[E92William]

Decided to move this over from the xdrive section here maybe more fitting.

Hello. I've been battling with the steering on this thing for a while already. After prying basically all suspension components all seem tight, the sway bar links are a bit beat but solid and the tension strut balljoint has a bit of up and down play which idk if it's normal. The steering linkage clunks when you begin turning the steering wheel side to side.

Steering linkage play and clunk:

Balljoint up and down play:

All suggestions are appreciated. I think the play is for sure at the linkage and not the rack (phew!) anyone had to replace this part?

[E92William]

I was looking online and the price for this part is rather outrageous for what it is. A very similar part for any other car is about 100 bucks or so. So me being the cheap ass that I am. I think I'm going to try and find one at the junkyard and see if the u joints can be replaced

This is a picture of what the lower part of the linkage looks like. Anyone replaced a u joint in something like this?

[Justin Daniels]

Unfortunately, they are "staked" in and non-replaceable.
You'd have to cut a clip groove into the ID of the joint cups and find a replaceable unit that's the exact same specs.

Or you can go through the Borgeson catalog and try to come up with something, I have the spline measurements somewhere.
FWIW, I got my used M3 intermediate shaft for $80USD, off of eBay, if I recall correctly.

[E92William]

Originally Posted by Justin Daniels

Unfortunately, they are "staked" in and non-replaceable.
You'd have to cut a clip groove into the ID of the joint cups and find a replaceable unit that's the exact same specs.

Or you can go through the Borgeson catalog and try to come up with something, I have the spline measurements somewhere.
FWIW, I got my used M3 intermediate shaft for $80USD, off of eBay, if I recall correctly.

Yeah I realized they were non serviceable which sucks. Some people I was reading today, eat up the metal that holds the u joint in place and then place washers to align the new joint in place while tick welding them to the outside of the shaft.

I've been looking at some eBay ones I gotta shop around, most aren't cheap enough to warrant paying for a used part, and idk if this is just my car or something that's gonna fail on all shafts sooner than later.

If you got the measurements somewhere they would be of help, though I wonder if they would match my car. 08 328xi