With that caught, here I am. Trakmotive extended length axles were a must up front. I also need them in the rear, but there are none in the Trakmotive catalog for the rear of my Outback. So what I’m working on right now is using Trakmotive extended length rear axles for a 2001 Forester, standard style Trakmotive rear axles for a 2001 Outback and putting them together with some DOM tubing .
I am fully aware that Trakmotive axles are made in China and are very prone to failure, but I will always keep spare axles and some kind of welder on hand. My car had green OE tips on the rear that were ready. I would stick with OE quality if the OEM made higher articulation axles. C’est la vie.
Most of my rear axle is hidden here.
Extended Length Inner Forester with 8-ball Rzeppas. Inner boards with standard outer length with tripod.
Trakmotive Forester bar on the outer edge. It looks solid. Not sure what alloy they use for these. One would think they would have a significant improvement in strength. I’ll count the miles before they go to the noise.
The Forester’s outer star, balls and cage look quite nice. It is the bell that appears to have been hastily machined and lacks sufficient case strengthening.
The outer link is cut from the Forester axle and the tripod is removed from the Outback axle. I hope to measure where I want to attach them within the next week.
I am finding that Trakmotive does not machine their clamp grooves with a ramp that would allow the rods to be removed from the stars. This is a bit of a bummer and I still haven’t decided if I want to take on modding the rods to make the axles fully serviceable or just plan on putting together more axle sets to have proper spares on hand.
