I won't go over the procedure on how to get to this point. Most of that is pretty self explanatory.

This method was covered by X5only once before but I wanted to document with picture. I did not remove the CV axles, but i did disconnect the guibo.

Firstly, I unbolted the guibo on front driveshaft ( TC to Front diff). I did not have to fully remove the shaft.



I unbolted the motor mount from the wheel well side. I couldn't get a clear site with all my 2 ft of extensions to even get to the motor mount bolt from the top of the motor. I used the engine bar to lift the motor about 3 inches.

This is the bolt that is blocked by subframe. This will easily accessed by from the wheel well once motor is lifted. There is also a bolt above this that I did not circle. This bolt is accessed from the front of the car. This one is obvious and easy to get to once power steering pump and lines are out of the way.


These are the locations of the rear 2 bolts of the diff. The one closest to the motor mount was a pain as well. very little room to get to. I had to adjusted the height of the motor with my engine bar to get to it.

Once the diff has drive shaft has been unbolted, you can twist the diff; however you need to pry it out about 3 inches to fully twist the diff counter clockwise to clear the Alternator bracket and gain access to the devil bolt. I used to 2 pry bars and slowly pried the diff out, making sure not to bend and is shape any of the oil pain.

I twisted the diff counter clockwise and wedged the wood to prop up the diff while removing the devil bolt.
the green up arrow shows the devil bolt and you see clearance between diff and bolt



Ta DA.

now to order all the extra parts i want to tackle while i'm down here..

New guibo + bolts and nuts
new motor mounts
Seals for alternator bracket
Diff fluids
sway bar bushing
vacuum pump seals
CCV

When reinstalling the diff, I have a feeling i need to pop out the passenger CV joint in order to re-seat the diff back on to the motor. My plan is to remove the control arm the same way i'd be doing the CV boot, knock out the CV joint so it is loose. and reinstall the diff.

I will mention that I did not loose more than 1/4 quart of oil. I lifted the car up on jack stands, allowed the car to sit for a few days for the oil to settle back into the oil pan. After removing the oil lines, I positioned them higher up so that gravity would do its thing. Over all, most of the oil was from the leak from before and the road grim that accumulated.

I will document.