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After fitting std Liberty shafts in my conversion
(for those that dont know)
Vortex - EJ20G (full 5 speed man drivetrain)
Liberty front hubs / steering knuckle - using Crossbred modified control arms, and crossbred rears.

There doesnt seem to be much discussion of shaft length or mods that I can easily find. The searches I have done reveal lots of talk , but very little actual info.

As stated, I am using STD Liberty front shafts, but they are too long, and blowing out my front wheel bearings - as well as killing the CVs.

I have done about 50k since the conversion, so a fair amount in a year.

The closest I have come to any usefull info is Chris Rogers GT2 build up thread so far. He used - Gen 1 Liberty outer, Gen 2 Liberty inner and "L" series 4WD shafts on the front. I have heard of powerfull engines killing "L" series shafts? True or false? Shaft size seems to be close to a Liberty, so should be ok - yes?

Anyone else found probs or solutions? Have I missed a main thread on this topic ?

The STD Liberty ones obviously fit, but they are way tight , fully compressed and after taking them apart, the cages have actually started grinding metal from the end of the cup.

Any thoughts? What have I missed here?

I suppose there are a reasonable amount of "L" bodies with EJ conversions that also have 5 stud Liberty front conversions..... YES ?


Thanks guys

L series turbo shafts are thicker than the n/a,maybe stronger.

Chris,

4wd SHAFTS ARE THE WRONG SPLINE COUNT!!!!

been there already. I used carby front wheel drive items. its the length that kills them liberty are 20.75 long. L series are 19.75 long. when looking for them you need to look at the shaft its self - there will be ONE raised band on it. if you see that you have the correct shaft.

the inners/outers are 22 spline and the fwd shaft is the ONLY one that fits (22 spline both ends.) I spent a good hour with driveline services looking at their books to find this then another 4 hours digging around yards finding two of them. in all the shafts are cheap - I would suggesst getting everything redone though. its roughly $300 to do that.

questions - ask

one thing I did note- the shafts I had (turbo liberty) were VERY close in diameter to the L fwd items. my reasoning is if you do not thrash the thing it will last.

last time I did a g-force measurement, it was in the 180 - 190 kw range. Not that I drive like that all the time, but being an ex rally car engine and gearbox, I dont know what it was rated at. I accidently 4 wheel drift when off a straight line, or hill start or in the wet because of the grippy clutch - so just wanted to make sure it was going to be strong enough to cope.

Driveline (Newcastle) are doing the job, but was stumped on friday, so I have emailed them with details of what I have found so far. They are contacting Brissy in the morning to find out more I believe.

Thanks for your info, I have a few shafts floating around, ("L"series) 2x na's, 2x FWD turbo and 2x 4WD turbo - just not sure which is which

ok look at the ends. the rings will determine what you have. you need ONE raised ring. 3 rings are turbo shafts. the 2 ring ones are NA 4wd.

when talking to driveline have them ring archerfield. they are the ones that did the job. think is was scott.

I had the same problem when I took the entire jigsaw puzzle to drivleine in brendale. they were stumped as well and suggested custom ones. I didn't take no as the answer and rang acherfield explained what I needed and what I had. from there it all fell into place.

questions ring me during the day.

Cheers mate, Ill leave a reply with the result.
I really appreciate your imput.

I am supprised no one else seems to have had any problems...although, everything has seemed fine to date - untill some noises started to develop.

NO PROBS

I'll know how well they work in a few weeks once mine is sorted.

I have Impreza ones in the MY and had them shortened to suit. They were cut and welded with the join within the boot so in the worse case if the weld breaks there won't be a shaft flying around just no drive. Done 10 000 k's on them so far without a drama. Cost $50 and still use the Impreza joints.

legacytt wrote:I have Impreza ones in the MY and had them shortened to suit. They were cut and welded with the join within the boot so in the worse case if the weld breaks there won't be a shaft flying around just no drive. Done 10 000 k's on them so far without a drama. Cost $50 and still use the Impreza joints.

