Quote:
Originally Posted by nsjames
Quote:
Originally Posted by E92William
I recently did a front one on my xi (then realized the other side also had a light howling sound  ) but your steps are good just make sure to have the ball joint separator tools since they will make your life super easy when separating the arms from the knuckle. And good snap ring pliers. I had to use small Allen keys to compress it since this piece of junk I bought from harbor freight quite literally bent while trying to get the ring in place after pressing the bearing on the knuckle. Hydraulic press has already long paid for itself.
I had no issues at all putting the axle back into the hub but maybe this has something to do with which build date your car is or whatever since some people have had problems with it, mine is 12/07. I recorded this pita of a job at least for me as a first timer but haven't put a video together |
my car was built 10/07.
I've read it's just OEM axle shafts and the reason for the twist is to bind it into the splines so you don't get noise going from reverse to drive like my wife's volvo.
I can say with certainty that without a puller there was 0 chance of me getting that shaft back in. I tried for an hour before I decided I had to make a tool before I jacked up something. |
My axles were GKN branded so while I've heard that's what BMW uses from the factory I'm not sure if it would openly have a gkn sticker. I did put a good amount of anti seize so maybe that helped a bit. Sometimes I get a bit of a clunk sound when in reverse to drive but it's super smooth and my bushings in the front are all new so idk I always blamed the pads in the caliper