CV Axle Replacement - What Else?

[David.X5]

That's what I recall. No clip for the seal. Often has a plastic protective cover that gets tossed. The included clip is for the axle.

[ylwjacket]

Thanks David - that's what it looked like, but thought I'd ask before it's all apart. One last question - the new 36mm 12points that came with the axles - did you "notch" those like the one you took off?

[David.X5]

Don't know exactly what you mean by notching the new nuts. After they have been tightened down and torqued to spec, you lock them to the axle by hammering the lip into the two notches that already exist on the axle. It's steel - they take a swift whack with a metal punch and a good size hammer.

[upallnight]

Originally Posted by David.X5

Don't know exactly what you mean by notching the new nuts. After they have been tightened down and torqued to spec, you lock them to the axle by hammering the lip into the two notches that already exist on the axle. It's steel - they take a swift whack with a metal punch and a good size hammer.

I think what you described is what he has to do. You need to notch the nut so that the nut doesn't back off the spindle. You can do the belt and suspender by putting some blue Loctite on the spindle thread.

[ylwjacket]

that was what I meant. punching them back into that notch.

[hunds02]

Update - Replaced the CV joints with the Febest CV joint and boot kit. The procedure was very simple and took me about 45 minutes or so per side once I got the axle nut off.

I followed the procedure in the link below:
BMW X5 CV Joint replacement, CV gaiter DIY.

The quality of the parts is good. Although I have never replaced them before so I cannot compare with OEM or GKM. The only thing I would recommend if you get the Febest kit is to get separate band it style clamps or crimp clamps. The band it clamps were very thin and snapped as I tightened them with the band it winding tool. The local auto part store had similar band it clamps but they were more durable and not as malleable as the originals. Other than that so far no problems at all.

The noises I was getting when I would take an exit ramp or when I would turn the wheel as soon as I backed out of the driveway are now completely gone! I thought for a minute that my wheel bearings were shot, but I cannot hear any noises while I drive now. I also replaced the thrust arms (Meyle HD), thrust arm ball joints (Lemforder), and sway bar end links (Meyle HD). Before replacing all of these components, if I grabbed the wheel at 9 and 3 it would wobble left to right. Now they are very stiff at at all positions. A lot of people will say that if the wheel wobbles at 9 and 3 then you have shot wheel bearings - well not so much for me.

Even with the thrust arms and ball joints replaced, I still get the steering wheel shake under braking ( > 65 mph). Maybe its the rotors, they were replaced about 4 years ago and 40,000 miles ago. Could the steering wheel shake be caused by lower control arms (wishbones)?