E34 Thrust Arms

[abakos]

Did both sides in 3 hours flat...only the second time I've ever done it. :buttrock

Last year I put in BavAuto eurethane bushings and the middles wiggled loose and goofed up my front end. I'm not sure if I screwed them up on the install or something, but it was ugly (yes I know not to torque them when the car is in the air). I got Lemforder arms w/750 bushings pressed in from racingking.net this time around. Only 80 bucks/side.

Now she needs aligned before winter...don't want to screw up my winter tires :)

[rwindleyme02]

Awesome. Sounds like all went well and you won't have to do that again for a good long while!

[abakos]

I certainly hope not...last year I did knick the boot on the lower arm, but the ball joint is still okay. I think turner sells a boot kit...I might do that before the alignment just so I don't have to puck with it in the spring.

I'm still psyched over the fact that last time it took me an entire Saturday, and this time I got it done after work before dinner.


BTW...if anyone needs the nitty-gritty on the procedure, just ask.

[Mr Project]

I just bought an e34 that probably needs thrust arms before winter... want to share that 'nitty gritty'?

[Dark Helmet]

yeah, that would be great... armen, are you calling racingking.com yet??? :D:D:D

and where is your "official welcome" post???

[shragon]

nice, you're a pro now!

[abakos]

Not a pro quite yet...:stickoutt


I'll post the "nitty-gritty" later. The www.bmwe34.net writeup isn't bad, but there's a little more I could throw in there to help the uninitiated. As the saying goes...the devil's in the details.

[Dark Helmet]

1) since the other lincolnite posting in this thread lives on my street and I will inevitably be assisting the fix... MUST HAVE DETAILS!!!!!

2) to the guy who needs to pull the VA plates off the E34 in his driveway (speaking of which, finish the jetta so you can get that thing inside!!!!!!!)..... fix your title, you now have more bling than me.... in facy you can use that "more bling that das"

3) done done and done. I'm out.

[Mr Project]

I'm waiting for the opportunity to take and post some good pics for my 'welcome' party. :D

Sadly, when the jetta is finished, the BMW still stays outside... I'm not parking brand new paint in the driveway. :(

would appreciate those details, though... I'll watch this space. :)

[JamesM3M5]

Nice work.

Remember that Urethane bushings SUCK. They sqeuak and disentigrate under heavy load. And the aluminum sleeves get crushed by the 110lb-ft toqur on the bolt, and the bolt loses its torque. It's juts a bad idea to put urethane in a car bushing.

[abakos]

James- I'm glad that you're reinforcing my general impressions on that. That car gets driven pretty hard sometimes, especially on Z-Series drives through the winding Ohio countryside. The car has been taken to its limits, and I don't think the bushings were up to the challenge. On the other hand, I'll never know if I screwed them up on the install or not. Regardless, unless it's an OEM bushing, it'll never be in my car again.

The long awaited "nitty-gritty"- But before you read on, please realize that this is how I did it, which may not agree with the preferred or recommended method per BMW. If you screw up your car or die using this method, it’s your own damn fault for believing an idiot like me. Also realize that I am a smart-ass and crack jokes as much as I can, so ignore any sarcasm that may find its way into this writeup:

Tools you need (all sockets etc. should be 1/2" drive):
- Big breaker bar, cheater pipe if you have one
- 17mm socket (for wheel bolts)
- 19mm Deep Well socket (I think...to get 3 bolts off the steering arm, might be 21mm)
- 22mm socket
- 22mm Combination Wrench
- Ratchet
- Torque Wrench for between 60-100 ft*lbs
- Regular Screwdriver
- Ramps (or a really strong skinny friend)
- Pickle Bar (or Ball Joint Removal Tool- details (http://www.bmwe34.net/e34main/maintenance/suspension/upper_arm.htm))
- Big damn hammer if you go the pickle bar route
- GOOD penetrating oil. I recommend PB Blaster. (don’t ever use WD-40)
- Floor jack and jack-stands
- Anti-seize
- 16” Channel Locks
- Work light (aka Trouble Light)

Alright, hopefully you have your pile of tools ready to go.

Step 1 – Disconnect the negative battery terminal (Ahh just kidding, they say that in all the repair manuals) Get one side of the car up in the air and remove the wheel. Make sure you use the jackstand please. If you don’t know how to do this, stop now and get help.

Hit the nut end of the bushing bolt with penetrating oil as soon as you get the wheel off, also get the nut on the ball joint asap, so it has time to do its thing.

Step 2 – grab a beer and give it a few minutes…go boil an egg or something while the PB digs in to give you a fighting chance on cracking that upper bolt loose.

Step 3 – Grab the 22mm socket on the breaker bar along with the combo wrench. The wrench will just fit over the nut end of the upper bolt, get the socket on the head of the bolt and give it hell. You can walk the nut off (don’t lose the washer), but leave the bolt in. Take your breaker bar and socket, break the nut loose on the bottom of the ball joint.

Now the only thing standing between you and victory is the that pesky taper fit on the ball joint, and it sucks.

Step 4 – There is a bit of a fork in the road here. You can try to get lucky before you take the harder route, or you can go straight to the hard route, it’s up to you. Take your big damn hammer and whack the bottom of the ball joint stud (for lack of a better term) a few times. One of mine popped out after a few solid cracks last night, the other side was together with a vengeance.

If the critter pops out with just the hammer, throw a few more bucks than usual in the offering plate next time you’re in church cuz the big guy had your back there.

