Quote:
Originally Posted by x5glenn
I just got done doing ths repair and did it your way leaving it on the car. It was surprisingly easy. I only removed the support frame, disconnected the driveshaft and bungee corded it to the exhaust to get it out of the way and then opened up the case and replaced the chain by sliding out the gears. The only thing I would add is that the gear with the snap ring has a dust shield on the outside that needs to be pried back so the gear pops right out when the snap ring is expanded. Leaving the transfer case on the car I was able to complete this DIY in about 4 hours going slowly and learning as I went.
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I purchased my X5 with bad driveshaft/transfer case splines, so this was the first thing I ever did to it.
You are correct, it's not that bad of a job, if you have a lift, trans jack and air tools. I had the transfer case on the ground in about 45 minutes.
The chain and seals are pretty cheap to get (remember, this is a NV transfer case, not something BMW cooked up), but I ended up having two issues:
1) I couldn't find a replacement front output shaft (front shaft that has the splines for the driveshaft that goes to the front differential), and I didn't trust just doing the driveshaft spline extension. I had it torn down, new chain and seals, but just didn't like the looks of that front output shaft, so I bought another transfer case to start with, and also did the spline extension on the driveshaft.
2) Noting again that this is an NV transfer case, I'm not sure why they suggest using ATF in them, other than to cut down on noise when they're cold. Every other NV transfer case I've ever seen uses gear fluid, and the places I see rebuilding these units insist on use of gear fluid, or they will not honor the warranty. I'm thinking this is partially why these chains stretch so much more commonly than other NV units (or else BMW just under-spec'd these units when they incorporated them).
Disclaimer to above: All information is concerning the non-X-Drive units. I have not worked on the X-Drive ones.