four wheel drive shaft fell out

[urabus]

the four wheel drive shaft fell out of my 94 subaru. kinda scary when
it happened but any way. I diconnected the shaft from the rear axle
because there was no use in trying to fix it. the carrier bearring
mout rusted away from the floor of the car. So, I no longer have
four wheel drive option. My questiom is , can i drive the car like
that? i realize that i need to keep the hole plugged up on the tranny
where the axle shaft was. But will this work? will the motor be
running to freely?

 

[bgd]

Holy cow.
The vibration attacking you wasn't a tell tale sign?
Just a bad bearing in the lighweight subaru sounds like a fire house alarm
times 10.
Can I call you numb without offending?
Maybe a weirdo to while I am at it.
A "numb weirdo".

2 wheel drive will keep it going like a b17 without a rudder, but for an
emergency trip home...

WEIRDO.

 

[Porgy Tirebiter]

Holy cow.
The vibration attacking you wasn't a tell tale sign?
Just a bad bearing in the lighweight subaru sounds like a fire house alarm
times 10.
Can I call you numb without offending?
Maybe a weirdo to while I am at it.
A "numb weirdo".

2 wheel drive will keep it going like a b17 without a rudder, but for an
emergency trip home...

WEIRDO.

Wonder what will fall off next.
Make sure to plug the holes in the floorboard so the damn thing doesn't kill
you.

 

[johninKY]

Sounds like my kind of car. Keep on trucking.

 

[Joe Kultgen]

the four wheel drive shaft fell out of my 94 subaru. kinda scary when
it happened but any way. I diconnected the shaft from the rear axle
because there was no use in trying to fix it. the carrier bearring
mout rusted away from the floor of the car. So, I no longer have
four wheel drive option. My questiom is , can i drive the car like
that? i realize that i need to keep the hole plugged up on the tranny
where the axle shaft was. But will this work? will the motor be
running to freely?

That depends on the model. If it is a Loyale that uses the "on demand" 4wd
you can turn on and off with a push button all you need to do is cap the
rear of the trans so no dirt gets in or lube gets out.

If it's an impreza or legacy that has full time 4wd you'll be lucky to get
it to a scrap yard under it's own power. These models have either an
electronic controled clutch or a viscous coupling between the front and
rear wheels and everything must be properly coupled to the ground to keep
from toasting the trans.

Later,
Joe

 

[S]

Hi Urabus!

the four wheel drive shaft fell out of my 94 subaru. kinda scary when
it happened but any way. I diconnected the shaft from the rear axle
because there was no use in trying to fix it. the carrier bearring
mout rusted away from the floor of the car. So, I no longer have
four wheel drive option. My questiom is , can i drive the car like
that? i realize that i need to keep the hole plugged up on the tranny
where the axle shaft was. But will this work? will the motor be
running to freely?

Probably would work OK, but you are gonna have real difficulties
"plugging" the rear of the tranny; the output splines extend past the
seal, and there's nothing to retain the front section of drive shaft
if you were to try to use that. Unless the seal is made, tranny fluid
will run out as fast as you can put in it.

Possible, I suppose, that you could figure a way to thru-bolt the
center bearing carrier up thru the floorboards/center hump . . . Then
again, you might wind up _wearing_ the drive shaft if it lets go again


You might be able to find and swap in a FWD only tranny.

Whatever you decide, you probably will not want to pay a mechanic to
do it; you will exceed the value of the car rather quickly, just in
labor. Realistically, if the car has that much rust you'd probably be
better off to simply find another one; perhaps one that needs a motor
or tranny, if you are capable of performing the swap yourself.

A salvage yard will probably offer you $400-500 for the car if the
engine and tranny are good and reasonably low miles; say less then
150K. Much more than that, and the car is probably worth a couple
hundred at the crusher, but that's about it. Sorry to be the bearer of
bad news, but it just doesn't make good sense to put money into a car
with serious chassis problems.

ByeBye! S.

Steve Jernigan KG0MB
Laboratory Manager
Microelectronics Research
University of Colorado
(719) 262-3101

 

[Carl 1 Lucky Texan]

the four wheel drive shaft fell out of my 94 subaru. kinda scary when
it happened but any way. I diconnected the shaft from the rear axle
because there was no use in trying to fix it. the carrier bearring
mout rusted away from the floor of the car. So, I no longer have
four wheel drive option. My questiom is , can i drive the car like
that? i realize that i need to keep the hole plugged up on the tranny
where the axle shaft was. But will this work? will the motor be
running to freely?

you might ask around at www.ultimatesubaru.org - those guys have found
lots of - ahem - 'creative' ways to keep soobs on the road.