It’ll definitely go in or out with the motor raised up a few inches and the subframe dropped. It won’t if you just raise the motor to the max you can while it’s attached to the tranny….i spent an hour or two on my back trying to bench press that thing in with thr x5 on jackstands and the engine pulled up as high as I dared.

Eventually i threw in the towel and used several floor jacks to drop the subframe several inches. I didn’t have to pull the motor mount, if I recall correctly. I also don’t remember if unbolted the struts at the tower or the knuckle. Probably the tower is a bit easier. It all sucked at that stage.

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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