stan_t

You still have your stock Forester struts? Measure distance from bottom of strut to lower spring perch. Forester perches will be higher than WRX. Using Forester rear struts with WRX springs would result in exactly what you have.

Disconnect the rear sway bar to make sure it's not binding, though I doubt it could support that much weight.

Stan

__________________
Shocks > struts.

Beep_09

Thread Starter

I'm not really sure what you mean by this. I'm fairly certain that the end links have not been touched since the car rolled off the production line in 2004. Most of the suspension items looked to be about 95K miles old from the looks of it.

Beep_09

Thread Starter

I'll have to do that when I get home from work. So, you are saying that if the measurement from my stock suspension matches the distance on the new ones that I have forester struts (albeit a lot newer ones)...however w/ the sti pinks I still should have a drop no?

Raise the car, disconnect swaybar, lower car, reconnect, re-evaluate ride height?

jstawgn

The end link have the tendency to over extend and flipped the other way when you disconnect the strut. Then basically it jammed itseft to the lateral link and prevent the suspension to cycle properly.

stan_t

Yes, if the measurements match, they are Forester struts (not too likely, but worth checking). No, it would not have a drop since the perches will be 1/2" higher, plus the damper rod travels higher and spring won't be as preloaded = rear end up in the air. We made that mistake once on an install day with WRX rear wagon springs and Forester GR2 struts.

Stan

__________________
Shocks > struts.

Beep_09

Thread Starter

That makes a lot of sense thank you for the explanation. I have a good feeling that this is what happened, so hopefully I can get that fixed tonight. The CV shaft replacement on the front is a whole different ball of wax

Beep_09

Thread Starter

Stan, thank you for your help as well trying to locate the issue.

Beep_09

Thread Starter

After getting the rear back in the air it did not appear that the swaybar had flipped whatsoever.

We also measured the struts and the new ones are a full inch shorter from bottom to lower perch....

At this point all I can hope for is that the struts are so cold and having been uncompressed for awhile in the cold are having a hard time settling down. Maybe once we finish and go for a quick drive it will settle in.

At this point hope is my strategy.

fircrest

Stand on the rear bumper and jump up and down. That's what I always do lol

__________________
Giant 29er - 04 FXT MT - 61 Studebaker Lark

Meeners

Put the front on and then take pictures again, sir.

stan_t

Dampers cannot support the weight of the car. Having shorter springs in rear than front will result in rear sagging as we all know. You can do the fronts to see what happens, but your problem will still exsist IMO.

Stan

__________________
Shocks > struts.

Beep_09

Thread Starter

Stan, I'm not really sure what you mean. The springs are longer/more coils in the rear than in the front. I've not read many instances of other people trying to run this set-up and having issues with the butt way up in the air. Usually the opposite and they have to get spacers.

The only issue I'm aware of from lowering the car is changing th geometry of the suspension and added pressure on the end links. If I'm running on an impreza chassis and the weight of my car is not much different than an impreza why would putting impreza suspension on my car end in this result?

Beep_09

Thread Starter

Should be able to by tonight. I had to get the lower ball joint pressed into the hub on the front left, which my neighbor should be doing for me today. Once that is complete I can finish it up and put it on the floor...so many problems but you know 8 yr old car so what do you expect.

Beep_09

Thread Starter

Car sitting high after jacking up... FIXED - Page 2 - NASIOC

I found this thread over on Nabisco...this guy had water in his strut which didn't allow it to compress to the right height. Hydrolocked strut...unlikely but possible give that I bought them from a wrecked car off of CL.

Meeners

The only reason I say to throw your fronts on, is in my experiences when doing suspension swaps I've noticed what you experienced doing the rears first. Since most of the weight of the car is toward the front when the front is lifted higher, the rear was higher as well. It's similar to when you jack up the front of a vehicle and the rear is slightly decompressed as a result.

I'm not jumping to any conclusions saying that that will fix anything... (so it would be nice if people would stop insinuating that) but having the car settled on all fours will give a better synopsis of what's going on. After that then everyone can jump forward and give you better direction on how to fix it if it's still an issue.