1978 323i driver/project

[320iAman]

Its good those parts are still around.

Randy

[cgifool]

Rear wheel bearing parts arrived from Rock Auto yesterday.

Tonight in the 30 minutes I allotted for car work I removed the castle nuts from the two rear hubs.

Since the trailing arms were already off the car, I found two short m8 bolts and put them into two adjacent holes in the axle stub, with the hex heads aligned - this gave me something convenient to hold tightly in the vice.

Removing the two giant cotter pins was probably the hardest part!

After spraying some PB blaster for good luck, my 1/2" Kobalt electric impact successfully got the castle nuts off! Hallelujah!

Finally, before washing up for the evening, I sprayed more PB blaster at the base of the threads so it can be soaking down into the hub splines for a day or so before I start trying to pull the hub.

[cgifool]

This evening I successfully disassembled one of the rear wheel hub assemblies! It was a lot less painful than I'd been afraid of.

The 3-jaw puller was a total failure - the jaws couldn't get a good grip on the hub, because its a little rounded on the back side.

Fortunately I remembered the bolt grip puller that I bought literally 30 years ago and never used once. I was able to attach it by pulling a couple thick bolts through 2 opposite lug nut holes with a washer and nut on the back. I oiled the tool up and used the 1/2" impact wrench again to tighten the center puller bolt - it had to work pretty hard, but before too long the hub made a popping noise and came up a little, then came the rest of the way without much struggle. YEAH!

I was able to beat the axle stub out by threading the castle nut on until it seated, then hammering on the 36mm socket with my 5lb window sash weight.

Finally, I hammered out the two wheel bearings with my largest drift, made from half of a 2002 axle - seems appropriate

One slightly concerning thing, I only found one bearing shim, under the outer bearing - no shim under the inner bearing. Its -possible- one fell out and hid itself when the bearing flew out.. I'll do my homework and measure everything to see if it adds up.

From reading past posts on the forum I was expecting shims under both bearings...

Glad I decided to do this, even though it felt smooth enough before I took it apart, the outer bearing is clearly pretty rough. The inner isn't TOO bad, but still clearly ready for replacement. Looks to me like it's never been apart before.

The whole disassembly part took about 90 minutes, including 30-40 minutes wasted fooling around with the 3-jaw puller and looking for bolts for the bolt-grip.

[320iAman]

There is only one shim on the outside, your bearings are different sizes . 30x58x16 and 30x62x16, When you put it back together, dont forget to put in "never seize" or similar on the splines, that way they wont get as stuck long into the future, lol

The old shim should work just as well as long as the bearing thickness is the same and the spacer sleeve isnt crushed,,210 ft lbs is standard for the castled nuts although some figures are higher.


Randy

[cgifool]

Thanks for the confirmation on the shim! And also for confirmation on the anti-seize on the splines - that was my inclination as well. I cleaned up a little corrosion on the splines and have spent the last four or five sessions painting and painting.. Just one more coat to go on the left trailing arm and backing plate before I can start reassembling that side.

[cgifool]

I started to reassemble one of my trailing arms, but when I got to the outer wheel seal, I realized the part I'd gotten from Rock Auto was 3mm too thick and protrudes from the hub.

Looking at the old one (which I haven't yet pulled the hub off), there's no way this thicker seal will work. I'll have to reorder the proper thing.

The original seal is 42x62x7, but Timken seal 224250 is 42x62x10.

[cgifool]

The new thinner rear wheel seals came today, perfect flush fit when installed.

With a toothbrush I applied a very thin layer of anti-seize to the axle splines and hub splines both, and reinstalled the hub. Tightened the castle nut only until seated. I ordered new split pins from the BMW dealer, for once they were just about the cheapest option ($1.99 apiece, no shipping).

[320iAman]

You have to watch sites,, eg Rockauto shows bearings for the Getrag 245 layshaft as being a certain size they carry,, these are not right and wont work. On a side note , I just got my second output shaft bearing for the Getrags 245's I have in from England via registered mail--lightening fast delivery for not much dollars, there is 14 bearings in these and I now have 4 for each with 10 more to go for each, I also upgraded the input shaft bearing for a lot less, its a heads up deal in these things..


Randy

[cgifool]

Yesterday and today I tore down the other trailing arm - after removing the castle nut (which I'd already loosened up previously), the hub slid right off the stub axle without even needing the puller (and the splines were greasy)- shocking.

This trailing arm had the remnants of a BMW part sticker on it and the halfshaft was dated 1999..

Hammered out the bearings and saved the shim, wire-wheeled and sanded off the rusty bits, flattened the bent parts of the backing plate and cleaned off the rust holding the e-brake doodad to the trailing arm.

Cleaned up the lot with solvent, ready for paint..

[320iAman]

Looks like the previous owner had been working in that area which is a plus.

Randy

[cgifool]

Several more days of painting (2+ coats on second trailing arm, axle stubs, backing plate).

Today I replaced the CV joint that had a little play (new replacement from Ireland Engineering). I'd been a little concerned about the difficulty of removing the old CV joint, but it wasn't bad at all. After removing the end cap and the retaining snap-ring, then pulling back the CV boot and clamping the axle in my vice with bad CV facing down - I was able to drive it off the axle with a brass drift (aimed at the star-shaped part with female splines). I guess I didn't really need to be careful removing the old one since it's trash, but whatever.

I saved the old end caps and installed two new CV boots and grease while reassembling. Haven't quite finished it up yet (replacing the grease in the other CV joint and installing boot clamps) -but the hard part is done!.

