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      10-07-2017, 02:04 PM   #59
dangdude
Fixing stuff is fun.
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Drives: 07 335i 6MT, e46 zhp, z3mr
Join Date: Oct 2016
Location: St. Louis MO

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Great DIY. Adding some edge details.

Ring in post 22 is a lockring. Older BMW steering racks (e30) had notches cut into the outside of the rack ends at 12 and 6 o'clock. The lockring's ears would go into the rack's notches, and then the outside of the ring is pinged with a hammer and drift down over the hex end of the tie rod to stop the inner rod from rotating out. Not shown or presumed needed for an e90, probably because they are kind of a pain to get unfolded when disassembling. In the box because these rods likely work for other older BMWs too (tie rods have not changed in 30 years...).

Tie rods don't get installed "under load". They don't have any load most of the time. That's only for parts with rubber bushings.

To turn the ball joint nut, you can use a "helper jack" on the bottom of the tie rod end ball joint to compress the suspension a couple inches to load the outer tie rod ball joint taper into the steering knuckle hole. This works very well to keep the ball joint from turning, and it can still be tapped loose with a hammer afterwards. I don't use the torx / hex (?) connector at the top of the ball joint shaft. I keep a cheap $40 hydraulic jack around just for loading suspension parts once the car is up, but a bottle or scissors jack works too.
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