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Thread: Changed Rear Bearings in 1 hr! Write up!

  1. #101
    Join Date
    May 2003
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    Prosper, TX
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    11,493
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    Elise, Evora, NSX,Z4
    thats just akward, when you reinstalled everything, where you able to spin the wheel freely with both rear wheels off the ground?

  2. #102
    Join Date
    Apr 2009
    Location
    Boston, MA
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    490
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    i can haz wheelz
    So what's the latest and greatest method for doing these? I think I'm going to have to tackle mine soon...

  3. #103
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Location
    Omaha, NE, USA
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    176
    My Cars
    '99 323is, '01 Regal
    I'm 0 for 2 on these. I'd recommend having a shop do it, unless you can find a place that rents out a huge slide hammer and impact-wrench-compatible hub puller.
    '99 323is=hardest working 170hp ever

  4. #104
    Join Date
    Jan 2003
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    Purgatory
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    Shopping cart magnet.
    Subscribbled

  5. #105
    Join Date
    Jul 2007
    Location
    Cincinnati, Ohio
    Posts
    468
    My Cars
    1992 325i
    I just finished my left bearing. Took 11 hrs, but that was pulling the RTA and taking it to work and pressing out/in the bearing. Be advised, the Ebrake cable will prob be frozen into the RTA and I destroyed the abs sensor trying to get it out. There is an unbelievable amount of wire in those. Outside of that, it went pretty much like the write up. A couple of things, I spritzed spray paint on the bottom where the RTA attaches to the frame so I could best reattach and keep the alignment as close as possible. And when heat is not advisable, deep cold will sometimes work. I used an inverted can of canned air which is really cold to shrink parts to help remove or install tight fitting parts. Keep your fingers out of the way, you can get frostbite.

  6. #106
    Join Date
    Dec 2002
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    Offshore GOM
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    3,205
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    E36 M3's
    For those who have done this, how did you get your emergency brake line out of the Rear Arm?
    Dakar 95 M3 (4/95 manufacture)
    Techno Violet 97 M3 (12/96 manufacture)
    Alpine White 16 535i M-Sport (10/15 manufacture)
    _________________________________
    "I have no idols. I admire work, dedication and competence." -- A. Senna
    Illegitimus Non Tatum Carborundum

  7. #107
    Join Date
    Nov 2005
    Location
    Austin, Tx. 78749
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    127
    My Cars
    92 325i,99 Suzuki
    I replaced one of my RTAs with a newer model from a pick and pull. I just used a center punch with a flat head on it to tap it out from inside your rotor assembly. I thought it was gonna be harder than it was.
    Last edited by bmr11; 05-03-2011 at 06:36 PM.

  8. #108
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Location
    Los Angeles, CA
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    2,038
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    '93 325iS
    Quote Originally Posted by Casebrius View Post
    For those who have done this, how did you get your emergency brake line out of the Rear Arm?
    you remove the emergency brake pads then the emergency brake line will be connected to the spreader. You unfold this spreader and remove the pin holding the emergency brake line to the spreader. sometimes the pin just falls out, other times you have to push it out. you can do the bearing without taking off the emergency brakes.
    ---------------------------------------------------
    FS: OEM 6-Disc CD Changer

  9. #109
    Join Date
    May 2011
    Location
    uk
    Posts
    2
    My Cars
    bmw 323 e36 coupe 1997
    Knowing that this is a difficult job I took my car to a mates garage where he has a press, we took apart the hub, shaft from the diff and hit a brick wall trying to remove the cv joint ( axle shaft ) from the back of the hub. The cv joint (axle shaft) was not for moving, we used the hammer and a bar to knock it thru the hub with no joy, we then used the tool that clamps to the hub and pushes the cv joint out when the bolt is tighten, nothing?. We unbolted the trail arm to take the whole hub off. Once off we put it in the press to remove the cv joint (axle shaft) from the hub so we could turn it over and remove the bearing. We knew the axle shaft should have come out with a bit more ease but we thought the press would sort it?!?! The press was pumped up to 1500 psi, I knew somthing had to go but didn't exspect the arm to snap!! So now I have to replace the whole hub with arm and cv joint/axle shaft, and still not got to the worse part of getting the bearing out and back in!! GREAT!!

