Spec X5 Overland Build

[Henn28]

Yeah, I’ve been throwing parts at mine too, along with double checking the torques on everything down there…subframe, stiffener, etc.. I do finally think that my knocking is the right front thrust arm ball joint. It was floppy when I had the thrust arm off. The left side was moveable by hand, but not outright floppy. It will go on the project list.

[Henn28]

The torx head screws that are most often used on the tension strut ball joint have always been a hassle for me to remove reliably so I ordered some 20mm, M10, 10.9 grade hex bolts to see if they would work.


I had assumed that there wasn’t clearance for a socket, and that’s why they use the torx head screws, but not so. I can’t think of any reason not to try these, with a little blue loctite of course. Same grade as OE, zinc plated, 20mm.


The bearing value line kit arrived, but I’m still waiting on my Amazon prime Loctite 638 which should have been here yesterday, but now shows mid-next week. The inner seat that the bearing gets pressed into is coated 50% in the stuff. The kit is pretty complete, and has a new dust shield and all the single use suspension nuts needed.


The second problem is that I thought I bought the last word on cheap yet huge Amazon bearing and bushing tool sets, but although it has a ton of cups, none are close to the 90mm I need to pull the wheel bearing in.


I’ll either take it back to the machine shop, or try to find a size that will work.

[Henn28]

I’m finally back to the steering knuckle, or swivel bearing in BMW speak, rebuild. In truth tho, I was in a hurry and knocked it back together a week ago, but put the dust shield on backwards. Idiotic mistake, especially because I knew which way it goes on because I took pictures, but I was in a hurry. So down to the steering shop I went where they destroyed the bearing to get it all apart again. No way around it though. The back shoulder in the knuckle that the bearing presses up to precludes any ability to press either the hub or the bearing out cleanly.

Round two with a new bearing went down this am. The last time I struggled to pull the bearing in with my monster, and cheap, eBay bearing press set so this time I froze the bearing all night and put the knuckle in the oven for a few hours at 150 degrees. A much easier time was had. I fact I didn’t bother with the press, but rather hammered it in with the 90mm cup and a BFH. Whereas the first time took over an hour, and most of that spent on the final 10mm, this time I spent about 10 min total banging the bearing home. I did remember to spread a thin layer of loctite 638 over 50% of the knuckle bore.







On my first attempt the wheel hub drew in easily with my bearing puller. No so much this time because it kept starting at an angle, no matter how many times I tried. My solution was to use a large wood clamp to put max pressure on the “high” side, then continue to pull with the bearing kit. It righted itself and then pulled in easily.





The gotchas on this job are the fact that you can’t fix anything done incorrectly once the wheel hub is in, so take your time getting the dust shield and brake shield on correctly.

Finally I popped the new tension strut ball joint (“guide joint” in BMW speak) into the knuckle and used the new hex bolts torqued to 60NM, per TIS. I hit the guide joint with some anti-seize where it goes into the knuckle, and used blue loctite on the bolts. I also witness marked them so I can make sure they aren’t moving. They should be much easier to remove so I don’t have to go through this BS again.

[Henn28]

Took the afternoon yesterday and got the “swivel bearing” (right side steering knuckle) installed. Not a terrible job, now that I’ve had these things off a few time in the past. The correct tools really, really make a difference in how fast the job can be done. It took me about 4 hours to remove and replace the knuckle this time, with some shooting of the $hit at times.

Previously, and before I owned some key tools, it took 6 or 7. Once I had to take the knuckle, with the axle and control arms attached, down to my friends at the local steering shop so they could press everything out. As much as I hate owning BMW only tools, the axle puller kit turns an hour + with a hammer and block into a 10 min exercise. Likewise, my giant 3 leg press gets used rarely, but makes quick work pressing the axle out of the road hub.

Happily the low speed knocking is finally gone and the front end it BMW tight again. Replacing the entire knuckle is a tough way to replace a tension strut guide/ball joint, but at least I’ve got a new bearing in there too. The left side joint is soon to fail too, I’m sure but I’m going to give some more thought as to how I can get it out without pulling the entire knuckle. It too has a stripped head on the crappy torx head screws holding it in.

