E39 540i DIY: Replacing your center link and tie rod ends

[mberg75]

Great thread, but most of the links to recommended tools, especially the ZDMAK tools are out of date and no longer work.

[pyite69]

Thanks for the excellent DIY! Thanks to you, I was able do this job fairly easily.

My $.02:

I kept the tie rod ends on the center link and pulled the whole thing out as one unit after removing the idler/Pittman arms. This made it easy to line up the new ones to be in roughly the same position. It was a bit awkward and I had to turn the wheel a couple of times, but not too painful. This will also make it easier to put the ends on the correct sides of the center link! You don't want to get this wrong.

Also, the standard Harbor Freight ball joint tool worked for all 4 of the ball joints. It was a tight fit on the two on the center link, but it worked.

Finally - it is extremely easy to put the re-assembled unit in backward if you're not careful! The easy trick is to remember that the bolts for the tie rod ends should face down to make it a little easier on the alignment folks.

Good luck!

[RuskiE39]

Quick question for those that have done this.. should I try my luck with a pickle fork for the center link portion or should I just rent a puller? There’s no close auto parts store for me so it will be a bit out of the way.

[toybreaker]

Two hours of swearing at the air hammer driven pickel fork. Read this thread and go from the front with a full size pickel fork.


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[StephenVA]

Loved that rusted part!

[ninetyseven1]

Just dived into this job and finished it today, took about 3 hours or so. Wasn't too bad at all. My advice is make sure you buy a quality center link that will have L or R stamped on each side! Also, remove the drivers side first. I used the tool from Harbor Frieght. Took me 3 minutes to release the Pittman arm stud (drivers side). Don't fool with a fork ,buy this tool i mentioned. The passengers side (idler arm) stud was harder. You will have to turn the steering all the way to the left and put the tool over it. There is no other way to gain good access.Also when re-installing. I recommend doing the drivers side (Pittman arm) first. Put a nut on it but dont tighten it down. Then move over the to the passengers side and you will have to turn the steering to about the middle yet slightly more to the right ,then i used a large screwdriver to pop the idler arm stud into the center link. This was the hard part.


I paid $54 for the center link from am-autoparts. Hi quality part

[ninetyseven1]

ok so center link installedn and car drives very very smooth now, no more wheel shaking but the only issue is my steering wheel is extremely floppy and if i move it too quickly to the left or right while moving the car will pull very hard in that direction. In other words , while moving down the road i can let go of the steering wheel and it drives straight but if i turn the wheel left or right the steering is very erratic and feels like the front wheels are about to do a 360! There is NO tightness in the steering wheel. you can barely touch it and it will spin freely in either direction! This is what may have happened: while under the car I had the new center link bolted on to the idler arm on passenger side , while i was trying to put the new center link in i grabbed the pittman arm by hand and was moving the pitman arm around that way trying to get it connected to the center link. I was trying to avoid having to keep getting up turning the steering wheel. It is necessary to turn the steering wheel to get the center link on though. What needs to be adjusted here? The car is un drivable really.

- - - Updated - - -

maybe I need to take the new center link out again?? I think i need to do the following: Remove center link from pitman arm and idler arm, pull the pitmarm all the way to the left (toward the left from the drivers perspective) then turn actual steering wheel all the way to the left? and then bolt the center link up the pitman arm? then instead of going over the passengers side and pulling centerlink and pitman arm over all the way to the right, i should have first turned the steering wheel by hand all the way to the right and then moved idler arm all the way to the right by hand? and then bolt to the center link? does this sound correct?

[ninetyseven1]

I can basically spin my steering wheel like the front wheels are not on the car, there is NO tightness and its very scary to drive.

[Charlie207]

Is there a way to re-upload the images? I've got a so-so understanding of the procedure from the text, but images are worth a thousand words...

[ninetyseven1]

I can basically spin my steering wheel like the front wheels are not on the car, there is NO tightness and its very scary to drive.

It was an alignment issue, took the car to get aligned and all is well.

[BimmrMeUpSnotty]

It was an alignment issue, took the car to get aligned and all is well.

Took you almost 9 months to figure all that out, and you said you were a mechanic?

[ninetyseven1]

Took you almost 9 months to figure all that out, and you said you were a mechanic?

I figured it out over 9 months ago , but i have been on other forums

[BimmrMeUpSnotty]

I figured it out over 9 months ago , but i have been on other forums

I'm calling major BS on this one. We all know that you have a hard time tying your shoes every morning. Replaced your clockspring yet?

[Chedley]

Other quick questions for those who have done this. On the E39 540i :
If you are only replacing the rusty outer tie rods (steps 1 to 8 of this DIY write up) do you recommend removing the tires ? And why would you have to remove the pittman /idler arm ?? Do you still need an alignment after the job ??

It seems a pretty straight remove and replace of the outer tie-rods, if you can just jack up the car.