That is cunning Ian, I like it.

props to you guys for keeping it open to us all so we can pick up a bit of info here and there.

I used a mish mash of the CV lego myself for ages, I was using RX turbo inners on NA shafts on MY inners...ordering nightmare.
Now running RX turbo complete shafts due to the recent MY - RX knuckle swap.

There usually is a combo that can be put togther with all the bits out there.

legacytt wrote:I have Impreza ones in the MY and had them shortened to suit. They were cut and welded with the join within the boot so in the worse case if the weld breaks there won't be a shaft flying around just no drive. Done 10 000 k's on them so far without a drama. Cost $50 and still use the Impreza joints.

Illegal in NSW. Not allowed to cut and shut drive shafts like that. Ok on the tail shaft as you cut one end off then join it to the uni holder.

I've just got standard '94 non-turbo Liberty shafts in my L series, they seem fine. Although I'm using the L series awd box at the moment rather than the Liberty one. We'll see what happens when I put the Outback one in.

with 5 stud swap or without?

Driveline put in a standard Liberty shaft in mine - friday 14th Sep, but it is too tight. That is with a 5 stud liberty conversion. It "just" fits, but as the suspension gets lower, the tighter it gets. a 3" lift is much easier, but my wheel bearings are groaning from sideways impact.

Even putting them in, it was compressed to the max. I don't know what PeeJay has, but used with the 5 stud lib knuckle, it's just too tight.

Driveline hasn't got back to me yet with what they are going to do, but I am sure I will have the answer next week.

wnat me to find the correct ones?

mine has more than enough side travel to stop crushing bearings.

Thanks Chris, I have passed the info on to them, and they have talked with Steve at Archafield I believe, so they shoudld have it under control.

If they dont, I may take you up on the offer. It has been fine for over 20K, but obviously there is cause to get it done properly - and also to re do the pass side bearing - which is giving the noise atm, but it isn't urgent.

I just want to get it right this time - something that no one reallly knew too much about at the time of doing EJ conversions with modded suspension..

we all learn ....

Yes, Crossbred kit with one Legacy and one WRX knuckle, and I've had both Legacy and Impreza struts. I do have a 2" body lift but I don't think that makes any difference. I initally had WRX shafts but they were on loan so I got some standard lib ones to replace them.

Another suggestion is to cut and shut the control arms longer, I initially did this before I got the crossbred kit to join the lib arms onto the l series ones so the balljoint would fit. Handling was much better, I'm considering doing it again. (Only reason I took them out was I got the angle on the ball joint wrong so it would reach full travel and clunk all the time)

Fury wrote:Thanks Chris, I have passed the info on to them, and they have talked with Steve at Archafield I believe, so they shoudld have it under control.

If they dont, I may take you up on the offer. It has been fine for over 20K, but obviously there is cause to get it done properly - and also to re do the pass side bearing - which is giving the noise atm, but it isn't urgent.

I just want to get it right this time - something that no one reallly knew too much about at the time of doing EJ conversions with modded suspension..

we all learn ....

IF I can get it I'll try to get a copy of their shaft book. that will give lengths and spline counts so it should make doing this a bit easier.

the shafts I'm talking about are fairly common so getting them wont' be a problem.

I have an L series wagon with an rs liberty turbo motor, awd gearbox and rear lsd diff. It was running 14" white rims, but now I've put the crossbred kit with 16" wrx rims in and after bolting everything up the front wheels are way to tight to turn!
The knuckles are series 1 liberty, and the spring and shock upright is from a gc8 wrx, the driveshafts are liberty ones which I was told are all the same length, they have 25 splines either end, the shaft has three ring marks on it.
Can anybody suggest what is wrong? The only thing I was told it might be is the gearbox might not be centred?
Thanks in advance,
Deano

too tight to turn, (brakes, rubbing on something), or too tight to steer