Legacy / Liberty Few questions about lifting my 1995 Subaru legacy

[Mjmebb11]

Hello, new to the fourms.

I have a 1995 Subaru legacy that Im going to be lifting and preparing for some serious off-road use. I had a couple questions on if what Im planning will even work.
I ordered brand new forester 08' struts and springs and my plan was to use those with 2" strut spacers for 08' forester. The main question I have is this going to put too much stress on the rest of my car and cause something to snap? Most people I've seen talking about lifting this car or similar cars only go for the strut changeout and I haven't been able to find someone that has used both to share some insight on if this will work or if maybe I need to upgrade some things like my axle or add any other parts before I attempt this.

Also another question on the strut spacers, I've read that any spacer above 3/8 requires new top hat bolts. Is there any recommended way of getting this done? Should I just drill out the existing bolts and replace them with some from the hardware store?

 

[Kevin]

G'day & Welcome @Mjmebb11
My Foz is lifted with a combination of custom struts, King springs and strut top blocks. I have probably replaced the RHS inner CV boot more often than normal (which is also above the cat so that doesn't help) but other than that no issues.
If you get a kit like @NachaLuva SubieLiftOz it will contain all the hardware you need

 

[scalman]

hi, spacers works fine rly on high speeds or hard off road use. other thing is if you will put struts spacers on old bad struts , then nothing good will come from it. depends how much you wanna spend on it buy kits or make it .
legacy lifts only from outback struts first. and then added spacer will add even more. i love legacys i would bought legacy wagon and lift that instead outback if i would found one back then.
anything from 98-08 forester or 96-99 outback will work on this legacy and will lift it just from that.
if you would want recenter rear wheel then outback rear arm bracket will fix that

 

[Mjmebb11]

@Kevin thank you for the info!

@scalman

The struts and springs I bought were for a 08 forester and are brand new and I’m adding the “2 spacers on those. The thing about my legacy is it’s a sedan and from what I can tell most people don’t lift the sedans just the wagons… so I’m hoping to have a unique vehicle and pretty much willing to spend whatever I need to get it out on the Washington trails this year. Very helpful info thank you.

I’m glad there’s so many Subaru people willing to help out other guys like me still trying to figure it out I really appreciate it

 

[scalman]

Well first see how it will look on those higher forester struts.. maybe its enough for you depends what tires you wanna put there.
And put some pics here, its interesting to see how all that looks. And rear if it will need recenter then outback arm bracket will help

 

[Mjmebb11]

I might hold off on the spacers but its already so low to the ground right now that I’m thinking the “2 just from the upgraded struts might not give me the clearance I need. Ill post some pics now of how it looks and post some more when I finish the lift hopefully sometime mid next week once the parts arrive.
Already got my primitive racing skid plates today and getting super excited to start putting all this together,

Heres what it looks like now,

 

[Ben Up North]

Heres what it looks like now,

Hubcaps aren't going to last long when you take it offroad.

 

[scalman]

well with lift from struts and slightly larger tires can look much better

if thats not enough then can go higher

your white on black rims would look cool i think.
whats works for me is to search and look as many pics of lifted car as mine i can find on net and think what look works for me and what lift i want and what size tires...

 

[Ben Up North]

Mighty Car Mods did a conversion on youtube..
Might be worth a look?
It starts here I think:

 

[cbrianroll]

well with lift from struts and slightly larger tires can look much better

if thats not enough then can go higher

your white on black rims would look cool i think.
whats works for me is to search and look as many pics of lifted car as mine i can find on net and think what look works for me and what lift i want and what size tires...

This is great! That's my car lol! Could You tell me how you achieved the lift?

 

[Kevin]

@cbrianroll Unfortunately that is not scalman's car He has an Outback: https://www.offroadsubarus.com/threads/8412/
But I'm guessing your legacy would be very similar to my old '97 Outback so you could go with raised springs and / or a lift kit such as SubiLiftOz by @NachaLuva

 

[cbrianroll]

Lol, figures I messed that up! Thank you for the correction!

 

[scalman]

thats cool legacy for sure... just wanted to find some example how it can be done on that car. not many do those old legacys i guess. but you can lift anything, and legacys or imprezas even easier as they can fit larger obk / forester struts and/or spacers if needed.

 

[cbrianroll]

I never thought you could go that big that easily with these! That video above was great too! Anyone kno if theres a thread here about what forester struts my vehicle?

 

[Mjmebb11]

This is great! That's my car lol! Could You tell me how you achieved the lift?

I ended up just replacing my struts with the forester ones and it worked out pretty well, I didn’t get up as high as I wanted and couldn’t clear my 28” tires that I originally got to put on then so settled for some Yokohama geolanders. And yours looks very nice thank you for sharing!

 

[cbrianroll]

Sorry for the confusion, I have the same model! I wish that were mine!! Currently bought gaskets, water pump and timing stuff for repair, getting heads surfaced this week I hope.