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I'm having a bearing or gear type noise in the front of my GEN4 Liberty, only seems to be road speed related and have ruled out tyres. A Subaru dealer diagnosed it for me today as the bearings in the centre diff and quoted me around $2.4k to fix, but no details on parts and labour breakdown as yet.

Has anyone else had this problem or similar? Can it be done without removing the geabox from the vehicle? Is this a relatively common failure?

Oh, and would this be a relatively easy backyard job to pull down the transfer case or just to swap it out with a replacement unit?

the picture below shows a centre bearing on the diff for a subaru box (thanks Alpineraven for the picture)


the box must be removed then split and the old bearings pressed off and the new ones pressed on.

I hope this helps answer your question.

TOONGA

Wait, hang on that shows the front diff and section of gearbox doesn't it? I was talking about a bearing in the centre diff / transfer case, for which I assume you only need to remove the rear section of the gearbox? If it turns out not to be a bearing in there, then that other picture should come in handy

My parents Gen IV GT had this same noisy bearing problem in the transfer case, dealer fixed it, but i'm sure it didnt cost nearly that much.

That price includes 5 hours labour and a new viscous coupling, but I'm not convinced the latter is necessary. It costs a little under $1500 just for that part. Other than that there's only 2 bearings, new oil and a gasket.

I have a late center diff here ( compete transfer ) for $200.00 + shipping say $80.00 from Perth ??

I removed it to use the 4.44 crown wheel and pinion. There is no known fault with the unit. Its 3 hours DIY if you have the tools & it can be done in the car
gaskets will cost $13.00 + oil as you mentioned

TOONGA wrote:the picture below shows a centre bearing on the diff for a subaru box (thanks Alpineraven for the picture)


the box must be removed then split and the old bearings pressed off and the new ones pressed on.

I hope this helps answer your question.

TOONGA

Not a problem
Cheers
AP

got talking to an owner of a 2007 Foz who had similar woes of bearings in his manual box after warranty. was not happy as he was gentle on it, got similar size quote , then went elsewhere for $1700. Allegedly it was a known problem item and has been rectified with later models, just wasn't a recall

For $1700 surely they've replaced the centre diff and not just the bearings, but in my case that would've been a waste of money as there was and still is nothing wrong with my centre diff. Ended up costing about $210 for all 4 bearings (2 on output shaft and 2 on diff shaft), 2 gaskets and a rear main seal, $44 for bearing removal and pressing, and about $120 for 3 changes of oil to flush all the really fine particulates out of the oil. Probably 10 hours labour bfor two backyard mechanics but we did stuff up a few times, probably do it in 6 if we had to do it again.

Oh, the labour was a carton + pizza.

Be aware, that if is left for to long before being repaired, the Viscous coupling can cause the bearings to chew out the rear alloy gearbox housing. Then you will need one of them as well.
The couplings expand and put sideways force on the bearings, causing them to fail.
The worst I have seen is where it has got to the stage of chewing a couple of mm of the side of 4th gear, due to splitting the bearing next to it.
Fix it before it gets bad.
You could buy the couplings from the states, were selling for about $650us, last year. have not looked recently.