the suggestion!

@kayakertom Thanks for looking that up for me! The brands I see are however the same I see on Ebay/amazon. Trakmotive, Surtrack, GSP, VSP, Cardone, are any of them any good? They are so ridiculously cheap, it can't be right. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is...

[kayakertom]

This Fall, I put on a Cardone front driveshaft from Rockauto on my '88 GL and it works fine. Have ordered many parts from them and only a small percentage were junk.

[idosubaru]

On 12/28/2024 at 4:29 PM, joostvdw said:

@el_freddo You are right, I had another look and the EA series rear CV axles have female splines on both ends and a stub axle in the hub. Second hand is not available here, there were only 30 XTs sold here and there are probably less than 10 EA series cars left. I will send Subarino a message/mail, thanks for the suggestion!

@kayakertom Thanks for looking that up for me! The brands I see are however the same I see on Ebay/amazon. Trakmotive, Surtrack, GSP, VSP, Cardone, are any of them any good? They are so ridiculously cheap, it can't be right. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is...

Aftermarket are still available in the US front and rear.  Rockauto always has options. They're often on ebay too and ebay tries to encourage international shipping.  Order them now before the US postal service has any more troubles or deficits. 

1989 SUBARU XT 1.8L H4 CV Axle | RockAuto

Rears are not XT specific: All EA82 rear axles in the US are interchangeable. EA82 models are DL, GL (wagons), Loyale, RX, XT, XT6, though I don't know if they're called the same thing in your country, but all the rears are interchangeable.   They are so vastly different from EJ axles there are no other options unless you did massive cutting and welding/converting or installing an entire rear EJ subframe. 

Can you regrease and reboot yours?  Mine have 250,000 miles (400,000+ KM) and I'd never even think about replacing the axles. I'll just regrease and reboot if needed. They'd have to fail in some way to put low grade aftermarkets on there. 

I've seen new aftermarket Subaru axles fail after 1 mile, 50 miles, and later. And it's always been EA vehicles. If you're installing them on a lifted Subaru their poor craftsmanship really shines - nearly every one clicks, pops, and hacks up a lung, then I install an OEM Subaru used unit and it works flawlessly.  GLoyale (his old username) has a shop and said years ago he has much better luck if he buys aftermarket axles, cleans them and regreases with a proper amount of high quality grease.  He said they're often lacking a proper amount of grease.

 

[joostvdw]

Sadly my rear inner DOJs are worn, they have axial/rotational play and audible clicking grinding noises. I have rebooted en regreased them in the past and they still look fine, but sound (and drive) terrible.

The fronts are not as bad (yet) but have me worried about parts availability in the future so I'd like to have something ready to go when/if I need them. At the very least they can be a stop-gap until I fabricate something using modern parts.

Regreasing the aftermarket axles sounds like solid advice 👍

Are all aftermarket axles created equally? No preferences? They all look the same to me..

[SuspiciousPizza]

Personal opinion: I'd stick to OEM axles over aftermarket ones. Specifically when looking for fronts, OEM axles will have the identification bands on the axle shaft. Aftermarket ones occasionally don't even have spline counts listed on the listings and this makes it a real crap-shoot trying to find the proper axle.

I know rears are your main priority, but I do have a used axle (I haven't torn it down to check condition) and a new-in-box factory rebuilt axle. I believe both are for FT4WD. They have 3 bands on the axle shaft. I don't have a FT4WD transmission so I won't be using them anytime soon. I bought them as part of my crap-shoot trying to find 2-band axles for a D/R 5MT.

If you're interested in them, I'd be willing to sell them or perhaps trade if you've got any 2-band axles or an EA82 cylinder head with single-port intake that isn't cracked.

 

:]

[joostvdw]

Let's see if I've got this right, I've been digging through the internet for days now and found some, but not all information:

Front; diff output; 25 spline - 25 spline (FT4WD and EJ) other EA have 23 spline
Front; intermediate shaft; 25 spline - 490mm long - 25 spline (FT4WD)
Front; wheel hub; 25 spline to 30 spline; unique for EA series cars

Rear; diff output with stub (male end); 23 spline - 22 spline (all EA cars) very hard to find anything for this in reasonable quality
Rear; diff output without stub (female end); 25 spline - 22 spline (some hard to find EJ cars have this config, but no longer available)(seems to be quite generic R160 diff)
Rear; intermediate shaft; 22 spline - unknown length - 22 spline

Do the inside and outside joints of the rear axle have the same splines? What is the spline count on the stub axles inside the rear wheel bearings?  See my edit down below.

I have found a set of NOS DOJ but they appear to be 23-23 spline and I do not understand where they go?

I was hoping I could mix and match some EJ parts to get me the right amount of splines, but the information is very limited.

I can find a 25F/22 spline (diff/axle) DOJ but it's some off brand. Also a 25M/22 spline but also off brand. I can find 23/23 spline OEM but I have no use for it? No EJ's seem to use a 25 spline intermediate shaft although people keep saying 1st gen liberty/legacys do? I keep searching in circles hoping to find the unicorn but I may be screwed. Only option left is re-using the splined sections and modifying the rest to something modern.... 

Of course I can order 4 cheap axles on rockauto, but with shipping and (import) taxes they are no longer cheap (400 euros) and very questionable quality. I am fine with spending money, but not if I end up with useless parts.

EDIT: I've just re-read the FSM and it issues a warning not to swap the rear axles end-to-end (wheel side on the diff and viceversa) so that means those splines and dimensions are the same.

Edited January 7 by joostvdw