    "Seized up" isn't the right word for what happed to me, cause you can unseize things that are!?!?
    Last edited by criticlee; 05-10-2011 at 11:34 AM.

  10. #110
    Join Date
    Jun 2007
    Location
    Northern VA
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    718
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    97 M3/4/5; 04 M3 6M
    OMG. Now I really don't want to tackle this. Sorry for your misfortune.

  11. #111
    Join Date
    Feb 2011
    Location
    Stockton California
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    47
    My Cars
    1992 BMW 325I
    It is a pretty hard job. My father in law has a lift and all the tools we needed for the job and still took us 4 hours just for one side. But we took the whole trail arm and it was easier like that. Well for us. If u don't have the proper tools don't even try this leave it for a shop. That's my opinion

  12. #112
    Join Date
    Feb 2004
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    Plano, TX
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    '96 328; '85 4Runner
    I just followed this method. Links to YouTube videos and my comments follow:

    Quote Originally Posted by Eric93se View Post
    Did you guys see these videos, its an E46 but it should be the same. They were posted in another thread, if I do the bearing I will use his methods, no banging.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKYL9_4mXRI

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DX9iCZIVgFY
    I just did mine this weekend following those E46 videos. Worked great ... maybe 4-5 hours, but could have been a lot less.

    The hub came off pretty easy using the bearing separator after removing the e-brake hardware. But reassembling the ebrake took over an hour, I hate working with drum brake springs! It would have been a lot easier if I had reinstalled the e-brake bits before putting the hub back on.

    I forgot to get the nut he mentions to fit on the end of the harmonic puller which he uses to pull the old bearing out and press the new one and hub in. So I spent some time rigging something up similar in concept using a long bolt, the yoke from the puller and washers, socket and nut on the back side. The old bearing was in there really tight after 180k miles and 15 years. Needed to give it some hard hits with a 2# hammer from the back with tension on my tool to finally break it loose.

    Since I didn't have that nut to make the re-installation press, I just used the 2# hammer. Probably would have been good to freeze the bearing but it readily went in with the hammer. Be careful to just strike the outer edges of the bearing, alternating sides. Finish seating it using the old bearing to make sure you don't stress the inner portion. Hub went right on using the same procedure. Probably not much more than 5 min to install the bearing and hub.

    The two things that really added time to my job were 1) improvising a tool when I realized I had not bought the nut to fit the puller shaft and 2) reinstalling the ebrake hardware.

    Overall the job was not as bad as I feared and total time was a little under 5 hours. Oh this was drivers side so that includes dropping the exhaust.
    David M.
    '96 328 Sedan

  13. #113
    Join Date
    Dec 2008
    Location
    Washington, NC
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    1,098
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    01 330 CiC, 05 X3 3.0
    Just to throw my 2 cents in on this job, it can go one of two ways. When I did the rear wheel bearings on my 318, it was a total PITA. The CV wouldn't come out of the hub, so I took the entire rear trailing arm off the car (which necessitated cutting the e-brake cable) and took it to a local shop I'm friendly with so they could pop it out. With extreme force, it popped out just before the tool stripped out the threads. Then I used my old method of hammering out the old bearing, cutting off the inner race with a cut off tool, installing the new bearing with a hammer.

    I have since devised a new method of installing unit bearings. I bought a threaded rod that just barely fits the hole where the axle slides through. Some big washers and 4 nuts were the only things other than that I purchased, some spare races and ball joint press tools from Harbor Freight complete the tool.

    Fortunately when I recently did the wheel bearing on my 325 the CV stub came out of the hub easily. If you are contemplating doing the job yourself, I would see the the CV stub comes out of the hub. If it does, proceed, otherwise put it back together and take it to a shop.

    Once I had the CV axle out, I used a slide hammer to remove the hub, then I used the tool and some spacers and removed the bearing from the trailing arm. I used the cut off wheel and a chisel to remove the inner race from the hub. I then used the tool to put then new bearing in. Basically you place spacers so force is applied to the part of the bearing you need it applied to and then twist 2 nuts on opposite sides of the threaded rod and the bearing slides right into place. For the BMW rear wheel bearing, you want to apply force to the outer race of the bearing when pressing the bearing into the trailing arm, and force on the inner race when pressing the hub into the bearing.

