Freaking wheel bearing job #2

[Crowz]

Ok at least THIS time SO FAR I haven't mushroomed the axle.

I removed it all from the vehicle. So I have the front hub in my 20 ton press with the drivers side axle dangle down from it.

This thing wont move. I don't have any pb blaster or anything so Im trying soaking it in wd40 but Im not feeling very confident that's going to do any good. I sooo don't want to buy another axle just to change the wheel bearing.

I have never had so much trouble taking cv axles out of anything as I have this X5.

[Emory39]

That Happened to me on an E36 M3 I ended up soaking it up with WD40 letting it sit overnight and then heating it up next day, and it came out. I had to put a new axle.

[Crowz]

I got the axle out finally. Soaked it in wd40 for an hour and then hit it with a hammer on the side with full pressure on it from the press. Popped loose.

Now Im trying to press the hub out of the wheel bearing and its being a pain. The problem this time is the shape of the drivers sides hub. It has no good way to pin it into the press. The shape of the passenger side hub made it a breeze to press out the old hub.

[Crowz]

Ok I got the hub out and then went to pull off the bearing piece that always sticks to the hub. It wouldn't come off. Was chipping where the bearing splitter was on it in place of pulling the bearing piece off the hub. Grrrrrr.

So I decided it was time to go NUCLEAR.

After the dust settled the final score was :

BMW Wheel bearing 0

Dremel Tool 1


Bearing piece is off the hub

Now I cant get the c-clip out. Partly because my snap ring pliers are junk and partly because Im DEAD TIRED now.

[semcoinc]

Great persistent effort Crowz

How many miles on those axles? My philosophy is if I'm touching something with near 100K or over 100K miles, I want to save the effort of tearing into it again to touch it again when it fails, so I consider that the 100K part doesn't owe me anything.

Just this year during my front and rear suspension overhauls I put AutoZone lifetime axles at all four positions. But that's just me

Mike

[Crowz]

Originally Posted by semcoinc

Great persistent effort Crowz

How many miles on those axles? My philosophy is if I'm touching something with near 100K or over 100K miles, I want to save the effort of tearing into it again to touch it again when it fails, so I consider that the 100K part doesn't owe me anything.

Just this year during my front and rear suspension overhauls I put AutoZone lifetime axles at all four positions. But that's just me

Mike

I just bought my X5 recently so I have no idea how many miles are on these axles. The passenger side is new since I destroyed it trying to hammer it out recently

The drivers side seems fine and the boots look good so Im not replacing it yet but if I lived closer to autozone I would of changed it out for the heck of it.

Fixing to get back out there to take another go at the c clip on the wheel bearing next.

[cn90]

Yeah,

Angle Grinder (with diamond blade + wear goggles!) will work.
One just needs to be careful about cutting too far damaging the axle itself.

I did the REAR bearing on my 1998 528i, the trick is to either:
1. Cutting horizontal grooves on the inner race so the tool has a place to grab.
2. Dremel vs Angle Grinder.

I wrote the DIY below...

DIY: 1998 528i REAR Bearing the Easy Way! - Bimmerfest - BMW Forums

[andrewwynn]

Originally Posted by Crowz

Now I can't get the c-clip out. Partly because my snap ring pliers are junk and partly because Im DEAD TIRED now.

The problem usually is the pins on the snap ring pliers are not parallel so they are pushing the pliers out of the snap ring as you squeeze.

The two fixes for this are:

➀ use right-angle pins so the ends stay parallel; this will not likely work because of the size of the rings you would need a huge snap ring pliers

➁ use a dremel/emery wheel to cut a small notch at the end of the pins, such that when the pliers are wide open the cut faces are parallel to each other.

I had the exact problem with my new, and very nice pliers but that are only designed for up to 3" snap ring, by cutting the little notches it holds the snap ring fine and they pop right out (or back in).

[Crowz]

Originally Posted by andrewwynn

The problem usually is the pins on the snap ring pliers are not parallel so they are pushing the pliers out of the snap ring as you squeeze.

The two fixes for this are:

➀ use right-angle pins so the ends stay parallel; this will not likely work because of the size of the rings you would need a huge snap ring pliers

➁ use a dremel/emery wheel to cut a small notch at the end of the pins, such that when the pliers are wide open the cut faces are parallel to each other.

I had the exact problem with my new, and very nice pliers but that are only designed for up to 3" snap ring, by cutting the little notches it holds the snap ring fine and they pop right out (or back in).

I ended up solving that by taking my dremel tool to a pair of right angle needle nose pliers I have. I ground the ends down so they fit into the c clips holes. I now have probably the most powerful bmw clip removal tools known to man

If I ever have to do them again that tool will make short work of it with no chance of breaking like all the real c clip pliers I bought did.

[Crowz]

Originally Posted by Crowz

I ended up solving that by taking my dremel tool to a pair of right angle needle nose pliers I have. I ground the ends down so they fit into the c clips holes. I now have probably the most powerful bmw clip removal tools known to man

If I ever have to do them again that tool will make short work of it with no chance of breaking like all the real c clip pliers I bought did.

Wasn't going to revive this one since it was the other bearing that has gone bad again but I had forgot I made this tool

Need to keep this fresh for the up coming bearing job.