At any rate…
I loosed the lug bolts, tapped the stakes on the axle nut back as much as I could with a punch and broke it free with my 3’ breaker bar. Then it was up in the air and the wheel came off, as did all the nuts on the hub for the arms and tie rod end. The ABS sensor are looked quite rusty so I elected to leave it in until I freed the entire knuckle and had more room to work. Next time I’ll just buy a new one as mine have 170k on them. Then the caliper came off and got hung on the spring. From here I put a floor jack under the road hub and compressed the suspension several inches. I’ve found this to be helpful because otherwise the arms and tie rod are fully extended and don’t want to come free from the knuckle. Regardless, it took some pounding with a heavy brass punch to pop the lower arm and tie rod end out, but they came free without having to get out a puller. The tension strut has only been on the job a few months and it came off with a little hammering on its upper surface. I did have to pull the lower control arm end at the subframe eventually to get enough clearance for it to drop out of the knuckle.

I tried some hammering on the axle end with a punch in the hopes it would pop out easily, but no luck. Note, if you go this route it helps to put the old axle nut back on the axle a bit to protect the threads. Regardless it’s a crapshoot as to if you’ll ruin the threads. I threw in the towel quickly and got out my large three leg puller, which took longer to set up than to press the axle out. Finally, the big bolts at on the strut came out and the knuckle was free.

Puller in the process of being installed:


Next up was to rest the knuckle on the floor jack and work the speed sensor out. A liberal spray PB Blaster and some very gentle persuasion freed it up. Lots of surface rust in that area so I cleaned it well. I should have bought a new one, but I’ve also found the connectors and the plastic box where they connect to the car can get very brittle and shatter.

I had to take some time to trim up the dust shield with an angle grinder to match the one I was taking off. Otherwise it rubs the 16” wheels I’ve got on the X5.

Lots of grease still visible on the splines as this axle has only been in for a couple years. The boot is already failing though. Cheap rebuilds versus expensive OE axles…still not sure where those curves intersect.




As with most jobs like this, disassembly takes 2/3 of the time spent. The toughest part of putting the new knuckle in is getting the rear control arm back in at the subframe, which just takes time, effort and moving the knuckle around to get the holes to line up.

First I hoisted the knuckle into place while sliding the axle into the hub, then popping in the big bolts that secure it to the strut to hold it. Then the axle puller came out and I pulled the axle into the hub maybe 50% or 75% of the way (just in case I screwed something up and had to get it back out, a punch would easily do it at this stage). The tie rod and tension strut ends slide in by finding the right combo of ball joint, jack height, and steering angle to pop them in enough to get the nuts started enough to hold them…a few threads. Then I put the lower control arm ball joint into the knuckle, popped a nut on a few threads and wrestled with the whole thing for 20 min until I could get the bolt through it at the subframe. At this point I pulled the axle in fully. After that it was down to torquing and witness marking everything , and reinstalling the speed sensor, the rotor and the caliper. I really need to rebuild that caliper.

Last up was the axle nut. I ran it down until it bottomed out with a small breaker bar, then hung the wheel with a few lug bolts. Before the bolts went on I did remember to spin the wheel on the hub and check for rubbing. In fact the dust shield had gotten bent in shipping or me working on it and it was rubbing on the rotor in a few places…quick fix with a hammer. Lug bolts on with a little torque and the car went down on the ground so I could put an initial 250 ftlbs on the axle nut (max available with my big torque wrench), and then another 30ish degrees with my 3’ breaker I bought just for axle nuts and the M62 crank jesus bolt. The axle nut is supposed to be at 320 ftlbs I think, so it’s got to be close to that.


Back up in the air for a final check of everything and then the wheel went back on. No ABS lights or trifectas, and the steering wheel is only off 20ish degrees which I’ll adjust when I have time. Best of all, the clunk is finally gone. The tension strut ball joint thst came out was a mess and flopped around freely. 3 years old.

All in all it could have been a 3 hour job if I hadn’t spent time talking to guys who were also at the shop. The axle tools make all the difference.