1991 325ix rebuild

[okjohne]

Hi all. I've owned a 8/90 built, 2/91 registered 325ix, 5 speed coupe for about 14 years. 2 years ago, at 243k I took her off the road to do major maintenance like cam belt and such. Now in full rebuild, I'd like to enlist some help. Nothing about any of the ix pieces in the Bently. No info about drive shaft/s. Nothing on the front final drive. Nothing on the transaxle. I read, and was told that the baby six came out much better without the tranny. Only have to pull tranny out the bottom first. One piece drive shaft leaves no flexibility to get it out. I have the rear drive shaft unbolted at the rear output of the transaxle. What is the easiest way to get the slack I need to pull these pieces apart without the center bearing in a typical shaft? I've painted the the bolts connecting the rear drive shaft to the rear diff. Was hoping not to remove those and don't think it solves the actual problem. Is it time to unbolt the tranny from the engine (front drive shaft too?)? Pull motor out front? I need a lot of help.

[richardodn]

Rear drive shaft-There's a hex fitting near the rear drive. It's a compression sleeve to set the length of the shaft. You need to loosen that from the front section and it will allow you to collapse the shaft enough to remove it. It's a bit counter-intuitive since it looks like you're tightening it on the rear section but you're loosening it from the front. Here's a photo album with a bunch of shots of the are in question.

Front drive shaft-Once unbolted from front diff, it should slide into the transfer case far enough to allow removal of the flex joint. After that you should be able to slide it back out and remove it.

Board doesn't like this link. Change _dot_ to a .

photos_dot_app_dot_goo_dot_gl/SCyohcc6sRJDRX2dA

[superj]

mark the rear drive shaft where you split though. its balanced so if you lose the mark, you will have to pay someone to rebalance it for you

[richardodn]

Here's a photo of the compression fitting showing the external parts. Basically you loosen it from the threaded side until you can slide it into the left side. Since it's probably old, dirty and a bit rusty this might be hard.