Limited slip installation instructions with pics

[STiPWRD]

Have any photos? First thing I'd check is that all of the case bolts have been removed. Some of them can be camouflaged along the middle of the case. Next is to make sure you unscrewed the 4 bolts holding the flange on one of the shafts (located in the rear). This flange is attached to both case halves.

[Rob T]

I was just playing with my exploded 5-speed and couldn't get the case apart. I had forgotten to take off the throw-out bearing on the end. It was my first transmission....after I destroyed that, it came apart easy.

[Dave 53]

It was the two camouflaged bolts in the middle. I actually figured it out and came in to report my finding and saw your suggestions. Wish I asked about 3 hours ago.

Thanks for the quick replies!!!!!

[Dave 53]

A summary of my LSD installation experience in hopes of helping others...

1. Pulling the tranny requires removing the clutch slave cylinder. I installed a new seat while the tranny was out and without thinking, I gave the clutch a test press and the peddle went to the floor and stayed there. ****! After spending a ridiculous amount of time trying the bleed it, I figured out what was wrong. Because of the tranny project, the rear end was jack up. Turns out you can't bleed a Subaru clutch if the master cylinder is angled front end down. Once I set the rear down and raise the front end, I was able to bleed it. Don't forget to clamp the slave piston all the way down when bleeding. Better yet, make sure no one presses the clutch peddle while the tranny is out!

2. The case will not split apart unless all the bolts holding it together are out (wish someone told me that when I started).

3. Backlash - Upon reviewing the internet (mostly YouTube), there are a couple of techniques for measuring the backlash. The way I did it is, after taking the rear case off and before cracking open the main case, I measured what the previous builder did for backlash (and preload). I marked the sundial location, then tightened it until backlash was zero and counted how many sundial notches it was - in my case 3.5. It seemed very easy to determine when backlash was zero. For reassembly, I simply set the backlash to 3.5 notches. So, I don't know the exact backlash value - only that it's the same as it was before I opened it (hope the last guy got it right).

4. Getting the bearings off the old diff - One popped off with just a little bit of prying. The other was a bit more stubborn, but with just a little bit of even heating with a MAP torch, it came off.

5. Putting the bearings on the new diff - They didn't slide on at room temperature. I froze the diff for about an hour and heated the bearings in the 200* oven for about 20 minutes. The first one slid about halfway on then got stuck. Follow step 4 above to get it off. Then I froze the diff overnight and heated the bearings for an hour. Both bearings dropped right in.

6. Axle clips - My 5 speed is a 2002. The diff is female and the axle CV is also female, so it uses a stubby axle shaft to connect the two. On the OEM open diff, the axle is retained with a circlip in a thin and shallow grove. The new diff is designed to use a 2mm snap clip (part number 28333AG010). This required making the stub axle grove wider and much deeper. I couldn't figure out if there is a Subaru part number for a stub axle with the grove for the 2mm snap ring vs. the circlip. Four machine shops pointed out that the stub axle is case hardened steel and it's not an easy job to widen / deepen this grove. Two turned the job down and one said it would take him several hours and cost many hundreds of dollars. I found a fourth guy willing to do it for $120.

7. Make sure all three shift forks are in neutral when reassembling the rear case.

While it took me many weeks to complete for personal reasons, the job wasn't as scary as I was expecting. This original sticky post and comments along with a couple of YouTube videos really helped (of course ignoring the obvious YouTube hacks).

[lance corsi]

I opened up the original snap ring groove to accept the circlip by chucking the stub axle in a lathe and while turning at about 25 rpm, I used a cutoff wheel to both widen and deepen the groove until I had it deep and wide enough to allow the circlip to fully compress below the root diameter of the splines. It is not need to be as precise as most might think.