Bad bearing in rear diff

So, I have just confirmed that what I thought was a bad rear wheel bearing, is actually a bad front (driveshaft) bearing assembly in the rear diff of my 06 LGT 5EAT wagon. I'm still waiting on a dealership quote for repair, but a local alternative has suggested just getting a known good replacement diff instead of repairing mine.

Anyone have any thoughts on this? Is there something else I should be doing at the same time, like poly diff mounts? What about a different LSD?

I've been to a few autocrosses this year, and plan to run the Ontario series next year (7 to 10 events). Maybe I should look at the 5EAT mount insert from Rallitek (soft) while it's up on the hoist?

I think the rear diff in my car is the R160, but I'm unsure of the gear ratio. Does this come OEM with different gears (auto vs. stick)? I know the SpecB runs 4.11 gears, but I'm pretty sure that's in the R180 diff, so I don't have to look out for that. There's an R160 with 3.54 gears from an 02 WRX for sale locally. Will that one work?

Thanks for any help you can offer.

P.S. I was actually under the car with the tech and was able to absolutely rule out wheel bearings, diff gears, and axle bearings in the diff, so please don't suggest those as the problem.

Do you have the manual downloaded?

Was going through mine today for the 5MT,05GT has 4.111 final drive with a 2.5L turbo except for the Outback which has a 4.444

2.0L non-turbo's except for Outback have 3.900 Outback has 4.111, don't ask me what that means, I just copied it from the book.

If I'm not mistaken, there are no front LSD's for the 5EAT right now. So that's not going to work for you. As for the other questions, I cant say for sure. I recall reading some things on the boards about which ones do and dont work, but you'd have to search for those, and there are quite a few threads to weed through :S

I had to get my center diff bearings replaced, thankfully it was within 1000 miles out of warranty and subaru did a 75% coverage, so it only cost me $275 or so. So I'm guessing repairs are about a grand or so, possibly cheaper to do the swap, but then you dont know how long that one will last either. Just a thought

I got my quote from the dealer (remember this is in Canada): $1298 for a new diff plus 3 hours installation time plus tax equals $1800. Ouch.

The parts guy at the dealer is the one with the used diff for sale, and he very quickly found out that the final drive ratio I have is 4.44. So it looks like I need a diff from an 05-07 LGT 5EAT or OXT 5MT. I'll have to delve into the vacation pics to see if I can find any other donor candidates.

executor485: I was still refering to the rear LSD, which I think there is an upgrade for. I'm just about at 150,000km (90,000+ miles) so warranty is out of the picture completely.