[cgifool]

Reading one of my favorite threads on FerrariChat, I learned that I should have not painted the machined mating surfaces between my trailing arms and backing plates (and elsewhere like caliper mounts), because the bolts can loosen and cause a dangerous situation when the paint breaks down.

Fortunately, this discovery won't cost me much time to fix, as I have only barely started putting anything back together again.

I had been wondering about this very question, glad to know the answer! The only reason I painted those areas to begin with is because they had some rust on them when I took them apart. I'm thinking I should just rub a little grease into those surfaces before reassembling.

[AndronPrime]

Reading one of my favorite threads on FerrariChat, I learned that I should have not painted the machined mating surfaces between my trailing arms and backing plates (and elsewhere like caliper mounts), because the bolts can loosen and cause a dangerous situation when the paint breaks down.

Fortunately, this discovery won't cost me much time to fix, as I have only barely started putting anything back together again.

I had been wondering about this very question, glad to know the answer! The only reason I painted those areas to begin with is because they had some rust on them when I took them apart. I'm thinking I should just rub a little grease into those surfaces before reassembling.

That’s good information. I just painted my e34 trailing arms too. I’ll have to make sure those areas get cleaned up!

[cgifool]

I set out to chase all the stub axle threads using a cheap tap from harbor freight and it was really slow going. After ten minutes or so of super-careful work I only got two holes clean and was very nervous about the stupid thing breaking off in the hole.

So instead I took a little different approach and found the cleanest of my axle bolts and simply put a little moly grease on it and used my 1/4" impact to zoom the bolt in and out of each hole a few times. If it got tight, I simply backed it out from that point. Each time it would go in a little further without forcing the issue.

In this way I got all 24 holes done in just 5-10 more minutes - now each hole is nice and clean and I'm able to thread the bolt all the way into each one with my fingers alone. Next time I'll do all the other holes. Most of them have a little rust and bits of paint in them at this point.

I'll clean the grease out of the holes with some brake cleaner before I go to actually reassemble everything. I also generally use blue locktite on anything that doesn't have a locknut or a wave or cut washer on it.

This was a nice meditative way to get myself grounded again after a particularly aggravating bedtime situation with the kids

[320iAman]

When I chase threads, I use a thread chaser set, Metric, "This is a 7 piece set of metric rethreading taps including: M6x1, M8x1.25, M10x1.5, M10x1.25, M12x1.75, M12x1.5, M12x1.25" -from the seller ,US $18.99/free shipping, thread chaser will clean the threads and remove debris. I have this set, rethreading is kind of a misnomer,thread chasers are not actually taps.

$_61.JPG

https://www.ebay.com/itm/METRIC-THRE...ss!95821!US!-1


Randy

[cgifool]

Thanks! I found and ordered the same set for $21 shipped on Amazon (not prime). Your ebay link didn't show any free shipping option, just $7.90 expedited...

[320iAman]

Thanks! I found and ordered the same set for $21 shipped on Amazon (not prime). Your ebay link didn't show any free shipping option, just $7.90 expedited...

Your right, I see its not free, my bad,,,lol,,,, I ordered this set early on.

Randy

[cgifool]

Got my differential cover vapor blasted at a local bike shop. Looks really nice.. Almost TOO nice.

One downside to note, it took off the yellow zinc coating on the breather

IMG_9215.jpg

Pile of parts is nearly complete.. I have a feeling I may need to go drive through some puddles so this stuff doesn't make the rest of the car look terrible

I guess now that I did all this I guess I'll have to go and paint the calipers too.


IMG_9210.jpg

[AndronPrime]

Got my differential cover vapor blasted at a local bike shop. Looks really nice.. Almost TOO nice.

IMG_9215.jpg

Pile of parts is nearly complete.. I have a feeling I may need to go drive through some puddles so this stuff doesn't make the rest of the car look terrible

I guess now that I did all this I guess I'll have to go and paint the calipers too.


IMG_9210.jpg

Oh maybe I should have done that with my diff cover. It looks soo good! I just cleaned and painted mine.

[320iAman]

That is clean and looks good. Looks like your ready to start assembling.


Randy

[Somjuan]

Looks awesome! Keep on keepin’ on over there, every time you post your car gets a bit nicer - and damn she started purdy

[cgifool]

drip drip drip, keeping up a slow but steady pace..

pulled the hub off the trailing arm I already did, scraped paint off the backing plate mating surfaces (and rubbed some grease into the bare metal), installed the backing plate which I'd forgotten the first time, then reinstalled the hub and tightened the castle nut only until it seated (not torqued).

greased the new bearings and seals in the other trailing arm and hammered em in. installed the other backing plate and hub, but my 45 minute timer ran out before I got the nut tightened.

[320iAman]

" but my 45 minute timer ran out before I got the nut tightened. "

What is the timer for ? Your BBQ' ing a few items ?

Randy

[cgifool]

I often work on the car for 30-45 minute stretches while the kids are watching TV, or after they've gone to bed; Have to get up on the early side most days so I don't usually want to be staying up late. Last night I worked on it from 11 to midnight, but I was paying the price this morning

Last night I pulled the hub back off because I had to flip the backing plate over, lol. Chased all the brake caliper threads with my new thread chaser set. Flipped the backing plate the right way and bolted it on. Reinstalled the hub and tightened the castle nut (again just until seated), and set the second finished trailing arm on the shelf.

Dusted off the differential housing, re-located the pinion shaft bits, and started to assemble the pinion shaft - had forgotten the order of the parts, procedure (assemble dry or oiled, with or without pinion seal, etc etc) so I spent the rest of the time re-reading Randy's old thread on the subject. I'll start with this TONIGHT.

[320iAman]

Yes , I know that one , getting caught up in the work and staying up late.


Randy