Don't have time to look at the video now, but 88.5 lb-ft applies to the front caliper bracket bolts. The caliper (to bracket) mounting bolts are 19.9 lb-ft.

 

Caliper support bracket bolt torque is 135 N.m or 99.6 ft/lbs. in 2019 Legacy-Outback manual. If you have a tech bulletin from Subaru why would you put any faith in some YT video spoken torque spec?

 

The values I included above are from the 2017 service manual.

Edit: Here is info from the service manual. They give you two sets of values, one for 16" wheels and one for 17" wheels. I am not sure that the Gen 5 was available with 16" wheels in the US. However, the bleeder screw and bracket to knuckle torque values are the same. but the caliper to bracket values are different in the two drawings.

 

Excellent!. Exactly what I was looking for. 88.5 lb-ft it is. I'll retorque them.

Where can I purchase the official service manual for my 2015 model?

 

Is in necessary to remove the bracket in order to properly clean the mating surfaces? I'm on my 1st OB and brakes are not on my radar yet.

 

The bracket can stay put for any brake service. It is however easy to remove and put back (if you can get the darn torque spec right) and easier to clean on a bench. You'll need a breaker bar, and a torque wrench extension to seat the socket properly on the upper bolt.

 

Interesting, seems they bumped that torque up quite a bit, my 2015 FSM has 59 ft-lb for T3 (pg. BR-4). Guess that's where Paul got his value from. Seems most backyard mechanics don't often check these values, but as a newb I like to be sure I've got it right.

 

And.... I'm back to 59 lb-ft !!!

Again, would appreciate a pointer to how I can get my hands on the 2015 Outback FSM.

 

I would suggest you recheck them after a period of driving - no idea what that might be. Perhaps there is an issue with the manual spec, hence the bulletin? I got a pdf version for 2019 on line but don't have a link to the site. Google for your year + Subaru Outback service manual and you'll probably find it. They had lots of versions listed.

 

Thanks @Micron ... Will recheck the torque.

Subaru online does not list FSMs. However, I found a host of Subaru FSM pdfs (1990-2020) in the following link:

Subaru Factory Service Manuals (FSM) - Every Model - USDM/EU

A home for die hard Subaru Legacy, Outback and Baja fans!

sl-i.net

 

Pretty sure there were no hardware changes to the brakes throughout Gen 5, so I'm guessing they just decided to increase the torque spec on those bolts after that recall was issued. That's a good-sized bolt, so I'm pretty sure it can handle 80-100 ft-lbs, just might be a little harder to wrestle out next time. I just did the front brakes on my wife's Ford Fusion and the bracket bolts were very similar. Factory spec was 80 ft-lb. They were nicely frozen with rust but I was able to get my impact on them - piece of cake.

 

The recall I mentioned was specific to the 2017 model year. Someone reported stretching their bolts when they tried torqueing to 88.5 lb-ft on their 2015 model year. Subaru might have just beefed up the bolt grade afterwards.

I'll stop by the nearby dealer with my VIN and pick a pair of these bolts (under $2 each) and inquire on why the different torque specs across Gen 5. Will report back any useful info.

 

@MoBar65 I think that's where I got mine from. My pdf file name is the same one that's available there for 2019. Still no 2020 version I see.

 

I recall reading a thread in the Gen 6 subforum where they were discussing availability of FSMs and someone was saying that Subaru had stopped issuing them in PDF format. There were accessible in some other way which sounded like it could be more difficult to export, but pretty sure there was a workaround.

 

88.5 lb-ft is what I see in the service manual for 2006 Tribeca, which has an identical caliper. I tighten to 85.

 

Interesting, yeah, I'd be surprised if they downgraded the bolt. Pretty critical to the safety of the car.

 

I looked through the service manual corrections to see if that section had been updated between 2015-2021... the only brake torque spec that was updated was the bleeder screw for the 2016. So they're just different for whatever reason.

That's the bad thing about those PDFs... when there were updates, the PDF was never updated in the system, but the service diagnostics section was (that's the HTML online version).

 

Looks like there are two versions of the bolt holding caliper bracket to knuckle, part numbers 901000316 and 901260023. The former one is a flanged bolt and the latter one (named "bolt and washer assembly") comes with a captive lock washer, but no flange. Most likely the torque specifications are different between the two types, and it could be so by mistake, because both are M12x1.25 and of the same grade.

 

Looks like there are two versions of the bolt holding caliper bracket to knuckle, part numbers 901260013 and 901260023. The former one is a flanged bolt and the latter one (named "bolt and washer assembly") comes with a captive lock washer, but no flange. Most likely the torque specifications are different between the two types, and it could be so by mistake, because both are M12x1.25 and of the same grade.

Good detective work! Only the latter part number is now available at parts.subaru.com and it is the one mentioned in the 2017 model year recall with a specified 100 lb-ft torque.

 

The first part number in my previous post should be 901000316, the rest still stands.