^ So you're what, like $12-15k plus purchase price of the vehicle into an "Off Road Vehicle" that was never meant to go "Off Road"?

And an extremely fragile one at that. The OP stated he bought his ride dirt cheap. Great. After the initial investment, mods, and everything else, why not get something that was somewhat designed to do what you want?

Granted, I love my E53. Would I go to ANY lengths to make it a crawler or trailbuster? NEVER.

These rigs we're never intended to see any sort of heavy use. Hence the acronym SAV.

Yeah, I've seen the ones with the strut spacers and lifts to fit tires and rims. Big deal.

I would bet they wear every single front end part much faster than a stock one it's unbelievable. The front CV axles hardly hold up just driving on cement and asphalt, now you want to jack it up, and go "Off Road".

Simply put. It's the wrong vehicle to drop a considerable amount of money on to go play in the sticks.

Just go get a mid 2000's Wrangler or something equivalent and save yourself the headache, money and frustration. Unless that's your end goal. Which is what we as BMW owners do already......

Wait,,,, is that the goal? Aw crap, then kudos, you're on your way.