OK after staring at it for a while, I think I'm going to install the carrier and then hook the parts on. seems too precarious without a jig to brace the hubs.
OK, for the record, it is impossible to install the diff with the carrier in the car
Pretty sure most guys do the diff swap without dropping the carrier at all. There are some pretty good diy threads here. I have to do this job shortly and don't plan on dropping it at all.
Now I'm curious...
Live, Love, Life, Amazing...
the first few diff swaps I did with the carrier in place, not like removing a wheel, but can be done without too much trouble.
'93 850Ci - Mineralweiß Metallic
2001 740iL - Titansilber
ALPINA B7 -Alpinweiß III
...the price of cool ain't cheap!
Oh good...just realized I forgot to put the swaybar in before the carrier -- d'oh!
She's coming back together -- all suspension parts are in now. Looks like I need to hook up the e-brake now so I can torque the axle shaft bolts. I'm assuming these need red Loctite?
Last edited by e31jann; 04-03-2015 at 11:21 PM.
Blue Loctite is sufficient. Red is overkill and very difficult to remove.
'93 850Ci - Mineralweiß Metallic
2001 740iL - Titansilber
ALPINA B7 -Alpinweiß III
...the price of cool ain't cheap!
Yes, I was able to do the diff swap w/o dropping the rear carrier...now I have gotten myself in some real deep do do! Working on my rear suspension. Thanks too Stephen...I think I be making a call to Mr. Charlie at Gault or Mr. Bill at Lumens or Mr. Wokke in Germany for some new rear upper wishbones. Damn you guys are good! Oh I almost forgot Tom @ Wuffer...my old age creeping in!
1991 BMW 850i
2007 Honda Odyssey
2017 Hyundai Elantra
2013 Honda CRV
2003 MotoGuzzi 850 Jackal
Progress update -- I'm almost finished with fabricating the exhaust. Just need to finish welding the tips on. Very time consuming fitting the stock square-ish tips to the round Magnaflow outlets. Going to do some test drives and once I'm sure there are no leaks I'll get it powdercoated.
Go easy on my horrible welds Gas feed kept coming loose on these. Will have to redo it with a tig one of these days.
Rear suspension is all back together, but I can't get one of the e-brake cables to fully release. Probably not a big deal though. Had a beastly time pressing in the new front control arm bushings. Tried PVC, didn't work, too soft. Finally I found a 2" to 2-1/8" exhaust coupling at autozone which was the perfect size. Used that to press out one of the old bushings, then cut the center out of the old bushing and used that to press in the new one.
Last edited by e31jann; 06-28-2015 at 03:15 PM.
Couple questions on the rear end rebuild:
1. What is the best way to press out/in all the rear end bushings? Are the BMW tools required or is there a good generic "tool kit" to get for this purpose?
2. Can I get away with a 6 or 8 ton press instead of a 12?
Last edited by Dr. T; 07-04-2015 at 08:48 PM.
I used a 12 ton press, primarily because of the size of the opening. I removed and pressed in all of the bushings with this press. I got some steel pipe piece of various diameters from the local metal mart and used those instead of purchasing the $700 toolset from BMW - works exactly the same.
'93 850Ci - Mineralweiß Metallic
2001 740iL - Titansilber
ALPINA B7 -Alpinweiß III
...the price of cool ain't cheap!
Tx, thanks for the reply. Can you recall how many different sized diameters and lengths are required for the job?
Would the local H. Depot/Lowes have every size needed, or would I have to go to a pipe specialty shop?
Last edited by Dr. T; 07-05-2015 at 02:37 PM.
There were only three diameters that I used to press the bushings in and out. I also had the bushing press kit from Harbor Freight to use as standoffs. The pipe pieces were only like 2-1/2" to 3" tall.
'93 850Ci - Mineralweiß Metallic
2001 740iL - Titansilber
ALPINA B7 -Alpinweiß III
...the price of cool ain't cheap!
So is this enough reason to step up to polyU bushings or Spherical (Wokke's)? Quality control issues suck.
I can buy the OE and CSi rear trailing arm's front bushing each for $82 USD and $122 USD respectively now on ECS tunings site...
gotta get this fixed this winter as I have sheared bushings currently. Car still seems to handle nicely tho.
I swear, my cars are like a girlfriend.
Sometimes its a rough ride, sometimes its smooth motorin'.
Sometimes she doesnt like how i treat her and sometimes i dont like how she behaves.
BUT at the end of the day, she loves it when I am inside her.
Stay away from that PolyU crap - it has no longevity at all...
'93 850Ci - Mineralweiß Metallic
2001 740iL - Titansilber
ALPINA B7 -Alpinweiß III
...the price of cool ain't cheap!
+1 definitely quality time in the shop after first snowfall
So has anyone else ordered OE bushings and experienced bad clocking of the rubber/metal arm inside the metal housing?
I need to order a set ASAP and I'm looking for any advice on if BMW has upped their quality control on these parts.
the original parts lasted me about 24 years, so longevity seems to be quite ok. I love the Wokke idea, but worry that they may induce road vibration and cause more stress on the other ball joints of the trailing arm to wear faster.
I swear, my cars are like a girlfriend.
Sometimes its a rough ride, sometimes its smooth motorin'.
Sometimes she doesnt like how i treat her and sometimes i dont like how she behaves.
BUT at the end of the day, she loves it when I am inside her.
yeah i noticed. and the CSi bushings used to be just $117 and now are $187. damn i should have bought them back in sept/oct
having said that if i knew the CSi did have great QA/QC compared to the normal non CSi bushings id pay the extra charge just for the confidence/convenience of maybe not having to return them after receiving in mail.
Last edited by clockwork; 02-10-2016 at 12:16 AM.
I swear, my cars are like a girlfriend.
Sometimes its a rough ride, sometimes its smooth motorin'.
Sometimes she doesnt like how i treat her and sometimes i dont like how she behaves.
BUT at the end of the day, she loves it when I am inside her.
m10n, can I ask about your comment of the mounting shaft looking to be free spinning and therefore not functioning as possible?
No I have never held one of these bushings before so i'm not sure if the metal arm does or does not rotate inside that metal sleeve.
But wouldnt it be smarter if the metal arm could rotate inside that metal sleeve that is bonded to be rubber mold?
It would be more beneficial if it WAS to spin freely in the rubber, without moving laterally as that would be a great design would it not?
Then the car's suspension could articulate without putting any rotational stress on the rubber mold, and hence the same design as what Wokke has made with his spherical bushings.
just thinking out loud
Wokke, do you have any pics of your rear trailing arm's front bushing?
I swear, my cars are like a girlfriend.
Sometimes its a rough ride, sometimes its smooth motorin'.
Sometimes she doesnt like how i treat her and sometimes i dont like how she behaves.
BUT at the end of the day, she loves it when I am inside her.
I have just tackled the job of removing the rear carrier and i found some of the shelf sphericals that fit in place of the control arm bushes. Should i put those in or stay with rubber? The sphericals will be more precise, but our rear suspension has only 4 rubber elements per side, would removing 2 of them put too much stress on parts such as beer cans?
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