Front wheels bind when turned to extreme

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My 2001 manual-transmission Forester
feels like the front wheels are
binding when I turn the steering wheel
to either extreme. At first I thought
it was the tires rubbing on the wheel
wells, but inspection proved otherwise.
The symptoms were most pronounced on
Sunday after a long drive that heated up
the engine. I couldn't reproduce them
to the same degree yesterday after my short
commute to work. There is plenty of
fluid in the steering reservoir.
What's going on?
 
My 2001 manual-transmission Forester
feels like the front wheels are
binding when I turn the steering wheel
to either extreme. At first I thought
it was the tires rubbing on the wheel
wells, but inspection proved otherwise.
The symptoms were most pronounced on
Sunday after a long drive that heated up
the engine. I couldn't reproduce them
to the same degree yesterday after my short
commute to work. There is plenty of
fluid in the steering reservoir.
What's going on?

Turning the wheels 'til they lock is very stressful on the steering
system.
 
Make sure the air pressure in all tires is the same. (Front the same on
both sides, back the same on both sides)

I run 31 in front, 30 in back. (A bit up from the recommendation)

Get a real gauge, not one of those garbage "blow the stick" ones. A real
one with a dial and needle on it. Subarus do not like different air presure
in tires and require more or less even wear on all tires to make
circomfrence very close to the same.
 
My 2001 manual-transmission Forester
feels like the front wheels are
binding when I turn the steering wheel
to either extreme. At first I thought
it was the tires rubbing on the wheel
wells, but inspection proved otherwise.
The symptoms were most pronounced on
Sunday after a long drive that heated up
the engine. I couldn't reproduce them
to the same degree yesterday after my short
commute to work. There is plenty of
fluid in the steering reservoir.
What's going on?

Do you mean when parked you feel something odd or during tight, slow
speed maneuvering as when parking?

Carl
 
Do you mean when parked you feel something odd or during tight, slow
speed maneuvering as when parking?

I should have gone into more detail.
The symptoms occured when I was turning
sharply to maneuver at slow speed.
I use the past tense now, because
I couldn't reproduce the symptoms on Monday
doing tight circles in an empty parking lot
near where I work. But they were definitely
there on Sunday with the car hot after driving
20 miles on the Beltway. From inside the
car, it felt and sounded as if there was
a flat area on the tires flapping on the pavement.
But the tires are nearly new, and I had
checked them that morning; both at 30 psi.
Anyway, I'm not going to worry about it.
The fact that the symptoms weren't there
on Monday tells me at least that I don't have
something that's coming loose or deteriorating.
 
I should have gone into more detail.
The symptoms occured when I was turning
sharply to maneuver at slow speed.
I use the past tense now, because
I couldn't reproduce the symptoms on Monday
doing tight circles in an empty parking lot
near where I work. But they were definitely
there on Sunday with the car hot after driving
20 miles on the Beltway. From inside the
car, it felt and sounded as if there was
a flat area on the tires flapping on the pavement.
But the tires are nearly new, and I had
checked them that morning; both at 30 psi.
Anyway, I'm not going to worry about it.
The fact that the symptoms weren't there
on Monday tells me at least that I don't have
something that's coming loose or deteriorating.

This is a classic symptom of 'torque bind' which can occur due to 2-3
problems ranging from use of mixed size tires (a 'donut' spare, a spare
which is almost new mixed with 3 worn tires, 2 new tires mixed with 2
worn or different brand tires,etc.) to an automatic transmission that
has gummy deposits, or bad Duty C Solenoid, to a bad center differential
in a manual transmission.
Basically, the car is in $WD mode but has no chance to relieve stress in
the drivetrain since it is on dry pavement and not water, gravel,etc.
where there would be some tire slippage.

Investigate your tires first. Search the term 'torque bind' here ,at
www.ultimatesubaru.org ,etc.

Carl
 
Investigate your tires first. Search the term 'torque bind' here ,atwww.ultimatesubaru.org,etc.

Your symptoms are exactly the same as mine were about a month or two
ago. Mine is a 2003 Outback Sport with 140,000kms. Took about a 10 or
15 minute highway drive for the symptoms to show up. Prognosis was a
center differential (viscous coupling unit) at about $1000 parts plus
5.5hrs labour.

check the tires of course to make sure they are all the same, same
amount of wear, etc, but your symptoms sound like mine!!
 
Your symptoms are exactly the same as mine were about a month or two
ago. Mine is a 2003 Outback Sport with 140,000kms. Took about a 10 or
15 minute highway drive for the symptoms to show up. Prognosis was a
center differential (viscous coupling unit) at about $1000 parts plus
5.5hrs labour.

check the tires of course to make sure they are all the same, same
amount of wear, etc, but your symptoms sound like mine!!


I read your other recent threads on this
and, yes, our symptoms are identical.
Well, to paraphrase Samuel Johnson,
the prospect of a $1500+ repair bill tends
to concentrate the mind wonderfully. On
this news, I did a Google search of the
Web (not the newsgroups) on "torque bind"
and also "viscous coupling". It seems that
the problem, if the result of a bad
viscous coupler, is causing the rear wheels
to bind, the VC being at the rear of the
transmission. On the other hand, Subaru's
tolerance for tire circumference variation
seems really tight: 1/4 inch was stated in
one forum. This weekend I'll do some highway
driving with the tires very carefully equalized
in pressure and get a feel for how long I
can postpone the repair.

Incidentally, "torque bind" seems to be
almost synonymous with Subaru, if the Google
results are indicative! I get 953 references,
but when I exclude "subaru" I get only 232!.
However, most of the chatter has to do
with older models with automatic transmission,
and my Forester is a manual 2001 (with
75K miles)....oh well, it must have been
the way the original owner drove it...
 

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