dragging / whirling noise 90 legacy..

[rednotch]

I'm new to the subarus so I need some help with mine. I'm fixing a 90 legacy LS while using it as my daily driver its a 2.2 with 211,000 fwd non air suspension. the engine and tans. are in decent shape save for a few leaks I still need to fix, but overall nothing major. My main problem is suspension / driveline as the car sat for almost 2 years. I've replaced the struts, mounts and most of the bushings. I still need to do the ball joints, outer tie rods and new inner bellows / dust boots.

 

Since I first drove the car it made a dragging noise that got louded with speed and side-side movement of the steering wheel. I though it was a stuck caliper or just the heavy scale rust on the rotors. New pads/ rotors and rebuidling the calipers didn't chage it aside from giving me working brakes. I'm leading towards the wheel bearings or the diff as the source now but haven't had time to take it apart. The wheels seem to spin freely without a load on them. It does have some side to side and up / down movement at the front knucle but the tie rods and ball joints are in need of replacement. I assume I'll need new races, inner and outer seals along with inner and outter wheel bearings per corner could anyone point me to a chain parts store that stock these things and what I should expect to pay for them? subaru parts are pretty much special order items around my area for some reason.

 

Also regarding the diff what type of fluid and how much does it take, is it case fill or does it fill through the trans? I've flushed the coolant, brake fluid and power steering already along with an oil change but I still need to flush the auto trans and change the diff. fluid.

[nipper]

i cant tell you about the scost, but the parts arent anything special, somone here will give you advice about where to buy.

 

Just dont overdrive the bad bearings, as what will come back to get you is the hubs. i have over driven bad bearings (its amazing how much abuse they can take and still get you home) and ended up buying hubs from a dealer .. ouch.

 

nipper

[Setright]

Yep, bearings are the place to start. Rear bearings are the weakest.

[Guest jclay]

Not Long ago Subie Gal posted a link to her dealership's online parts store, about a week after I dropped $125 (I think) at my local dealer for the bearings and all seals. I don't remeber what the total came to on the site, but it was better, and shipping wasn't bad either...sorry I don't have the link handy...anyone?