05 Turbo Baja Rear Subframe

[Ercoupe1]

Rear subframe on my 05 Baja turbo automatic has pretty much seen its better days. Subaru no longer offers the subframe so does anybody have any idea what the Alternatives might be? I'm getting so much conflicting information I'm trying to do the right thing without wasting time and money. Any help will of course be greatly appreciated.

[Guacamole]

Well you're in luck, the 2000-2004 Outback rear subframes are still in stock. As far as I know these should fit since the Baja shares most of its components with this gen Outback.
Baja subframe (20152AE03A): https://parts.subaru.com/p/Subaru__/Sus ... AE03A.html
Outback subframe (20152AE00B): https://parts.subaru.com/p/Subaru__/Sus ... AE00B.html

Oh hey here's one $103 off: https://www.subarupartsdeal.com/parts/s ... ae00b.html

[Ercoupe1]

I appreciate your help but I'm still very confused. Subaru part number for the subframe is no longer available if I check the Outback part number it says it does not fit my car. I would just like to find out what the difference is I've been told the 03 will accept the Outback subframe but the 04 through 06 won't but no one's been able to tell me what the difference is. If the parts are close enough to be modified that I would gladly do that but I need to know what the difference is before I throw $300 for a hunk of Steel that I might not be able to use.

[mike-tracy]

Well you're in luck, the 2000-2004 Outback rear subframes are still in stock. As far as I know these should fit since the Baja shares most of its components with this gen Outback.
Baja subframe (20152AE03A): https://parts.subaru.com/p/Subaru__/Sus ... AE03A.html
Outback subframe (20152AE00B): https://parts.subaru.com/p/Subaru__/Sus ... AE00B.html

Oh hey here's one $103 off: https://www.subarupartsdeal.com/parts/s ... ae00b.html

That's interesting, since the 05-06's use the 4th gen legacy style multilink suspension. For the older parts to work, I'd imagine you'd have to swap everything over, maybe minus the hubs. Unless you can mix and match between 3rd and 4th gen legacy rear suspension components? (I don't know, I'm speculating).

[mike-tracy]

I appreciate your help but I'm still very confused. Subaru part number for the subframe is no longer available if I check the Outback part number it says it does not fit my car. I would just like to find out what the difference is I've been told the 03 will accept the Outback subframe but the 04 through 06 won't but no one's been able to tell me what the difference is. If the parts are close enough to be modified that I would gladly do that but I need to know what the difference is before I throw $300 for a hunk of Steel that I might not be able to use.

Lots of parts interchange between subarus, that don't officially 'fit.' Easy examples, are doors between bajas and outbacks. (you have to swap rear glass, but the wiring harnesses are plug and play).

Personally, I'm not sure what all changed between your 05 Baja and my 03 Baja, to know if you can mix and match components.

If it were me, I'd go on car-part.com and find a junkyard with an 05-06 Baja, in a rust free state (california, oregon, Washington, Florida, etc), and have them ship it. I'd give them a call so you can confirm the part isn't in poor shape. You can pick a different part (I wasn't able to figure out what they call a rear crossmember, for example) to find the car.

[Guacamole]

That's interesting, since the 05-06's use the 4th gen legacy style multilink suspension. For the older parts to work, I'd imagine you'd have to swap everything over, maybe minus the hubs. Unless you can mix and match between 3rd and 4th gen legacy rear suspension components? (I don't know, I'm speculating).

Really? I thought it was the same between 03-06 and only the springs were different between the 03s and 04s on out. The outback changed a gen in the 05 model year but as far as I know the baja stayed in the previous gen and was basically a "legacy" model (hah, get it).

[mike-tracy]

That's interesting, since the 05-06's use the 4th gen legacy style multilink suspension. For the older parts to work, I'd imagine you'd have to swap everything over, maybe minus the hubs. Unless you can mix and match between 3rd and 4th gen legacy rear suspension components? (I don't know, I'm speculating).

Really? I thought it was the same between 03-06 and only the springs were different between the 03s and 04s on out. The outback changed a gen in the 05 model year but as far as I know the baja stayed in the previous gen and was basically a "legacy" model (hah, get it).

Check it out: https://parts.subaru.com/a/Subaru_2005_ ... 01-03.html

The first thing I clicked on was the upper control arms. Compatibility - 2004-2006 Baja, 2005-2009 Outback (base, XT and H6).

I don't think we have established that the components from the 2005-2009 Outback and 2004-2006 Baja rear end will fit on a 2003 Baja and 2000-2004 Outback. And that's why I posited that you might have to swap everything over.

[Ercoupe1]

I would have thought that this whole process was going to be a lot easier. I can't be the first person that's wanted to replace the entire rear suspension and I was pretty certain that this information was going to be readily available. Boy was I wrong however I will follow through and get this done and I'm going to Archive this information somewhere to save somebody else from having to go through this. Fortunately my rear suspension is still serviceable so I have some time well at least I think I do I'm 70 now and I would like to have this done before I'm 80. Well thank you all for your input and time I will certainly let the Baja people know how this progresses.

[mike-tracy]

I think that saying 3 dudes on the internet having a discussion is hardly conclusive about whether parts interchange between outbacks and bajas.

I already mentioned it above, but you can get the parts from the correct Baja fairly easily.

Car-part.com, choose your car -
-2005
-Subaru
-Baja

For the part, I selected
-Body
-Fender
- RH (right hand)
(Just an easy way to sort through all the Baja's in the system, but you are only interested in the 2004-2006 models)

Give those junkyards that come up a ring. They will be happy to mail you as little or as much as you want from those cars, if they still have it in stock. I wouldn't waste your time on junkyards in rusty areas.

[Guacamole]

To the manuals we go! (I should've done this in the first place)
source: https://www.scoobytruck.com/pdf/Baja_2003-2005.pdf
well according to this the 03s use AE00B and the others use AE03A

baja_rear_subframe.JPG (218.21 KiB) Viewed 14802 times

Someone on Subaruoutback.org also made a handy post and video guide on it!
https://www.subaruoutback.org/threads/d ... ss.514209/
https://youtu.be/9khkWYH6fDo

[BajaTim]

Relatedly: I am looking to replace a rusty floor pan crossmember which MAY OR MAY NOT BE IN STOCK - I am trying to identify the actual part (name, #, description) - anybody know? I’ve been searching “Floor pan rear crossmember” - quite a few different parts with that name.






Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[ericoid]

Did you ever figure out what that floor pan crossmember is called or part number? Mine is almost gone and I'd really hate to have to try to fab it without more of a reference..