04fxt
New member
Hi folks, been a long time since I posted. I thought I would post something about my Suby love/hate from the past few weeks.
For those who dont know, I have an 04 Forester XT 5spd with a few minor mods.
about 3 weeks ago I was leaving work early on a friday(awesome), going through Gorham and just depositing my paycheck(also awesome), turning left from 25 onto brackett rd I got into the throttle pretty heavy in 2nd gear and BANG!!!!
Followed by some rotational clanking and grinding.... I pulled off and parked immediately. Tried running it into a few gears and it was all locked up. I let the clutch out in neutral slowly.... stalled. Awesome.
I got it to the shop and splattered the trans a few days later to find 2nd drive gear and counter gear sheared off nicely. To my surprise there was really no other damage. lots of chunks and pieces, but I think I got out cheap. Almost $800 in parts later I cleaned everything up and started rebuilding.
I have been toying with the idea of RWD for a while. I know its what makes it a Subaru.... But I love RWD anything. Plus my center diff has been chattering for a while and I didn't feel like buying another one. I took apart my center diff before going to far rebuilding, just to see what I was dealing with, and it seemed pretty straight forward. I took all the slip plates out of the rear half, welded the spiders, shaved the splines on the front half(that drive the front pinion) and finished reassembling it. I have been driving it fairly easy the last few days to make sure everything I replaced sounds good, and it drives nice! When out of the boost it drives almost the same as it did before, and feels balanced in corners. Heavy throttle provokes some fairly easy tire spin, but is still easy to control. The factory limited slip does an ok job, but can be a bit unpredictable in the lower gears.
It was always noisy before in 1st/2nd since I bought the car with 44k miles... no more funny noises and its a blast to drive, especially with all the rain lately. I will post some pics later of the carnage and the rebuild.
For those who dont know, I have an 04 Forester XT 5spd with a few minor mods.
about 3 weeks ago I was leaving work early on a friday(awesome), going through Gorham and just depositing my paycheck(also awesome), turning left from 25 onto brackett rd I got into the throttle pretty heavy in 2nd gear and BANG!!!!
Followed by some rotational clanking and grinding.... I pulled off and parked immediately. Tried running it into a few gears and it was all locked up. I let the clutch out in neutral slowly.... stalled. Awesome.
I got it to the shop and splattered the trans a few days later to find 2nd drive gear and counter gear sheared off nicely. To my surprise there was really no other damage. lots of chunks and pieces, but I think I got out cheap. Almost $800 in parts later I cleaned everything up and started rebuilding.
I have been toying with the idea of RWD for a while. I know its what makes it a Subaru.... But I love RWD anything. Plus my center diff has been chattering for a while and I didn't feel like buying another one. I took apart my center diff before going to far rebuilding, just to see what I was dealing with, and it seemed pretty straight forward. I took all the slip plates out of the rear half, welded the spiders, shaved the splines on the front half(that drive the front pinion) and finished reassembling it. I have been driving it fairly easy the last few days to make sure everything I replaced sounds good, and it drives nice! When out of the boost it drives almost the same as it did before, and feels balanced in corners. Heavy throttle provokes some fairly easy tire spin, but is still easy to control. The factory limited slip does an ok job, but can be a bit unpredictable in the lower gears.
It was always noisy before in 1st/2nd since I bought the car with 44k miles... no more funny noises and its a blast to drive, especially with all the rain lately. I will post some pics later of the carnage and the rebuild.
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