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Old 05-27-2018, 02:05 AM
oldskewel oldskewel is offline
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Thanks cn90 for the guidance.

Here's what I did ... (all done now)

Yes, I concluded that this "30 minute (not including reading up to 38 pages)" method involved separating the axle at the inner CV joint (I wish they had said that rather than the inner bearing, as well as removing all references to the axle nut, which they call a collar nut - once you know, it's not confusing, but before you do, it can be).

So I separated it at the inner CV joint - pulling the 3 rollers out, seeing the c-clip, removing that, and then ... to remove the 3-rollers assembly (the bearings in the inner CV joint) from the axle shaft, I tried pulling, tapping, and no progress. So I got my slide hammer, attached to the 3-rollers, not expecting to need to pull very hard, and sure enough, the axle separated at the outer CV joint's c-ring.

Not a big deal, put it all back together with two new GKN boot kits (kept in inventory, just in case - and 2 for the other side too), and all is good. They came with axle nuts (not needed), big/small clamps, c-rings, c-clips, and 2x 80g bags of grease per boot.

BTW, I notice from the maintenance records on this '01 that the inner boots look original, and the outers get replaced every 40k or so miles, so I don't mind replacing the inners at 185k+ miles. But the inner boot did look just fine. Also noticed that the GKN kit for the inner boot had a slightly larger big-end diameter - both the boot and the clamp were a little bigger than the one that came off. It still fit though.

So I did not touch the brakes or the axle nut at all. This was done on the right front wheel of an '01 3.0i, with a torn outer boot.

cn90, glad to hear that you similarly found the instructions confusing. I can understand how they got that way since this method seemed to evolve, and now from doing it, I can see that you kind of need to try something and go with the flow depending on what works or not. But a few extra words in post #1 could really do a lot to clear some things up for first time readers.

Oh yeah, and it took a lot more than 30 minutes. Good concept to avoid having to touch the axle nut just in case that would end up being problematic. So yes, I'd do this method again next time, but 30 minutes is about how long it takes me to get the car in the driveway, jacked up, tools out, etc.
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2001 X5 3.0i, 203k miles, AT, owned since 2014

Last edited by oldskewel; 05-27-2018 at 02:14 AM.
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