Originally Posted by freedo

my 01 with a 5spd manual had a slight driveline vibration that i just assumed was tires. ended up being the rear u joint was stuck and actually caused so much driveline vibration it broke the clutch disk. your rear u joint should be able to rotate on all axis by hand freely. if it seems stiff or requires effort than it maybe bad. you can replace just the rear half of the driveshaft from any model e53 x5. i put a used one in that i picked up for $50 and havent had a issue since