    All told it took about 2 hours to do the rear wheel bearing.
    Last edited by ConvGeorge; 05-16-2011 at 05:06 AM.

  14. #114
    Join Date
    Aug 2009
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    Here, there, everywhere
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    330iS
    Anyone had any issues removing the half axle shafts from the hub? Axle nut was easy to take off with some heat, Kano Sili Kroil, and a large breaker bar, but the axle shaft is proving to be stubborn. Tips?

  15. #115
    Join Date
    Feb 2004
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    Plano, TX
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    '96 328; '85 4Runner
    You have removed the E Torx bolts to the diff first right? Personally after I did that I could just pull the axle out of the hub with a little tug. But I have heard people have issues ... probably up north due to rust. So soak in PB Blaster, some light taps with hammer to set up vibration and give it some time. Using the same puller in those vids bolt the yoke to the hub and use center bolt to press it out. Or a BFH with appropriate drift. But it might just be seized up and require a shop. ... see post above yours.
    David M.
    '96 328 Sedan

  16. #116
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Location
    Fort Worth, TX USA
    Posts
    39
    My Cars
    Between e36's
    My driver's side rear bearing went out during a highway trip. By the time I got home and noticed it, th brake disk was wearing into the caliper. I couldn't get the axle out of the hub, and then removed the whole control arm assembly to take to a shop and get pressed out. Which only broke the arm. We both guessed that the highway time after the bearing gave probably heat welded the parts together. I went to a junkyard and pulled a control arm through axel assembly for $130. Now for an alignment.

    I found that if you are going to pull the whole control arm off, you don't have to disconnect the sway bar or drop the exhaust. A good air wrench has no problems getting any of the bolts off, including the e-torx. It just needs a long extension to reach them.

    Link to another good thread on this topic.

  17. #117
    Join Date
    Jun 2008
    Location
    asheville, NC, usa
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    28
    My Cars
    '94 318i
    I'm in the middle of taking apart the rear end of my e36 318i and am having a bitch of a time getting the driver side axle nut off. The passenger side came rite off with no problem. I have PB Blasted it, given it plenty of taps with a hammer to try and loosen it, I don't have a torch so I hit with a heat gun on high for quite a while or so.

    Anyone got any other tips or suggestion? Is it a reverse thread on the driver side?

    Adam

  18. #118
    Join Date
    Jun 2011
    Location
    Miami, Florida, USA
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    '94 325i '04 Cooper S
    Zo i have to actually take out the axle? Or just disconnect it from the diff?

    Sent from my SAMSUNG- Infuse using BF.com

  19. #119
    Join Date
    Aug 2011
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    Vancouver, BC, Canada
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    99 M3 Vert
    Quote Originally Posted by silversam3052 View Post
    Zo i have to actually take out the axle? Or just disconnect it from the diff?

    Sent from my SAMSUNG- Infuse using BF.com
    Axle comes off.

  20. #120
    Join Date
    Jun 2011
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    Miami, Florida, USA
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    '94 325i '04 Cooper S
    How on earth! I've been stuck on that all day. I even took out the hub but still haven't been able to take out the axle.

    I'm sorry do I have to take it out through the control arm?
    Last edited by silversam3052; 05-22-2012 at 05:42 PM.

  21. #121
    Join Date
    Aug 2009
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    Sweden
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    www.garaget.org/skillz
    You should NEVER use a hammer to "whack" the bearing in, that is wrong and NOT what you should do, you should always have a puller or slide it in, NEVER EVER whack it in, this will most likely destroy the bearing.

    As a worker at BMW using a hammer to beat the bearing is not in any way recommended to do.


    The axle can be on pretty tight if it's gruffy and dirty on the splines, i've had a car where i had to heat the hub up for almost an hour before i could start using the puller to get the axle out with alot of brute force and a 30lbs hammer beating onto it with another hammer inbetween in copper as not to destroy the end or threads of the axle.

  22. #122
    Join Date
    Jul 2008
    Location
    Meadowlands, NJ
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    1,012
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    03 525iT 05 330Ci Cab
    Great write up. You convinced me to let my indy do it for me!
    Still have all my fingers, less a pound of flesh, car runs nice and quiet now.

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