Had to get back under the X5 yesterday and tweak the left tie rod I put in last week. I thought I counted threads and set the new one to match, but clearly was off. Likely because I was in a hurry. The steering wheel was off to the right about 15 degrees. Two full turns put it back in the middle, and matched the 9 threads showing on the right side.

Notably, the left tie rod is a piece of cake (relatively), as the large nut holding the inner section on the rack extends out far enough that you can put a full size, giant crescent wrench on it and get it off easily without removing the stiffener, or having to use a special tool. Fortunately the right side boot is fine, and that tie rod is in good shape for now as it is buried up above the sub frame and stiffener and will not be easy.

The straight handle band clamp tool I have will in no way work on the left side inner clap however. Luckily some mechanic that I used in the previous 23 years put a worm gear type clamp on it, which I reused. I wonder if someone makes a 90 degree ear type clamp tool for this job, or are we supposed to drop the stiffener to reach in and clamp the thing! At $28 bucks each those bolts will add quite a bit to the job.

The car is running and driving so great right now with the full bilstein suspension refresh, monoball tension struts and sway bar links it almost makes me want to cry when I think about the impending cv boot job that needs to be done.

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Current
Original owner 2002 E53 X5 4.4i to 4.6i swap
2026 G80 M3 6 spd
2025 G06 X5 50e
Former
1972 Audi Fox
1986 Saab 900S
1996 BMW Z3
1998 BMW E36 M3 Sedan
2004 BMW E46 M3
2006 Audi A3 Quatro
1993 Mopar 318 Jeep Grand Cherokee
2015 V6 Jeep Grand Cherokee