Spec X5 Overland Build

[Henn28]

Originally Posted by Bmwe5320023.0

https://www.ebay.ca/itm/143387386218...mis&media=COPY

Is this the one you purchased? Doesn't say e53 on this ebay listing, but maybe it's the one?

Just saw your question about the pinion, crush sleeve, etc. and I agree, setting that up correctly, and with the correct parts made me nervous too, so I left it in the diff.. I’m hopeful I won’t have to pull it since my preload test seems to indicate whoever rebuilt this eBay diff I got, did it correctly and the pinion looks pristine. I got some gear oil down into the pinion shaft and it turns much more smoothly, and is measuring about 20 inch pounds on my old, likely inaccurate beam torque wrench.

I think the real test is going to be when I test the gear mesh with colored grease, and the backlash. Fingers crossed it was all set up correctly, and will go back in the same. Quaife says their unit won’t screw up backlash as long as you don’t swap the lock rings. However, if the gear mesh pattern or backlash is off, it’s going to get painful. It’s the reason I bought an eBay diff, so I could take my time and account for problems without having my X5 on jacks for a month!

I think I saw somewhere the crush sleeve is available as one used on another bmw model that uses the same 188k medium diff. Different thicknesses lock/snap ring sets are available from some company in Australia, and maybe elsewhere. I measured my two and they are only a very, very small difference in size.