[MrSweet1991]

Hi All,

So I bought some new shocks and I've also replaced the rear subframe as it had a slight bend in which meant the rear passenger side was very slightly out. Anyway, I installed the shock and spring on the passenger side fine but when it came to the drivers side rear things seemed off.

So, when I jacked the camber arm up to place the shock into the top mount in the boot I noticed the shock wasn't aligning with the hole, it was angled more towards me and I was trying to push the shock towards the hole but it didn't seem right so I stopped to check everything again, that's when I noticed the spring looks too much on a slant, it's like it starts straight from the chassis mount but the camber arm is over to the right.

Can anybody have a look at the video and have a guess what's going on, the first spring on the video was fine and the shock is also installed but then I pause the video and go to the other spring that's when you can compare the difference.

[Tambohamilton]

Looks pretty normal to me. You'll need to wrestle the shock a little to line it up, since the lower mount rotates with the camber arm anyhow...

If you're not sure, maybe you can post a PIC with the shock in place to show the misalignment?

[MrSweet1991]

Originally Posted by Tambohamilton

Looks pretty normal to me. You'll need to wrestle the shock a little to line it up, since the lower mount rotates with the camber arm anyhow...

If you're not sure, maybe you can post a PIC with the shock in place to show the misalignment?

I think your spot on mate, while attempting to figure out if this subframe is also bent I decided to move one arm at a time to see if the hub would pop back into place, I removed the trailing arm and the wishbone (top arm) then I could man handle the trailing arm into position with a little adjustment on the camber and toe and then I could get the wishbone to align with (again) a little adjustment on toe and camber, this time it seemed.. Maybe a little better? Either way I realised that the bottom rubber mount on the opposite side was stretched towards the subframe a bit so a must have had to force the shock towards the hole and just forgot.. Anyhow its nearly all back together and I decided to check if the brake lines where okay while it was on jack stands and FML this happened

https://youtu.be/au7x4J9BJCs

I was got so flustered thinking what if I can't turn the car off because it happened in Park and of course I had a whole bunch of red lights and ABS warnings over the dash but it shut off and I went straight to Google and found this chap mentioning the same thing that went away after he put the car back on the ground.

https://bmw.***********.com/threads/...ckstands.2910/

[Tambohamilton]

Was the drive shaft turning, but not the disc/hub, there??

[MrSweet1991]

Originally Posted by Tambohamilton

Was the drive shaft turning, but not the disc/hub, there??

That's really strange.. It actually does look like the driveshaft was turning and not the disc... My misses was recording and I asked her if the disc was spinning and she said she doesn't know doesn't surprise me in the slightest lol. I know my side was spinning though

[Tambohamilton]

Any chance the driveshaft is overextended, and has pulled out of the joint at the hub? Worth a double check before you lower it...if you haven't already done so

[MrSweet1991]

Originally Posted by Tambohamilton

Any chance the driveshaft is overextended, and has pulled out of the joint at the hub? Worth a double check before you lower it...if you haven't already done so

The driveshaft could have moved inwards or outwards from the differential but not from the hub because from start to finish I left the hubs connected to the driveshaft with the axle nuts still on. But, the driveshaft definitely looks to be turning on the video so the one place where the driveshaft could have moved awat seems to be working okay, also, connecting the hub to the arms would have meant the driveshaft would have had to been pushed back into the differential otherwise the contral arm and wishbone would have been off?

I was having a quick look online and somebody else was talking about one wheel spinning when on Axle stands and somebody replied stating that's what a differential would do, if I where to grab the spinning wheel it would then start to spin the other wheel.. My concern though is the driveshaft "was" spinning, it's just the connecting end wasn't spinning that wheel by the looks of it. I can't think what it would be, I could remove the arms and axle nut and inspect the cv joint I suppose but it would be weird as I've not really done anything with it

[Tambohamilton]

The axle nut doesn't hold the driveshaft into the CV joint...I'm not sure how BMW ones are done, but a lot of the time it's just a little spring clip because the suspension arms prevent it from falling out when everything is installed.

Don't take the CV joint or anything apart yet. Put the handbrake on, put it in drive, and see if anything at the back end is turning. The handbrake should hold both discs/wheels still, and neither driveshaft from the diff should be turning. Also the prop shaft should stay still, obviously.

If either of the driveshafts are spinning but the disc/wheel isn't, then the CV joint is the issue and I bet the driveshaft has just pulled out of its spline and needs to be relocated. You might be able to do that without removing the gaiter, but you may well need to disconnect some suspension arms in order to gain some room.

[MrSweet1991]

Originally Posted by Tambohamilton

The axle nut doesn't hold the driveshaft into the CV joint...I'm not sure how BMW ones are done, but a lot of the time it's just a little spring clip because the suspension arms prevent it from falling out when everything is installed.

Don't take the CV joint or anything apart yet. Put the handbrake on, put it in drive, and see if anything at the back end is turning. The handbrake should hold both discs/wheels still, and neither driveshaft from the diff should be turning. Also the prop shaft should stay still, obviously.

If either of the driveshafts are spinning but the disc/wheel isn't, then the CV joint is the issue and I bet the driveshaft has just pulled out of its spline and needs to be relocated. You might be able to do that without removing the gaiter, but you may well need to disconnect some suspension arms in order to gain some room.

Hi mate,

I was researching last night to understand what's in the CV joint because theres always a rubber gaitor hiding what's inside. They seem to have a weird connection with ball bearings, anyhow I forgot to lock the car so I went out and while locking the car I decided to try and spin the discs just to see out of curiosity and the drivers side spins with the driveshaft but the passenger side definitely was much lighter to spin and didn't look to spin the driveshaft so yes that CV joint has probably come out.

What's strange is a year or so back I ordered a wheel carrier and the breakers yard rounded off the axle nut and sent me the wheel carrier still attached to the driveshaft and it was the same side as what's gone now! The threads needs some work as it took a bit of a battering but I'll try that later and hopefully in a worst case scenario I'll have a second driveshaft to bolt on

[MrSweet1991]

I removed the arms and the wheel carrier and then the rubber boot and I couldn't see any ball bearings or metal pieces but the CV joint did moved towards the differential when I knocked the driveshaft with a hammer and then the wheel carrier turned with the driveshaft.

I put everything back together only to find it went back to the way it was I can only guess at the minute but maybe the circlip that's like a piston ring has broke which from a YouTube video seems to be what holds the CV joint onto the driveshaft. I'm going to eat my chicken burgers and have my cup of tea and then do it all again but swap the driveshaft to the one I had in my shed, at least I can be thankful that I used an angle grinder wire brush and some high heat paint so it's ready to bolt straight on (I'm just positive thinking for now as I'm really annoyed haha)