More typically it’s in for the long haul. Pop the deep well socket on the breaker bar and break loose the 3 bolts that hold on the steering arm. The steering arm is the plate/part that the 3 ball joints bolt into. To access the three bolts, you might have to turn the wheel a little bit. The lower control arm can get in the way. These are a huge pain in the ass to break loose. After they are out, by some black magic the steering arm is still on like glue. Don’t worry, there is a tab/groove type thing that holds it together and aligns it. Take your screwdriver (or a pry-bar, but you don’t need much force) and pry it apart. On the front side of the steering arm there is a bit of a chamfer that allows you to pop it off the hub assembly. Be careful because now the strut assy is hanging in mid-air and can swing around.

This also works to your benefit, because it’ll swing just far enough to get the pickle bar in there.

:eyecrazy: Critical Point!- When you use the pickle bar, make sure the force you apply is directly in line with the bushing. That is to say, if you drew an imaginary line from the bushing to the ball joint on the thrust arm, the pickle bar should be a continuation of this line.

Wedge the pickle bar in as tight as you can by hand. Now grab the big damn hammer and hit it hard, like REAL hard :smash:. You’re not going to hurt anything, but if you try to play it safe and be gentle about it, you’ll grow a beard before you’re done.

Step 4b – The Contingency Plan :boink

If you can’t crack it loose with the above method, time for the ol’ blue-tip wrench :flamethro. Find a torch, propane works fine here. Heat up the entire area of the taper-fit so it’s pretty hot, then douse it with cold water. The expansion/contraction weakens the taper-fit. This won’t pop it loose, but repeat the pickle-bar procedure and you should be golden. This is what I had to do last year. The first side we spend hours on with a sledge hammer, my buddy talked to his dad part way through the job and clued us in on this method.

If you have trouble pulling the upper bolt out of the bushing, try twisting the thrust arm a little. Sometimes they can twist a little and make it hard to pull the bolt out.

Intermission – Hopefully by now you’re holding a bad thrust arm in one arm and a beer in the other. In fact, if you’re anything like me, you’d also be praying that the other side won’t be nearly that bad, but there’s only one way to find out. Don’t get anxious though, we have other things to get done before side #2.

Step 5 – Put the steering arm back on. To do this, line up the alignment slot with the corresponding features (you’ll get the idea). This can be a tricky step. The first time I did it I couldn’t get the bolts back in. The problem was that even though the slot was lined up, the arm was still a little off to the side so the holes weren’t lined up. Use your screwdriver to line up the holes. Remember that the inside of those holes are threaded, so be gentle when you do that. After you’re lined back up, put the 3 bolts back in place.

Step 6 – Grab the new thrust arm and bushing assembly (if the bushing is not pressed in, make sure the arrow on the bushing lines up with the arrow on the arm. I can’t tell you much more about it because it costs more to buy the parts separate and it’s just easier to pay someone else to send them pressed). I put a light coat of anti-seize on the taper-fit so I don’t have to go through my own personal hell next time I have to replace a thrust arm. This is probably against the rules, but I didn’t care at the time.

Position the taper fit in the steering arm and hand-tighten the nut on the bottom. Now line up the bushing with the holes and put the bolt through. Don’t forget the washer. You can hand-tighten the nut on the other end, but don’t torque it down.

:eyecrazy: Critical Point!- The car has to be down before you torque the upper bolts. This is why you need the ramps. If you torque the bolts while the car is jacked up, the sleeves will be ripped away from the bushing material when you lower the car. As much fun as it is to change out the arms, I doubt anyone wants to turn around and do the job over. If this bit doesn’t make sense to you, just don’t torque the upper bolt until later and don’t worry about the reasons.

You can tighten up the taper-fit bolt now if you want, and I in fact recommend it. The nut that should have come with the new arm is a ny-lock nut. This means that there is a ring of nylon around the inside of the nut that the threads cut into. This functions as a lock to keep the nut in place, it also keeps some crap out of the threads. As you tighten this nut, the stud attached to the ball joint will probably want to turn with the nut as the ny-lock begins to engage. Grab the channel locks and squeeze the Thrust Arm into the Steering Arm to seat the taper-fit. The taper-fit will hold the stud still while you torque it down. This can be tricky, a friend here would have been nice.

Alrighty, consider the first side to be done as much as it can be for now. Repeat procedure for the other side now. Don’t forget to torque the wheel bolts in a star pattern.

Step ? – Now the car should be on the ground, everything should be torqued except the upper bolts on the Thrust Arms. This is where you need the ramps or a really strong skinny friend. Get the front end up on ramps.

Grab the torque wrench w/22mm socket and combination wrench, go torque the upper bolts. My torque wrench wouldn’t fit, so I just cranked the hell out of the upper bolts with the ratchet instead. I think the Bentley manual said like 94 ft-lbs, which is high enough for me to just push until it stops. Try to use the torque wrench if you can though, no sense in messing something up if it can be avoided.

That’s it, you should be done.

:handclap

Hope this helps guys. Sorry it’s so damn long, I just felt like typing.

If any of the seasoned veterans care to add/subtract or criticize, feel free, you won't offend me. I'd rather see that everyone that is about to attempt this job is prepared.

I also had it looking pretty cool but BF.c gave me and error and screwed me up. Fortunately I typed it in MS Word and copied it over ;) :shifty :pityfool:

[Mr Project]

Awesome, thanks. I'll let you all know how it goes when the time comes.

And after a late-night excursion into the OH countryside on the return trip from purchasing the car, I can attest to how important it would be to have a nice tight front suspension. :D :D Y'all have some fun roads! :D