oooo Posted December 5, 2006 Share Posted December 5, 2006 I see people with lifted 1986-1989 body style gl wagons that run wheels with offsets that stick out up to 2 inches past the fender and their wheel bearings seem fine, haven't read any horror stories, but how are legacy wheel bearings compared to gl bearings, I have read they have problems and are weak, not as bad as forester or impreza wheel bearings. I was wondering if you lifted a legacy could you use wheels that stick out 2 inches past the fenders, or would legacy bearings not be able to take that and need to be replaced after a very short amount of time? Or will that kind of offset even tear up the wheel bearings of a gl. Any info will be greatly appreciated Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Numbchux Posted December 5, 2006 Share Posted December 5, 2006 it depends. those wheels are usually also wider. so there isn't that much extra stress on them. however, they're not too bad. we had to put a set in my mom's car ('92 legacy) after a little over 200k of normal driving. you may put a little extra stress on them...but I don't think it would be that bad.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeneralDisorder Posted December 5, 2006 Share Posted December 5, 2006 Yeah - when you use larger offset rims, they are generally wider. I'm using 7.5" wide rims, so really most of the extra width (about 2") IS the change in offset. In other words the weight of the car is still pretty much where it was before on the bearings, you just gain more width for larger tires. Really, the bearings last a LONG time in stock form (150k+), so even if it cut the life in half, that's a small price to pay IMO. And most of us tend to NOT drive our lifted rigs as daily's. The tires are too expensive, loss of good mileage, lack of swaybars, and other modifications generally make for a vehicle whose daily characteristics are poor. Add to that the extreme availbility of cheap subarus, and that in stock form they make excelent daily's (especially to someone that has a ready made parts supply and tool-set for his lifted rig), and you have a recipe for a multiple subaru owner in short order. Everyone that has off-roaded with me started with a regular soob, lifted it, then got another one once they found out how much it sucks to not have a daily/parts runner/backup after a few trail runs with me GD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snowman Posted December 5, 2006 Share Posted December 5, 2006 Most of the wheel bearing issues I've heard about on any of the subarus have been caused by severe use, mainly going through super-deep water and/or rockcrawling type wheeling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oooo Posted December 7, 2006 Author Share Posted December 7, 2006 Thanks for the info, I already have a subaru as a daily driver I guess its time to start looking for a project subaru Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Numbchux Posted December 7, 2006 Share Posted December 7, 2006 I should mention that I had a wheel bearing fail about 8k miles after the lift on my wagon. but the car was 220k miles old, had been cared for pretty badly (I have no reason to think these bearings would be anything other than origional), the car had been under water numerous times, and I had probably swapped an axle in and out of that side 4 or 5 times in that period of time. 2 of which on the trail (I'm sure I got some sand or something in the grease in the process...). and, it's not a big job. if you can change an axle, you can change a bearing...no need for a press or anything, just a big hammer, a big socket extension for pounding out the old one, and a big socket (the 36mm that you used for the axle nut works well) for pounding in the new. just make sure they come out and go in even, and you're set! Bearings are really quite far down on the list of things to be concerned about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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